Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Part IV (Con’t)

An early church writer named Epiphanius. who was acclaimed as the author of a Latin text titled “Interpretation of the Gospels,” points out that in the text where Jesus refers to the people gladly receiving His message like “children,” is not referring to them in terms of age but in reference to their understanding of what is right and wrong.¹ It shows how much more open-mindedness there was among ordinary people than the highly educated scribes and Pharisees. Today, for some reason, pastors and ministers get excited when they talk about some sophisticated, refined person turning to the Gospel and receiving the Word as true and a revelation of God, but respond to the news of an average individual converting as being ho-hum. Jesus focused on those whose hearts and minds were open regardless of their status in society, whether they be like Nicodemus or the woman at the well in Samaria and so should we.

The disciples probably did not fully comprehend how blessed and favored they were to have the very Son of God as their teacher. But our Lord expresses joy that not everyone could look inside God’s mind and interpret everything they saw based on their limited understanding. “Yes, Father, I am so grateful that it was Your idea to do so.’” Here our Lord does something similar to what He did at Lazarus’ grave, where after instructing those around Him as to why He came, He looked up to heaven and prayed before calling Lazarus from the tomb.²

Daniel also faced those who did not understand the God he served, and he too said: “He knows hidden secrets that are hard to understand. Light lives with Him, so He knows what is in the dark and secret places. God of my ancestors, I thank you and praise you. You gave me wisdom and power. You told us what we asked for.”³ Isaiah had another way of describing these know-it-alls: “Look at those people! They say good is bad and bad is good. They think light is dark and dark is light. They think sour is sweet and sweet is sour. They think they are so smart. They think they are very intelligent.”⁴

But Jesus was also thankful that His Father was gracious enough to give insight to His disciples, whom He likened to little children when it came to understanding spiritual things. But most of all, our Lord was so grateful that His Father decided to do this on His own, not because His Son had to beg Him for it. This shows the generous and gracious mind of our Father in Heaven. I’m sure that for every blessing that He has given us as a result of our asking, the blessings He has bestowed on us without asking are probably a dozen-to-one more.

This reliance on God to always do the right thing was intrinsic in the Jewish mind, and reflected in their prayers. For instance, we read in one prayer: “I know that Your decrees, though hard to bear, are meant for good and not evil.”⁵ And it was important that God approve of what they said or did. In another prayer it goes: “Help us as we spend this month in reverence to You and in the love of our fellowman, and do so in order that our way may be pleasing in Your sight.”⁶ So when the followers heard Jesus express Himself this way, they understood that this was a legitimate part of how dedicated people prayed.

One early church scholar puts it this way: “Jesus does not say why it was so pleasing to Him but only gives thanks to the Father, because it was so pleasing to Him. So also we should never discuss God’s designs, what He did in His works or why He did so. But in whatever way God so wished to arrange His own creation, let our thanksgiving be sufficient as evidence in regard to the very nature of God. God does nothing without reason and justice. He did not created us that we should examine Him but for His own honor. God does not want us to be a judge of His actions but a servant of His commands. It is characteristic of a good master to foresee everything that concerns the benefit of the servant. Moreover, it is characteristic of a good servant to work faithfully and not to discuss the master’s intentions.”⁷

So it is when we examine, study and attempt to explain why God wrote what He did in His Word. It is not our lot to look at all the reasons why God did what He did, unless He Himself gives the explanation. He sees from eternity past to eternity future and we see only yesterday and wonder about tomorrow. Rather, we should accept what He did as something being done by the best, and something no human could ever duplicate in the same fashion. So we should marvel at God’s deeds, not mumble about them.

Verse 27: My Father has shared everything with me. No one has a deeper understanding of the Son—only the Father can fathom the Son. And no one has a deep understanding of the Father—only the Son can fathom the Father. And the only people who will really get to know the Father are those the Son chooses to tell.

