Matthew 11:2-11 (Year A Third Sunday of Advent) extends in two directions. This passage expects us to have some basic understanding of John the Baptist (3:1-12).
Matthew 11:2-6 (Luke 7:18-23) is a pronouncement story concerning the question of John the Baptist, focusing upon the identity of the Messiah. The saying is the purpose of the story, being originally independent.[1] This section is apologetic, designed to demonstrate that the activities of Jesus (4:23; 9:35; 9:27-31; 9:2-8; 8:1-4; 8:32-33; 9:18-26.) fulfill ancient prophecies (Isa 35:5-6, 29:18-19, 26:19, 61:1). However, Jesus criticizes the prophetic vision by omitting the eschatological divine judgment upon the gentiles.[2] The same list is in Matthew 10:8 and a condensed version in Luke 10:9. John is now in in prison (4:12 = Luke 3:20). The text says the Baptist heard what the Messiah (τοῦ χριστοῦ) was doing, using this word as a descriptive title for Jesus and his role. It was this Messiah that John's own ministry announced. Referring to Jesus as “the Messiah,” with no other identifier, is rare in the New Testament (Matt 1:17), simply because Jesus’ identity as the Messiah was at the heart of the debate about him, and the gospel writers did not take that identity as a given. The Baptist sent word by his disciples, asking Jesus if he is the one to come, or if they are to look someone else.[3] The Baptist looked for the coming of an agent of the judgment of God. The passage is important as another allusion in support of Matthew’s abiding theme that Jesus conforms precisely to the hopes of the Hebrew Scriptures. First, in verses 4-5, in response to the question of John the Baptist's disciples, Jesus summarizes the events that have marked his ministry up to this point, events that point to his messianic identity and mission, which contrasts sharply with the expectation of the Baptist with its benevolent and saving miracles: Go and tell John what you hear and see: reflecting the immediacy of eschatological consciousness and the prophetic self-consciousness of Jesus:[4] the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and, coming at the end for emphasis,[5] the poor have good news preached (εὐαγγελίζονται) to them. Jesus refers to a sense of vocation. It is an emphatic expression of the immediacy of eschatological consciousness. It has a relation to the person of Jesus, other than his preaching, his self-consciousness coming to expression, while we can trace in it the characteristically individual spirit of Jesus.[6] The list recaps some of the most dramatic events that thus far have marked his public ministry. Jesus is executing his mission, giving signs of the divine rule as identified in Isaiah.[7] The images used are typical of the time of salvation, where there will be no more sorrow. It is an eschatological cry of joy uttered by Jesus. Even now, the consummation of the ages is dawning.[8] The poor are those who are oppressed, who cannot defend for themselves, the desperate, the desolate, but to whom Isa 61:1 says will receive good news.[9] The lordship of God means salvation, beginning in the public ministry of Jesus. Since the role of John the Baptist continued even while the ministry of Jesus began, Jesus could have viewed himself in a similar way in relation to the rule of God. However, even though Jesus could refer to the mighty acts accompanying his message, as he does here, these signs could not offer unequivocal confirmation or proof, so one must still respond with faith that scripture finds its fulfillment in Jesus. Only the resurrection would prove to be the confirmation of the identity of Jesus.[10] The sign here is one that God freely gives, as over against other settings in which people demanded signs from Jesus, and Jesus refused to give them.[11]The list of achievements includes lepers, which, though there are no references in the prophets to lepers, there is the story of Naaman in II Ki 5:1-19.
In verse 6, Jesus says: And blessed is one who takes no offense (σκανδαλισθῇ) at me." This highly unusual blessing one can render literally as "blessed is anyone who is not scandalized ..." or "... caused to stumble ..." by me. It was the preaching of the good news that caused such offence or scandal.[12] It does not have a relation to the person of Jesus, other than his preaching, his self-consciousness coming to expression, while we can trace in it the characteristically individual spirit of Jesus.[13] It contains an implicit Christology.[14]Verses 4-5 are paradoxical, for they are true only for one who believes.[15] The criticism by omission that Jesus offers of the prophetic vision in verses 4-5 in passing over its mention of vengeance upon the gentiles is part of the reason Jesus gave offence to his contemporaries.[16] The reputation of Jesus was socially reprehensible, and Jesus was open to support from all quarters. Jewish tradition envisioned the way of righteousness as a metaphorical "way to walk" - the halakah. Anything that might cause another to fall from that straight path was a serious offense. The language of Jesus' blessing foreshadows the way his ministry will grow, pushing the envelope of seemliness, scandalizing religious officials (15:12), his own family and old neighbors (13:57), and even his closest disciples (26:31,33). The historical setting deserves attention in that because those who stand with Jesus now, before the resurrection, do not have unequivocal confirmation, Jesus blesses such persons.[17]
