(Click here to read the passage)
Oftentimes, timing is important. In this passage, Jesus waits for John’s disciples to leave before asking some important questions. I find that very interesting. John’s disciples needed encouragement, lifting up, enthusiasm. What Jesus had to say next would likely not have that effect on them. So, Jesus waited.
His questions are unusual by the standards set so far by Luke. Normally Jesus’ questions are both answerable and uncomfortable. In the case of these first two questions, they are rhetorical. They aren’t intended to be answered specifically, but set the tone for his third question. The crowds weren’t going out into the wilderness to enjoy nature, nor to see some performance. They went out to see someone who sounded like he might be a prophet. They were hungry for God’s word, whether they knew it or not. Of course, many were curious, but a significant portion of them responded by submitting to John’s baptism. Jesus wanted them to recognize John’s effect on them before he told them the good/bad news.
First, he confirmed their hopes – John indeed was a prophet, spoken about by another prophet. He was the Preparer, as lifted up by Malachi (see Malachi 3:1). Oddly, John Baptizer (as quoted in John Apostle’s gospel) didn’t see himself this way (See John 1:23). He saw himself as merely “a voice.” It’s amazing to me how John Baptizer saw himself. His commitments to an austere life, unusual clothes, speaking “truth to power” (as he addressed the Pharisees as vipers or Herod as an adulterer), his clear call to repentance (changing one’s direction) all took significant courage and self-awareness. Yet, he only saw himself as a lone voice, calling out in a lonely place, as foretold by Isaiah (40:3). In a sense, John Apostle provided us a view into John Baptizer’s heart. He was a solitary man, who found himself at odds with his entire generation, even while he saw the coming of The One, Messiah.
Have you ever seen yourself as someone on the outside looking on from afar? That sounds like an accurate description of John. I suspect John’s disciples knew this of him, and I also suspect that Jesus knew this. So, Jesus delayed telling the crowds something that would only increase John’s feelings of exclusion.
His simple message was that the least in God’s kingdom is greater than John, even though Jesus saw John as being great among humans. Ouch. It’s the good/bad news. John, although he felt excluded, had no peer in the human realm, but he doesn’t qualify for the kingdom of God? Double ouch!
Part of me recoils in horror, here. This human who has given up everything, sold out to prepare for Messiah, can’t measure up to the least in Jesus’ coming kingdom? Isn’t that terribly unfair? I can’t believe that God would pitch John into the dust-bin of history just because something new was coming. Jesus’ point is terrifying, if that’s where he leaves it. How could anyone ever qualify?
In fact, I believe that is exactly what Jesus is telling the crowds. No matter how great you are in human terms, you can never measure up to even the least of those who are part of God’s kingdom. He dismisses the mystics (watching reeds blown in the wind) and the worldly great (those in kings palaces). He even dismisses the committedly religious. He does so because God’s kingdom is not entered by human effort – not by religiosity or austerity or courage or willing exclusion. It is entered by faith.
Was John “lost?” Ultimately, I don’t believe so. I believe that is why Jesus sent John’s disciples with testimony about the things Jesus was doing (Luke 7:22). I believe that John heard the testimony of his witnessing disciples and believed. John became, at that moment, greater than he ever was previously. He became a member of God’s kingdom.
There is serious challenge for us in Jesus’ words. Where do you stand in the world? Are you great or small? Do you take your religion seriously or are you more about other things like leisure or human comfort? It doesn’t matter to God how great or small you are. What matters is whether or not you believe in Him and in his Son. Those other things only matter after this first item is settled. Religiosity, austerity, self-abasement, and courageous commitment only make a spiritual difference if they are part of our faith response to God. Otherwise, they don’t matter in the eternal scheme of things. In fact, they can become a hindrance to our entry into the Kingdom of God (which we will see in our next passage).
Take some time this week to honestly evaluate your faith. Do not measure it according to your religious or non-religious activities. Measure it according to what you really believe about Jesus. The rest won’t matter if you don’t.