After His heart-felt prayer, Jesus looks back at His disciples and explains. This was more than sharing a family recipe, this was the revelation of hidden truths; things that God had never announced before in such a manner. Jesus was trying to tell His disciples that His Father had wanted these things known, but decided to deliver them through His Son. This was not like the prophets to whom God spoke and then went out and told what had been revealed to them, this was the Father’s only Son who was with Him before the beginning of the world. Jews always believed that constant communion with God was a sure way to understand more of His secrets. It is amazing that they did not listen to His Son.

Early church father Jerome capsulizes it this way: “The Father entrusts. The Son receives.”⁸ To this we might add, “and the Son then gives.” And what is it that the Father confers and the Son passes on to us? It is personal access to the Father through the Son given to those who were formerly rebellious but now have come to know the Father by way of the Son. Is Jesus then the door to the Father? Yes, because we cannot get to the Father except through Him. In our modern times we can look at it this way: when you use your computer to go online to a specific application, you must have a password. Without that password you cannot get in. In the same way, “Jesus” is our password in order to get access to the Father. After all, that’s what Jesus said: “Ask the Father in my name.”⁹

But there was also an accompanying blessing in getting to understand God’s message, and that was the peace of mind and tranquility of the soul it brought to the believer through redeeming grace. To the Jews this was illustrated by the dove that Noah released from the ark after the rain stopped, who could find no rest of its feet and so it kept returning. But once it found something to stand on above the flood waters, it never returned. So it is that many have tried to find rest in God the Father but could not achieve the peace they sought until they met His Son, then they received peace that was almost too good to believe.¹⁰

So the soul searches for some blessed assurance so it can relax and find peace. One Jewish writer put it this way: “Originally man was on a high intellectual level with God. Subsequently, after the sin, he was comparable to a blind person. In spite of this drastic demotion, God took pity on them, accepting their repentance, and dressing them, relieving them of their nakedness and the anxiety it brought.”¹¹ In other words, all that was lost in the Garden of Eden was restored in the Garden of Gethsemane when our Lord prayed, “Father, not my will but Your will be done.”¹²

Early church father, Chrysostom, says that to those who were not familiar with the relationship between the Father in heaven and His Son Jesus here on earth, may not see the connection. But in Chrysostom’s mind, “In this Jesus is quietly signifying His great privilege of knowing the Father and being of the same substance with Him, He being the only One who knows the Father so intimately. Note the timing and context in which Jesus said this. It was just after He had worked miracles and the disciples of John the Baptizer had received proof of His might by His works. He then thanks the Father that ‘that You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes.‘”¹³

For another early church father, he feels that it is important that we understand what is being said here. He writes: “Jesus added this in order to show that His nature is indescribable and inconceivable, like the Father’s. For only the divine nature of the Trinity comprehends itself. Only the Father knows His own Son, the fruit of His own substance. Only the divine Son recognizes the One by whom He has been begotten. Only the Holy Spirit knows the deep things of God, the thought of the Father and the Son.”¹⁴ No wonder then why Jesus was so insistent that His disciples comprehend what He is saying so that once He is gone they can take comfort in having the Holy Spirit lead and guide them.

Now this brings up the question: why are there so many today trying to get to God without going through His Son? Why do they attempt to understand the deeper things of the Father without studying and assimilating the truths revealed by His Son? Why do they go to the Father for help and guidance, for healing and strength using some other name than the name of Jesus His Son? Once they understand this truth, it will also help them realize why their prayers and requests are not being answered.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Part IV

But there is also an interesting concept to consider about what Jesus said concerning Korazin. We find it in the story of the Greek god Asklepios who was the son of the Greek god Apollo by way of a human mother, a Trikkaian princess named Koronis. Therefore, because of his divine and human parents he was considered both god and man in one. Apollo had trained his son in the art of medicine. Asklepios became so skilled at the art of healing that he began to raise the dead to life. In his statues Asklepios is depicted as a kindly, bearded man holding a staff with a serpent entwined at the bottom. Today, this staff with the serpent is the universal symbol for medical doctors.