In Matthew 11:7-11 (Luke 7:24-29) is a saying in the form of a testimony concerning John the Baptist. The fact that the community Jesus is forming and the community around John are distinct from each other is exemplified in each community having their own prayer and their separate practice of fasting. The relation of Jesus to John the Baptist is by no means clear from the New Testament accounts about them, but it is clear from such passages as this that they were close. John is the last in a series of Old Testament witnesses and the first in a series of New Testament witnesses.[18] Jesus focuses on the identity of John the Baptist. Jesus praises the prophetic role of John the Baptist as a holy harbinger of the messianic man and age. The rhetorical questions of Jesus to the crowd about John attempt to help the people focus and refine their thoughts about John and, in so doing, recognize his role as a herald of the kingdom of heaven. There are three rhetorical elements, a series of questions and declarations, a citation from scripture, and a riddle about the social status of John. They offer vivid images with an ironic edge. The hearer too must hear the question and refuse to comfort oneself with the thought that he or she is not in the same boat as the imprisoned Baptist. Jesus asks what this pilgrimage to the Baptist really means. After the disciples of John the Baptist depart, Jesus offers his testimony in verses 7-11a, expressing the solidarity of Jesus with John,[19] an originally independent saying.[20] What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind? The image (Isa 42:3) may denote psychological fragility or instability, which John’s dress and demeanor doubtless suggested to many of his contemporaries. The reed is a symbol, a weathervane that points first in one direction, then in another, and moves with every breeze. People did not follow John because he was like a weathervane or a follower of fashion. Jesus offers a critique of leaders who sway with the wind. Jesus offered straightforward speech. It is lively figures of speech. Why would anyone venture into the ancient wilderness in the first place? To see a reed shaken by the wind is something quite ordinary, not worth so long a trip. The implied answer is no. Why then did you go out? To see a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, those who wear soft raiment are in kings' houses. Of course, fancy clothes were the opposite of what John wore. The implied critique of a well-dressed nobility is consistent with the sayings of Jesus that favor the poor. Jesus had little concerned for food and clothing. John was not a follower of fashion when it came to clothes. If the crowds did not go out to gawk at a deranged unfortunate, then their expectations were equally wrong in the opposite direction: They may have been anticipating someone from the inner circle of the religious establishment. Such a person, Jesus says, is for the comfort of royal palaces, not the harshness of the wilderness. Why then did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. Jesus proposes an alternative reason for the crowds’ interest in John. Having eliminated two false expectations on the part of the crowds who flocked to see (but not to follow) John, Jesus then offers the correct understanding of John’s role, as prophet. Thus, a real possibility is that they hoped to find a prophet there. The appearance at this time of different dissenting persons and communities in the uninhabited regions of Judea and Galilee is well known. This is he of whom it is written in Mal 3:1, 'Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.' Jesus is clarifying the relation between himself and John the Baptist.[21] Jesus identifies John as the messenger who prepares, by cleansing, the way of the eschatological judge. The numbers that submitted to the cleansing of his baptism, thereby preparing the way for the deliverer, evidenced the success of John’s preaching. With the coming of the Baptist the age has come that will fulfill all the expectations of the prophets. The appearance of John is a sign of nearness of the rule of God.[22] Truly, I say to you, (the sole ground of his authority for the demand of God expressed through him[23]) among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. Christians reading this understandably find it to be a difficult saying. Note that Jesus refers to John as the greatest among all human beings. John is greater as a precursor to the new age. In verse 11b is a saying that emphasizes the inferiority of John to Jesus. Yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Having granted the essential correctness of the people’s perception of John as a prophet, Jesus makes the startling statement that even though John was superlative as prophet and sui generis as a human being, he is less than the least in the kingdom of heaven. The point at issue is the gulf that separates the time of Jesus from that of the prophets and John as the time of fulfillment of entry into the rule of God, of the proclamation and expectation of this rule.[24] The saying may suggest that Jesus, who is now small, will be greater than the greatest of all human beings, John the Baptist, with the manifestation of the coming rule of God. It becomes a revealing and concealing of the self-awareness of Jesus. Jesus may be combatting contemporary notions of greatness. The ministry of followers of Jesus is small by human judgment but is greater than the one who is greater than all, John the Baptist.[25] In a single statement, Jesus both shatters the accepted dogma of prophetic adulation and radicalizes the value of the kingdom of heaven. The disciples of Jesus belong by nature among the least. Lowliness is the sign of the new age.
By deflecting the questions of John’s disciples about Jesus’ identity, and by undermining the people’s expectations about John’s identity, Jesus can focus his hearers’ attention on the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom is the common point of reference for both Jesus and John, as the substance of both their teaching and their ways of life, and thus the source of their identities.
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[3] For some scholars, it seems doubtful that the Baptist, who was expecting a judge to come with fire and whirlwind, could have framed such a question. On the other hand, adherents of the Baptist were asking just such questions about Jesus even in the time of Matthew. Matthew is pointing out to them the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in the Christian community.
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[5] Bammel, TDNT, VI, 903-4,
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[21] Michaelis, TDNT, 70.
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[24] Grundmann, TDNT, IV, 534-5.
[25] Michel, TDNT, IV, 653-4.
liked the authenticity part I think you should have played the application out more. Seems to end abruptly leaves me waiting for the next step.
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