JESUS AND JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Matthew 11:2-10.
MATTHEW 11:2-3. We do not know for sure why John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to speak with Jesus. Perhaps prison had knocked the wind out of his sails, and he wanted some reassurance that it had not all been in vain. Or perhaps it was for the benefit of the disciples themselves.
MATTHEW 11:4-5. Certainly, Jesus’ answer would be an encouragement to both John and his disciples. Now Jesus asked John’s disciples to witness for themselves: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up (cf. Isaiah 35:5-6). And along with these miracles there is one other: “the poor have the gospel preached to them” (cf. Isaiah 61:1).
MATTHEW 11:6. Jesus reminded John, and the disciples of John, of the blessedness of “whosoever shall not be offended in me.”
MATTHEW 11:7-8. As John’s disciples set off back towards the prison-house, Jesus addressed the crowds who had gathered around Him: “What went ye out into the wilderness to see?”
John came preaching, and his message was not soft and woolly, but as abrasive as his raiment. No gentle words to tickle their ears drew the multitudes out of Jerusalem, Judaea, and the region about Jordan: but rather the straightforward declaration of the need for repentance, and the nearness of the kingdom of heaven. Then the King drew near, and John testified of Him.
MATTHEW 11:9-10. The one who had pointed towards Jesus now received a fitting tribute from his friend and cousin. Was he a prophet? Yes - and more than a prophet. This was the forerunner foreseen by the prophets of old (cf. Malachi 3:1; Isaiah 40:3).
