40 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
40 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
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title = "Luke 7:24–35"
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date = "2022-11-18"
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### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Lk7.24-35)
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When John's disciples leave with their answer, Jesus begins teaching the crowds
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about John, and his role in God's plan. He starts with the question, "What did
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you go out to see?" and gives some obviously wrong answers as a rhetorical
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device. This is to get the listeners to be introspective and think about why
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they were interested in hearing what this hermit in the wilderness was saying.
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John warned of coming judgement and of the need for repentance to avoid the
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wrath of God. But why did the people think he was right about it? Because he
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was "a prophet", and then Jesus asserts that he was more than just any prophet,
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but the prophesied forerunner to the Messiah.
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In verse 28, Jesus says no one born of woman is greater than John, but everyone
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in the kingdom of God is greater than John. Is He saying John isn't in the
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kingdom of God, that he isn't saved? No, I think He's showing how great a
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difference there is between a physical birth and a spiritual rebirth. You can
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do all these good deeds, know a lot of truth, even have your life be predicted
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in Scriptures, but it doesn't matter at all if you aren't in God's kingdom. The
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people who had been baptized by John understood what Jesus was getting at, and
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they agreed, because it lined up with what they had already heard from John.
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The Pharisees and experts of the Law of Moses didn't agree with this, because
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they were banking their spiritual future on their good works and their
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knowledge of the truth. They rejected both John and Jesus, so Jesus calls out
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their contrariness. He compares them to children who don't want to play
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anything that someone else suggests. John lived an ascetic life, to an extent
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that he was accused of mental illness. Jesus feasted and attended parties with
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sinners and religious outcasts, so they called Him a glutton and a drunkard.
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These are the same critics, and they weren't satisfied by anyone's message but
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their own.
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* * *
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Let us be receptive to Your message, and not cling to our own paths, which will
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not bring us to You in the first place.
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