What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
Jesus asked the crowds to tune back into the original impulse that sent them to seek John in the desert. It was not a royal ruler like Herod Antipas, not power or influence according to the worldly paradigm that made John appealing. He lacked the fine garments, sumptuous lifestyle, and the palace of Herod. Those things were possessed in abundance by Herod but they did not draw others to him. John lacked them all but nevertheless exerted a magnetism and pull on the imagination of the crowds.
Why would Jesus dwell on the distinction between John and Herod? It was certainly in keeping with the theme of the Kingdom, the great reversal, were the first would be last and the last would be first. Further, we know the crowds were itching for some sort of military and political solution to the enemy occupation of their nation. Jesus wanted to demonstrate that the mission of John was rooted in a different sort of plan, based in a different sort of paradigm from that of worldly prestige or power.
Then what did you go out to see?
A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
The crowds experienced John as credible for the same reasons they did not find Herod to be so. Though he had little wealth he had great freedom. Though Herod had much wealth and an important title those things did not make him free but instead held him captive to an anxious need to protect them. Herod was a part of the system of the world by which the unseen spiritual powers manipulated and then heartlessly disposed of individuals such as himself. John was not a part of that system and because of that his voice could be trusted to bring truth. He had nothing to prove or to protect, save the message with which he was entrusted.
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
he will prepare your way before you.
If the crowds could follow this logic with John, and come to accept that "among those born of women, no one is greater than John" they would be in a better place to recognize and welcome Jesus himself and accept the surprising shape of the Kingdom he came to inaugurate. John represented the definitive step away from the world. In Jesus himself the Kingdom was brought to earth.
I tell you,
among those born of women, no one is greater than John;
yet the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.
It was first those with the lowest stakes, with the least to lose in the system of worldly power that were able to make this step with John and then unto Jesus. They laid the groundwork of a Kingdom of faith, of justice, and of love, rather than one of manipulative power. They prepared the inheritance that we now celebrate.
All the people who listened, including the tax collectors,
who were baptized with the baptism of John,
acknowledged the righteousness of God;
but the Pharisees and scholars of the law,
who were not baptized by him,
rejected the plan of God for themselves.
The real problem which the Messiah was sent to address was the restoration of the relationship between humankind and God, between individuals and their neighbors. He did not come first to fix the circumstances. No external circumstances could suffice while hearts were still enslaved. People had gradually grown to recognize and to long for a solution, realizing more and more that they could not themselves solve it. For a time God had seemed to turn his back on this problem, to be disinterested in restoring this relationship fully. But this was only so that we would be ready to appreciate and accept it all the more when he did finally choose to restore it.
For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with great tenderness I will take you back.
In an outburst of wrath, for a moment
I hid my face from you;
But with enduring love I take pity on you,
says the LORD, your redeem
Through the law and the prophets God had provisionally spoken and addressed the people whom he loved. But their hearts were not yet healed. Finally, in the Messiah, the Lord was ready to do something definitive, to solve the problem in a way which would hold for all ages.
So I have sworn not to be angry with you,
or to rebuke you.
Though the mountains leave their place
and the hills be shaken,
My love shall never leave you
nor my covenant of peace be shaken,
says the LORD, who has mercy on you.
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