Matthew 11: What would Jesus say about you?

Introduction

Jesus has just finished sending out the twelve disciples, and is now by himself, preaching and teaching. This chapter is going to give us a glimpse of some of those messages. They are:

The primary message, about John the Baptist

A second smaller woe against unrepentant cities

A third small message of thanksgiving and call to action

As we dive into the first message, a reminder that we haven’t heard about John the Baptist since the early chapters of the Gospel. We last learned that he had been arrested.

11:2-6

Back in chapter 4, we learned that about a year passed between Jesus’ baptism and John’s arrest. After his arrest, Jesus went north to Galilee where his ministry really started to take off.

This passage reveals something a little shocking: John apparently started having doubts. How could that be?

John’s story shows us that doubt isn’t a bad thing. In fact, doubt should lead to reinforcing our faith. Which is exactly what John did. He didn’t immediately abandon Jesus - he asked questions!

Jesus isn’t afraid of our questions. He’s a big God. He can handle them. We shouldn’t be afraid to ask Him when we don’t understand what He’s doing.

In this particular case, John, like most Israelites at the time, still had a mistaken view of the Messiah. John knew Jesus was the Messiah, but he still expected Jesus to follow his expectations of how that Messiah should act.

John has been in prison for a little while now and he had probably hoped that Jesus was finally lead the fight against the Romans, usher in the kingdom, and (hopefully) free John. But that hadn’t happened yet.

In fact....from John’s perspective he might be wondering, “Has anything happened yet? What is Jesus doing?”

These doubts lead to a bold question: Are you the one, or should we look for someone else?

Have you ever been so frustrated with Jesus that you ask, “Are you really the one?” If so, you wouldn’t be the first!

I actually sympathize with John the Baptist here. There have been times where I have had doubts, or been frustrated with God. But in the end I find myself repeating the words of Peter in John 6:68–69 “Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.””

So what is the Lord’s response to John’s question? Tell him what you hear and see! But Jesus specifically draws attention to certain things that he was doing and saying

The blind receiving sight, lame walking, and the deaf hearing are Messianic characteristics from Isaiah 35:5–6 “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;”

But Jesus also adds the cleansing of lepers and the raising of the dead as more evidence of His mighty power. Matthew himself has recounted Jesus performing all of these miracles so far.

But it’s not just the works of Jesus that are evidence of his Lordship, but it’s also his message. Specifically, “the poor have good news preached to them”. This echoes Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;”

The last thing Jesus tells John’s messengers is “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Surprise, surprise Jesus has always been offensive. He destroys our preconceived notions of who we think or want Him to be. That seems to have happened with John. But it happened with many people.

John 6:60–61 “When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?”

The Lord’s words seem to be another messianic reference to Isaiah 8:14–15 “And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.””

But His blessing is for those who do not get “tripped up” on Him (that’s what the ‘offended’ means). These should be words of encouragement for us when we might struggle with understanding Jesus.

11:7-19: What would Jesus say about you?

Anyone watching this interaction in real time might have suddenly seen the Baptist a little bit differently. Did he really doubt Jesus? I thought Jesus and John were on the same page? Was John not who we thought he was?

Jesus silences those thoughts with a beautiful message about his friend and relative.

My question for you to think about as we talk through this: what would Jesus say about you, even after you might have questioned or doubted Him?

First Jesus asks the crowd what they expected about John

Jesus reminds them that they had to go out into the wilderness to see him. That’s not an easy trek! That means they clearly thought John was someone special and worth seeing.

But Jesus pushes them further - did they expect to see a ‘reed shaken by the wind’ or someone who ‘dressed in soft clothing’?

I think Jesus is basically saying, “You’re questioning John now, but you knew he wasn’t someone easily shaken or someone who would shrink back at threats.”

I do think Jesus’ comment on clothing is interesting. Obviously he’s being sarcastic, because the people knew John wore camel hair and looked like a homeless man - he hardly looked the part of royalty, and yet they still went out to see him knowing this.

Interestingly, this word malakois, is only used one other time in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 6:9 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,”

It was a slang word used to describe someone who was effeminate, or a passive participant in homosexuality. It had a heavy connotation of ‘weakness’. I have to wonder if that connotation plays into what Jesus is asking here: “Did you expect to find someone who was weak or would just bend the knee, kiss the ring, and do whatever the king said? Those kinds of people are in the king’s house, but not John.

Jesus pushes them again: what did you expect? A prophet? Yes! Make fun of John for doubting or asking questions all you want, but the people knew he was a prophet, that’s why they went to such great lengths to see him.

But Jesus goes even further. He declares that John was more than a prophet. How so?

All of the prophets of old merely prophesied. But John was the fulfilment of prophecy (Malachi 3:1 ““Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” )

This wasn’t just any prophecy, this was a prophecy of preparing the way for the Lord. This is a special honor that no other human being was given the privilege. (This is also a subtle hint at Christ’s own identity.)

This is why Jesus gives John the highest compliment, saying that nobody born of women was ever greater than John the Baptist!

And yet....Jesus says that the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John! What does that mean? I think Jesus is declaring that new epoch of history is now here. John was the final person in the “old way” of things, and he was the greatest. Now, even the ‘least’ in the new way - the Kingdom, is by nature greater than he!

I think the second half of this sermon is really focused on the people who misunderstood Jesus and His Kingdom, and often on purpose (which is worse!)