However, Asklepios’ raising the dead did not go well with another mythological god named Hades. He considered this a crime against nature so he went and complained to Zeus, the supreme ruler of the Olympian gods. Hades was the King of the Underworld, the god of death and the dead. He presided over funeral rites and defended the right of the dead for proper burial. Hades was also the god of the hidden wealth of the earth. So if you wanted to become wealthy, you must earn his favor.

Hades was also influential among the Greek gods as well. So when he went to Zeus and complained that with Asklepios resurrecting people from death, he felt threatened and might be put out of business, Zeus responded to Hades’ request by killing Asklepios with a thunderbolt. But Asklepios’ father Apollo was so grieved by this action that he went to Zeus and asked permission to have his son placed among the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus, which means “the serpent holder.” His wish was granted.

We have no evidence that Jesus was a reader of Greek literature, but He knew what aspects of Greek mythology had bled over into Jewish thought. As the omniscient Son of God He was aware of all that men were thinking and what they were influenced by. Perhaps this is why when the scribes and Pharisees doubted Jesus’ authority to forgive sins, He would perform a miracle of healing to show that God was also involved in curing man’s diseases. Jesus knew about the influence of Greek mythology and how it had affected the world up to His day. Could it be that Jesus was making a subtle hint at the constellation of Ophiuchus when he said to the people of Capernaum, “And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.”

However, our Master may have had another thought in mind expressed in the Song of Moses: “Their vines and fields will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah. Their grapes are like bitter poison. Their wine is like the poison of deadly snakes. ‘The Lord says, ‘I am saving that punishment. I have it locked up in my storehouse! I will punish them for the bad things they did. But I am saving that punishment for when they slip and do bad things. Their time of trouble is near. Their punishment will come quickly.’”¹

We can see the impending fall of Korazin illustrated in a sermon by Reverend Jonathan Edwards who was widely acknowledged to be one of America’s original and important philosophical theologians and one of America’s greatest intellectuals. He is most remembered and well-known for the sermon he preached on Wednesday evening, July 8, 1741, at the Congregational Church in Enfield, Connecticut entitled, “Their Foot Shall Slide in Due Time.” But it became better known as, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

In his opening remarks, Edwards said that this text here in Matthew, “…seems to imply the following things, relating to the punishment and destruction to which these wicked Israelites were exposed.”

1. That they were always exposed to destruction; as one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the manner of their destruction coming upon them, being represented by their foot sliding. The same is expressed Psalm 73:18, “Surely You set them on slippery ground; You cast them down into destruction.”

2. It implies, that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected destruction. As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next; and when he does fall, he falls at once without warning: Which is also expressed in Psalm 73:19, “How suddenly are they destroyed!”

3. Another thing implied is, that they are liable to fall of themselves, without being thrown down by the hand of another; as he that stands or walks on slippery ground needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down.

4. That the reason why they are not fallen already and do not fall now is only that God’s appointed time is not come. For it is said, that when that due time, or appointed time comes, their foot will slide. Then they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight. God will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go; and then, at that very instant, they shall fall into destruction; as he that stands on such slippery declining ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let go he immediately falls and is lost.

So great was the impact of this sermon, that it resulted in what is called the “First Great Awakening” in the churches in America. However, I’m afraid that such preaching today would be considered politically incorrect. Nevertheless, that’s what it took to turn Nineveh to God, and brought on the Reformation in Europe and the Revival in the United States, so it will take the same emphasis on how people are on a slippery slope when they keep ignoring Jesus as the Savior of the world.

It is interesting that our Lord singles out Capernaum, which by now was His home town. Could it be that Jesus was using the words in Isaiah to foretell their punishment: “You thought to yourself, ‘I will scale the heavens, I will raise my throne above God’s stars. I will sit on the Mount of Assembly far away in the north. I will rise past the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.’ Instead you are brought down to Sheol, to the uttermost depths of the pit,”² when He said: “But I tell you, it will be worse for you in the day of judgment than for Sodom.’”

The spiritual lesson here is more important than the physical. Jesus seems to be saying that those cities who felt themselves exalted because of their morality and religiosity would fare far worse in the judgment than those plagued with disreputable conduct by reason of their rejection of the truth and acknowledging Him as the true Messiah.

