7 ¶And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?8 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.9 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.10 For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.13 But the days will come, when the violent shall have no power; for all the prophets and the law prophesied that it should be thus until John.
14 Yea, as many as have prophesied have foretold of these days.
15 And if ye will receive it, verily, he was the Elias, who was for to come and prepare all things. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.16 ¶But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,17 And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.20 ¶Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: (Matthew 11:7-20, including JST 11:13-15)
In these verses, Jesus says some odd things about John the
Baptist that we sort of understand in a general way, but when we think about it
on a more granular level, they start to seem really puzzling.
We understand that Jesus speaks to people who don’t quite
appreciate John as he should be appreciated and that He praises John. But how can Jesus call John “a
prophet….and more than a prophet?
In what sense can one be more than a prophet while not being the
Messiah?
Also, how is it that John is essentially called the greatest
of those born of women yet in the very next breath Jesus puts him on a lower
level than the least person in the kingdom of heaven?
We also understand that Jesus wasn’t too pleased with the
generation that He lived in and how they weren’t responding to the different
messengers sent to them, even with the different ways those messengers
worked. But it is hard to tell
whether He means that He and John were the pipers and mourners or whether the
people were the pipers and mourners that Jesus and John were acting differently
than what was expected of them.
And another question we might have is, in what sense was the
kingdom of heaven suffering violence and being taken by force between the days
of John and Jesus, and in what way will the day come that the violent shall
have no power? I’ve often assumed
this would be the Millennium, but might it mean anything else in addition?
All these questions.
Let’s start from the beginning.
Jesus began to say unto the
multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? – It seems John made it
rather inconvenient to get to him if the people had to go out to the wilderness
to hear him. Jesus asks the people
to ask themselves what their real reason for going to listen to John was. This is about understanding your own
motives. We might well ask the
same question today. What do we go
to general conference for? Or
stake conference? Is it to be seen
by others so that they think we are a good person? Is it for curiosity?
Is it to hear something new?
What went ye out into the
wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? – Jesus asks them whether
they expected John to be someone who would cave to the pressure and teach
something that pleased most of his audience or change his tune if some powerful
person or vocal group was displeased with his message. If they want someone like that, they
don’t want a prophet; they want a politician. I sometimes wonder if there aren’t some members in the
church today who think doctrine is determined by vote or by special interest
lobby and go to conference always hoping to hear prophets reverse themselves on
some important issue.
But what went ye out for to
see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in
kings’ houses. – Jesus asks the people whether they expected John to be someone who
represents a comfortable life of luxury.
If so, they’re clearly looking in the wrong place. The same thing might be asked of
us today. Do we take the prophets
and apostles as examples of worldly success? If we do, we’re looking in the wrong place because they gave
those things up, and we should instead be looking at the captains of industry
and business.
But what went ye out for to
see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. – If people actually went
looking for a prophet, Jesus tells them that they actually got more than a prophet because it wasn’t a
random prophet, but one who had been foretold of, prophesied to come at a very
important time, “For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my
messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.” Think about that for a second—a prophet
is extra special if their coming was prophesied ahead of time by other prophets
along with prophecies of the Messiah.
We know of a few prophets who are given this “prophesied of” status. Joseph in Egypt prophesied of Moses,
and Joseph Smith. Moses testified
of Christ. Isaiah testified of
Christ and John the Baptist, and in fact Christ was quoting Isaiah about John
the Baptist here. Lehi prophesied
of John the Baptist as well (see 1 Nephi 10:7-10). John the Revelator prophesied of two prophets who would testify
to Jerusalem in the last days.
That’s all I can think of off the top of my head.
Among them that are born of
women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he
that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. – In what sense are we to
understand this? There may be
several. John the Baptist baptized
the repentant, but he could not give the gift of the Holy Ghost. He was in fact waiting for the Messiah
to come who would give that gift, so those who have the power of the priesthood
and who can confer the Holy Ghost are in that sense greater than John the
Baptist. From another perspective,
the people noted that John did no miracles, but Jesus did, and Jesus also told
his disciples that they would see and do greater things than Jesus had
done. This tells us that miracles
are a natural part of the kingdom of heaven.
And from the days of John
the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent
take it by force. – This is a little commentary about what it was like for believers in
Jesus’ day of which we don’t see much evidence, so it must be taken on
faith. It tells us that believers
in the Messiah did not live in safety; those who did not believe used violence
and threats to intimidate them and often succeeded in silencing and squelching
them.
But the days will come, when the violent
shall have no power;
for all the prophets and the law prophesied that it should be thus until John. – I
had to think about this a lot and ask myself under what conditions would the
violent have no power. The obvious
answer was “in the Millennium” when all wickedness is swept away, but another
answer suggested itself when I thought of the early Christian martyrs who gave
their lives rather than deny their testimony of Christ. When one is determined to stay
true to Christ and the Gospel regardless of threats or violence, then violent
people really are powerless. And to discover in what way all the
prophets and the law spoke of this would require a separate study of itself,
which I don’t have time to go into now.
I’m grateful for this added bit from the JST
because it shows us that Jesus really did see the suffering of His people, and
He did not intend for the violent to succeed.
And then Jesus gives an interesting metaphor in
indictment of His people in that generation:
16 ¶But whereunto shall I liken this generation?
It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their
fellows,
17 And saying, We have piped unto you, and
ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.
18 For John came neither eating nor
drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.
19 The Son of man came eating and
drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of
publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
For a long time I thought this meant that John and Jesus
were the children piping and mourning in the marketplace and feeling
disappointed that no one was responding as they hoped. But recently I realized that it was the
other way around. Their generation
was annoyed that John and Jesus weren’t acting “appropriately,” as dictated by
what everyone else was doing, not realizing that both John and Jesus were
acting as examples of what should be
done, even though it was different.
John came neither eating nor drinking in order to
demonstrate how the believer should have little attachment to worldly things,
and this was incomprehensible to the Jews who saw it as crazy not to relax and
enjoy life. John’s way of life was
considered too ascetic for the taste of the Jews.
Jesus, for His
part, came eating and drinking with all sorts of people, associating freely
with everyone, and especially with those whom the Jews considered “outcast” and
“impure” and whom they mourned over as dead to the faithful. Jesus did this to show the wisest way
to reclaim the sinners and the lost, but the Jews couldn’t understand why Jesus
wanted to be with those people and why He didn’t seem to demonstrate any sorrow
over their state like everyone else did.
Seen this way, we can see that if we’re not careful, we may
duplicate this attitude in our day toward our modern prophets, if we ever find
ourselves thinking to ourselves, “I think Elder___ is too extreme. What he’s teaching is too crazy/too
permissive/too strong/too strict/too_____.” (I confess I have done this before, so clearly I'll have to guard against it and repent.) It shows we want them to fit with our views, when we should
be looking at them as an example of a particular quality that Heavenly Father
hopes that we will learn to make us better than we were before and different
from the world.
The prophets can’t be politicians, nor can they be examples
of worldly success. The only
way we’ll see eye to eye with them is if we also keep our eye single to the
glory of God.
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