WHAT WENT YE TO SEE?
Luke 7:24-30.
“What went ye out into the wilderness to see?” (LUKE 7:24-26).
As John’s disciples set off back towards the prison-house, Jesus addressed the crowds who had gathered around Him. Did the people go out to see a reed shaken in the wind? Surely not, for John was not one for wavering, but rather of the calibre of those whose passionate forthrightness was even now taking the kingdom of heaven by storm (cf. Matthew 11:12).
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 (cf. Matthew 3:5): 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 to Him (cf. John 1:32-34).
The one who had pointed towards Jesus now receives a fitting epitaph from his friend and cousin. Is he a prophet? Yes - and more than a prophet (LUKE 7:26). This is the forerunner foreseen by the prophets of old (LUKE 7:27; cf. Malachi 3:1; Isaiah 40:3).
As last in the line of prophets pointing toward our Lord Jesus Christ, he becomes the foremost amongst them. There is none greater than John the Baptist, says Jesus (LUKE 7:28).
“Notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (LUKE 7:28). The one who had been the forerunner must now, after all, learn to be a follower. We are not better than he, but live under ‘a better covenant, which was established upon better promises’ (cf. Hebrews 8:6).
There was a mixed reaction from the people. Those who had been baptised by John, including the publicans, “justified God” (LUKE 7:29). The Pharisees and lawyers, having not been baptised by John, “rejected the counsel of God against themselves” (LUKE 7:30).
