No One Greater…The One Who Is Least…
“Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he”
Most people have great expectations, but some have none or very few. There are those whose expectations are not good. They have had some bad experience along the way and it has tarnished life for them. John the Baptist had great expectations. He expected great things from Jesus, but as time went on, he began to have his doubts. In Matthew 11:3 he asked this question of Jesus: “are you the one who is to come or should we look for another?”
John was in prison and had received word about what Jesus was doing. What he heard was not what he expected. He was focused on the wrong thing. His expectations were wrong. It was not that John was weak or sinful man. No, he was very spiritual and righteous. He was the forerunner of Jesus who prepared the way. Perhaps John had concerns because he was in prison and he expected some major deliverance by Jesus from all oppressors (Jews or Romans) and it wasn’t happening.
We are like John. We get concerned about God’s program or work. We have expectations and God doesn’t seem to be meeting them. John knew that Messiah’s ministry would bring blessings upon those who repented and judgment on those who did not. But what he was hearing about Jesus didn’t match up with those expectations. So he sends word with his disciples to Jesus wanting to know what is happening.
The reply of our Lord is in keeping with all the Old Testament prophecies about him. Jesus was not doing anything but what God’s Word had said he would do (vs. 5). Jesus said the blind could now see, the lame could now walk, the lepers were cleansed and the deaf could hear. Even the dead were raised and the poor had good news preached to them. Jesus then added a mild rebuke for John about being offended by him. Blessing was reserved for those who were not offended (vs. 6).
Disciples should be ready for what God has for them, even if it doesn’t meet their expectations. Now, in case the crowd got the wrong idea about John, Jesus clarifies who John was (vv. 7–10). John was not only a prophet but also the messenger of Messiah (vs. 9, 10). He was a very significant person in God’s plan. By telling the crowd about John, Jesus was showing who he was. It is amazing to read in the Gospels about how the crowds followed Jesus, yet when things got tough, they drifted away or were non-committal. John was a committed follower. He obeyed God’s call upon his life and it landed him in jail. Throw a little fire into the mix and things start smoking.
What startled me in my reading of Matthew 11 was how verse 11 stood out. I had always read this verse on one level—John was the greatest man born of women, contrasted with those who were least in God’s kingdom. So on one level it is a contrast between John who is great and the least in the kingdom. But it was the words “born of women” that got me thinking. Jesus is speaking of natural birth. John was born like the rest of us—a normal human birth, but those who are least in the kingdom are only in the kingdom because they have experienced a different birth. To enter the kingdom, you have to be born again (John 3:3, 5, 6). There has to be a different kind of birth. The new birth, according to our Lord is a birth from above and not from a woman. The one birth is eminently physical (of water and flesh); the other is only spiritual (of the Spirit). All of us are born physically, but not all are born spiritually.
John was privileged to proclaim Messiah and his kingdom. He was the great Preparer, but Jesus says that the least (most insignificant) in the kingdom was greater than John. This is because the least person was not preparing the way that led to the kingdom, but was already in the kingdom. The kingdom is the new covenant reality and relationship that exists between God and his people. It extends to the least person in the kingdom.
We are partakers of the new covenant promises through the blood of Jesus. John only looked forward to it, as did the Old Testament prophets. In this sense, John is the last of the Old Testament prophets. John was the Elijah who was to come (vs. 14; Mal. 3:1; 4:5). The salvation of the Old Testament saints is bound up in the future work of Messiah as the Suffering Servant of Yahweh. All salvation is connected to Jesus. There is no salvation for anyone apart from him.
Now the point is this: what expectations do we have now that we are in the kingdom? Most of us think in terms of what God expects from us, and thus act accordingly. I think this is biblical. God has spoken to us. We have his Word. He has not left us in the dark. We know what he requires. But perhaps we should also think in terms of what we should expect from God. I would expect God to be faithful and fulfill his promises. I would expect this because God’s Word assures me that this is what God is like. This is why a study of God’s attributes can be so profitable.
If John had asked this question and then thought on it, he would have realized that Jesus was only doing what God’s Word had said he would do. John thought the way we so often think. He was thinking of his role rather than Jesus’ role. It is easy to be taken up with our mission and plans, thinking they are God’s, when we might be missing God’s purpose.
We often think we need to help God out. A great example of this is in the proliferation of all the self-help books on the Christian life, ranging from your finances to your marriage and parenting skills. If you only had your Bible, would that be sufficient for you? It ought to be, yet we somehow have transferred authority away from Scripture (quoting it only to support our positions). It’s easy to transfer authority. When things go awry, we tend to take matters into our own hands. John was starting to think along these lines, and Jesus had to remind him, by way of rebuke, about who he was and what he was doing. In a nutshell, don’t miss the mission of Messiah.
However, we must not despise the help of books or people. God uses these to aid us. We stand on the shoulders of giants. But most of what we read is dwarfish. Most Christians are unable to read serious theology because they are not prepared to think deeply. This also applies to reading the Bible. When we get to some of the hard books in the Bible (Leviticus, Chronicles, Ezekiel) we might stop reading. We must always remember that we are reading God’s Word, and God intends to speak to us in it. God forbid that we stop reading because it is a little difficult for us.
Maturity never comes in a day or a week—it takes years. Biblical perspective is gained by deep meditation on the ways and works of God in his Word. Lose sight of that and you will think like John—“are you the one who came or should I expect another?” Don’t think like that. Take Jesus at his Word and trust him. Bring every hardship, every trial, every blessing to the Lord, and see it in the light of Christ and not how you think it ought to apply.