Verses 25-26: It was at this point that Jesus looked up and said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from those who consider themselves so sophisticated and educated, but You have shown them to people who are like children.”

When Jesus uses the phrase “hidden”, he is talking about the ability to comprehend with the help of the Holy Spirit. Nicodemus was a very wise scholar and considered one of the top intellectuals on the Sanhedrin court. Among the pious Jews, there was a long-held belief that they had intrinsic knowledge about all things divine. In fact, one Jewish writer wrote: “That which is accessible to us through immersing ourselves in the study of Torah will suffice to grant us the degree of understanding that is appropriate for each one of us for his respective level of intelligence and piety. Generally speaking, God does not legislate laws that are beyond the grasp any human being to understand, although they may not be fully understood by most of us.”³

In responding to this prayer by Jesus, one Jewish skeptic stated: “Now, did Jesus have to say, ‘I thank you”? If he was God, what sort of thanks must he give? Everything that is hidden from all the world is known to him, yet he says, ‘I thank you to God.’”⁴ What this critic missed is that although Jesus was God, He was God’s Son. So there is nothing wrong with a divine Son thanking His heavenly Father. So we see why when Nicodemus came to Jesus he could not understand Jesus’ teachings on the Kingdom of God without having his mind transformed through the power of faith and the Spirit of God, and neither could this polemic writer.

But another Rabbi admits: “There is no one in the world, nor has there ever been, who can understand His wisdom or stand and argue against Him. He is hidden, concealed, transcendent, beyond, beyond.”⁵ One reason for this was attributed by a well-known Rabbi to the destruction of the Temple. He said: “Since the Temple was destroyed, prophecy has been taken from prophets and given to fools and children.”⁶ Another Jewish writer put it this way: “The degree of prophetic insights granted to the prophets prior to the destruction of the first Temple was comparable to ‘a large window.’ After the destruction of the Temple the degree of prophetic insight granted by God to those who were granted it at all, was similar to what can be seen through a very small window.”⁷

When we look at the spiritual darkness and confusion that people live in around our world today, while there are plenty of churches for them to drive by; and there are many religious programs on their TV’s and other media resources, their ignorance of God and the need for salvation cannot be blamed on the lack of such things. But what does seem to be missing in many of these churches and programs, is preaching and teaching based on what God’s Word says, not on what man says. There is a Judgment Day coming when all who have ever lived and are still alive will stand before the throne of the Almighty and give an account of their words and deeds. Will you be able to say: “As for me and my house, we served the Lord.”⁸

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Part III

Verses 20-21: Then Jesus began to admonish the cities where He did most of His miracles, because the people in these cities did not change their lives and stop sinning. Jesus said, “It will be bad for you Chorazin!¹ It will be bad for you Bethsaida! I did many miracles in you. If these same miracles had happened in Tyre and Sidon,² the people there would have changed their lives a long time ago. They would have worn sackcloth and put ashes on themselves to show that they were sorry for their sins.”

While these words of our Lord are directed toward these cities, they were an indirect warning to everyone in the cities where His mission group had gone. Jesus’ reference to Chorazin raises a question as to exactly what place He meant. This name does not appear anywhere else in Scripture, except where our Lord’s words are repeated in Luke 10:13, nor does Josephus the Jewish historian list it in his writings.

The meaning of this name depends on whether Chorazin is a Greek or Hebrew word. The Jewish Bible renders it as “Korazin”, and the Aramaic Version has “Khorzain.” Most scholars believe that it is an area, rather than a city. Dr. John Lightfoot suggests that it may be a reference to Cana, while early church father Origen reads it as “the region of Zin.” But most feel that it was located north of Capernaum and may be at the foothills of the Mount of Transfiguration. Regardless of its exact location, the warning is where the real emphasis lies. Chorazin and Bethsaida were not known as wicked places, as were Tyre and Sidon with their pagan rituals and debauchery.