First, in verse 12, he points out that since John started baptizing, the “kingdom of heave has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force”. I think this is Jesus saying that John wasn’t the only one who misunderstood the kingdom.

People who misunderstood the Messiah (Jesus), had been trying to ‘force’ the kingdom on their own terms. But that’s not how the kingdom of heaven works. It only comes on Jesus’ terms, and his terms are far from violent!

Then he says that all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. This is another reference to a new change. John was the greatest of the old order, but a new kingdom is here. Sound familiar?

This same thing played out with Samuel in the OT. Samuel was the last, and arguably greatest, judge. He paved the way for the first kings of Israel.

But Jesus doesn’t draw attention to this similarity, instead he goes back to Malachi 4:5 ““Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.”

Because of this prophecy, the people believed that Elijah (who was taken up into heaven), would return before the Messiah. But Jesus points out their continued misunderstanding of Scripture. It wasn’t literally Elijah who would be coming, it was John “who is Elijah to come”!

Interestingly, it seems like the disciples weren’t here to here this because they ask Jesus about it later after the transfiguration in Matthew 17:10–13 “And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.”

It’s fitting that Jesus says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” because the people clearly did not listen. At the crucifixion they still believed that Elijah might literally come and save Jesus (this in itself was a misunderstanding of what Jesus was even saying).

Matthew 27:47–49 “And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.””

It’s almost like he’s frustrated with the crowd at this point in his sermon. He says their continued refusal to get it wrong is like kids playing in a marketplace, and nobody joins them.

They play music, you don’t dance. They sing a funeral song, and you don’t cry.

And finally Jesus comes right out and calls them out on their hypocrisy. John didn’t eat or drink, he has a demon. Jesus did eat and drink, he’s sinner with bad company.

The point Jesus is making with all of this? “You people are so stubborn, that you don’t get it. You couldn’t recognize John, and you can’t recognize me. Or maybe you just refuse to recognize us. Anything we say or do, you claim the opposite. We can’t win because you absolutely refuse to see the possibility that you might be wrong.”

Despite his frustrations, Jesus doesn’t worry about the final outcome. He says, “Wisdom is justified by her deeds.” (Luke has ‘children’ instead of ‘deeds’). I think this is Jesus saying, “Your willful refusal of me may be frustrating, but in the end I’ll be proved right through my children.” And He was!

This is a good reminder for us when we get frustrated with the world around us. Jesus will bring justice and be proven right. We don’t have to stress, or try to bring about that justice ourselves.

I started this by asking, “What would Jesus say about you?” Even in John the Baptist’s weakest moment, Jesus didn’t give up on him. He didn’t chastise him. He answered his question calmly, and then defended John against those who might be looking down him. Jesus is for us. He cares for us. He loves us. And even in our weakest moments, “a bruised reed he will not break”.

11:20-24: A Call for Repentance

It makes sense that this small woe follows the Lord’s sermon on John. He ends that one by calling out the people for their failure to understand. Now he begins to call out the cities themselves.

All of these cities had seen the mighty miracles Jesus had performed, and yet they still refused to believe in Him. And so Jesus is honest with them: even the sinful cities of old would have been smarter than them.

Tyre and Sidon were two cities that had judgement prophesied against them in Isaiah 23, Ezekiel 28, and Amos 1.

Sodom is mentioned in Genesis and Isaiah.

The bottom line is that it’s pretty damning to be compared to those cities and be called ‘worse off’.

We also get a sneak peak of the final resurrection and judgement. All of those cities had long since died out, but Jesus implies that at the final judgement they too will be raised up and judged. Later in chapter 12, Jesus will even say that the OT cities and people (like Nineveh and the Queen of the South) will do the judging.

The overall point of this passage is that, once we’ve encountered the Son of God, we have very little excuse to not repent.

11:25-30: Come to Jesus

Even though most of this chapter has been message of condemnation towards those who don’t listen to Jesus, the Lord does not forget about those who do listen to Him.

First, he thanks His Father for revealing the kingdom to “little children”. This is the description Jesus regularly gives for his disciples.

In contrast, God did not give this Gospel to the “wise and understanding”. Jesus flipped the world upside down, and those who thought they would “get it” didn’t.

This is something that Paul, who was a well-learned Pharisee, marveled at.

1 Corinthians 1:19–25 “For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

Jesus then declares his oneness with the Father, making it clear that we can only truly know God the Father if we know God the Son.

He then calls us.

Everyone who is is weary from this world, come to Jesus.

Everyone who is heaven laden, come to Jesus.

He gives us rest, by paradoxically giving us a purpose. But it is not a difficult purpose.

Jesus uses the illustration of a yoke, to demonstrate that he wants us to submit to Him and to learn from Him.

But the yoke is not heavy. It is not difficult. It is an easy yoke with a light burden.

How do we know? Because Jesus is “gentle and lowly in heart”. This is something He wants to share with us, if only we’ll let Him.

Conclusion

What would the Lord say about you? It depends on what you think about Him. If you come to Him in faith, even with your doubts and hardships, He will sustain you, love you, and defend you. But if anyone knows about Jesus and rejects him, the consequences are dire. The judgement will not be a pleasant time for them. But Jesus does not want this. He wants everyone to come to Him so that He can give us all rest. May we embrace His rest this week.