Luke 7:24-28

The Importance of John's Appearing. “ And when the messengers of John were departed, He began to speak unto the people concerning John: What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? 25. But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live aelicately, are in kings' courts. 26. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. 27. This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee. 28. For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women, there is not a greater [prophet] than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. ” ῎Ερξατο, He began to, as Luke 4:21; this term intimates the solemnity of the discourse which it introduces. The people themselves, by crowding to the baptism of John, showed that they recognised him as an extraordinary person; and they were right. Is the reed shaken by the wind an emblem here of moral instability? The meaning in this case would be: “Yes, John is really as vacillating as a reed” (Ewald); or else: “No, you must not draw this conclusion from what has just taken place” (Meyer, Neander, Bleek). But this reed shaken by the wind may be regarded simply as the emblem of something of ordinary, every-day occurrence. “It was not certainly to behold something which may be seen every day that you flocked to the desert.” The verb ἐξελθεῖν, to go out, expresses the great commotion caused by such a pilrimage. The perf. ἐξεληλύθατε signifies: “What impression have you retained from what you went to see?” whilst the aor. (Alex.) would signify: “What motive induced you to go...?” Tischendorf acknowledges that the perf. is the true reading. The aor. is taken from Matthew. The verb θεάσασθαι depends on ἐξεληλύθατε, and must not be joined to the following proposition: they went out in search of a spectacle. This expression reminds us of the saying of Jesus (John 5:35): “ John was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. ”

In any case, therefore, John is something great the popular opinion is not deceived here. But there are two kinds of greatness earthly greatness, and heavenly. Of which is John's? If it had been, Jesus continues, of an earthly nature, John would not have dwelt in a wilderness, but in a palace. His greatness, therefore, was of a divine order. But, according to Jewish opinion, all greatness of this kind consists in a prophetic mission. Hence the conclusion at which the people arrived respecting John, which Jesus begins by confirming, “ Yea, I say unto you; ” and then going beyond this, and more than a prophet. Is it not greater, indeed, to be the subject of prediction than to predict to figure, in the picture of the Messianic times, as a person foreseen by the prophets, than oneself to hold the prophetic glass? This is why John is more than a prophet: his appearing is a γεγραμμένον, an event written.

The quotation from Mal 3:1 is found in the three Syn.; in Matthew, in the parallel passage (Luke 11:10); in Mark (Mark 1:2), at the opening of the Gospel, but with this difference, that he omits the words, before Thee. On the ἐγώ, I (after ἰδού), the various readings do not permit us to pronounce. This general agreement is remarkable; for the quotation is identical neither with the Hebrew text nor with the LXX. Neither Malachi nor the LXX. have the words, before my face, in the proposition; but in the second, the former says, before me, and the latter, before my face. Further, the LXX. read ἐξαποστέλλω instead of ἀποστέλλω, and ἐμβλέψεται instead of κατασκευάσει. This might be an argument in favour of a common written source, or of the use of one of the Syn. by the rest; but it would not be decisive. For, 1. If the common source is the Proto-Mark, how could Mark himself place this quotation in quite a different context? 2. If it is the Logia, why does Mark, instead of simply copying it, omit the words, before Thee? 3. It would be just the same if Mark copied one of the other Syn. 4. Neither do these copy Mark, which does not contain the discourse. The coincidences in the Syn. must therefore be explained in a different way. The substitution in Luke and Matthew of before Thee for before me (in Malachi), results from the way in which Jesus Himself had cited this passage. In the prophet's view, He who was sending, and He before whom the way was to be prepared, were one and the same person, Jehovah. Hence the before me in Malachi. But for Jesus, who, in speaking of Himself, never confounds Himself with the Father, a distinction became necessary. It is not Jehovah who speaks of Himself, but Jehovah speaking to Jesus; hence the form before Thee. From which evidence, does it not follow from this quotation that, in the prophet's idea, as well as in that of Jesus, Messiah's appearing is the appearing of Jehovah? (See Gess, pp. 39, 40.) As to the other expressions in common, Weizsäcker correctly explains them by saying that, since “this quotation belonged to the Messianic demonstration in habitual use,” it acquired in this way the fixed form under which we find it in our Syn.

The for, Luke 7:28, refers to the words, of whom it is written. The person whose lot it has been to be mentioned along with the Messiah, must be of no ordinary distinction. The T. R., with the Byz. Mjj., reads: “I say unto you, that among them which are born of woman, there hath arisen no greater prophet than John the Baptist.” The Alex. omit the word prophet, and rightly; for there is tautology. Is not every prophet born of woman? The superiority of John over all other theocratic and human appearances, refers not to his personal worth, but to his position and work. Did his inward life surpass that of Abraham, Elijah, etc....? Jesus does not say it did. But his mission is higher than theirs. And nevertheless, Jesus adds, the ancient order of things and the new are separated by such a gulph, that the least in the latter has a higher position than John himself. The weakest disciple has a more spiritual intuition of divine things than the forerunner. He enjoys in Jesus the dignity of a son, while John is only a servant. The least believer is one with this Son whom John announces. It does not follow from this, that this believer is more faithful than John. John may be further advanced on his line, but none the less for that the line of the believer is higher than his. There is an element of a higher life in the one, which is wanting in the other. This reflection is added by Jesus not with a view to depreciate John, but to explain and excuse the unstedfastness of his faith, the σκανδαλίζεσθαι (Luke 7:23). Several of the ancients understood by the least Jesus Christ, as being either John's junior, or, for the time, even less illustrious than he. The only way of supporting this interpretation would be to refer the words, in the kingdom of God, to is greater, which is evidently forced.

We have given to the comparative, less, a superlative meaning, least. Meyer, pressing the idea of the comparative, gives this explanation: “he who, in the new era, has a position relatively less lofty than that which John had in the old.” This meaning is far-fetched; Matthew 18:1 shows us how the sense of the comparative becomes superlative: he who is greater [than the other]; whence: the greatest of all. Comp. also Luke 9:48. This saying, the authenticity of which is beyond suspicion, shows how fully conscious Jesus was of introducing a principle of life superior to the most exalted element in Judaism.