Sackcloth and ashes were also used as a public sign of repentance and humility before God. When Jonah declared to the people of Nineveh that God was going to destroy them for their wickedness, everyone from the king on down responded with repentance, fasting, and sackcloth and ashes. They even put sackcloth on their animals.³ One method of teaching missionaries to introduce repentance to the people they evangelized was called the “ABC’s of Repentance”: A– Acknowledge your sin; B – Be repentant; C – Confess your sins to the Lord; and D – Don’t sin again.

Early church theologian Jerome had this to say about why our Lord included cities that are not recorded in Scripture as part of His ministry. He writes: “Our Savior laments Chorazin and Bethsaida, cities of Galilee, because after such great miracles and acts of goodness they did not repent. Even Tyre and Sidon, cities that surrendered to idolatry and other vices, are preferred to them. Tyre and Sidon are preferred for the reason that although they trampled down the law, still Chorazin and Bethsaida, after they transgressed natural and written law, cared little for the miracles that were performed among them. If we ask where it is written that our Lord performed miracles in Chorazin and Bethsaida, we read above: “And he went around to all the towns and villages, curing every infirmity” and the rest. Thus among the other towns and villages it must be judged that the Lord performed miracles in Chorazin and Bethsaida as well.”⁴

Verses 22-24: But I tell you, on the day of judgment it will be worse for you than for Tyre and Sidon. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? No! You will be thrown down to the place of death. I did many miracles in you. If these same miracles had happened in Sodom, the people there would have stopped sinning, and it would still be a city today.

Now our Lord turns His attention away from the doubters in the crowd to the doubting citizens in the various cities that were graced by His presence. He echoes the words in the song by Asaph, “But my people did not listen to me. Israel did not obey me. So I let them go their own stubborn way and do whatever they wanted. If my people would listen to me and would live the way I want, then I would defeat their enemies.”⁵ But the longer our Lord speaks, the more it sounds like what the prophet Isaiah expressed, “I raised my children and helped them grow up, but they have turned against me. A bull knows its master, and a donkey knows where its owner feeds it. But Israel does not know me. My people do not understand.”⁶

But a condemnation of one city because their attitude toward God was compared to that of a more sinful city is found in God’s word to Jerusalem through Ezekiel. He said: “Your sister Sodom and her daughters were proud. They had too much to eat and too much time on their hands, and they did not help poor, helpless people. Sodom and her daughters became too proud and began to do terrible things in front of me. So I punished them! And Samaria did only half as many bad things as you did. You did many more terrible things than Samaria! You have done so many more terrible things than your sisters have done. Sodom and Samaria seem good compared to you. So you must bear your shame. You have made your sisters look good compared to you. You have done terrible things, so you should be ashamed.”⁷

Here Jesus definitely confirms the belief in a day of judgment for disobedience in rejecting God’s Word. Such judgment was already carried out on Sodom and Gomorrah which now lie buried in the mud at the bottom of the Dead Sea. Tyre and Sidon were on the list for judgment. Therefore the people in Korazin (Chorazin), Bethsaida and Capernaum could already see what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah and what would be happening to Tyre and Sidon and estimate their own destruction were it to be even worse. Prophetically speaking, these judgments were not to be confused with the judgment at the end of time since all of these cities are already gone and only their ruins still remain.

The confusion may come from erroneously taking the term “Judgment Day” to only mean one such day in the future. History shows us that many people and nations have already faced days of judgment because of their sins and rejection of Christ and God’s Word. We must consider whether Christ was giving credence here to a particular dogma, or simply using this illustration to make a point, much like a parable. True, He wanted to impress upon the populace of the cities of Korazin (Chorazin), Bethsaida and Capernaum of the mistake and sin they were committing. Their rejection of repentance would stand as a witness against them, making them ripe for judgment. They had made the Son of God welcome but then turned their backs on His appeal.

It sounds as though Jesus was reliving the experience of the prophet Ezekiel, after God commissioned him to speak what He gave him to say, “I am not sending you to many different countries where people speak languages you cannot understand. If you went to those people and spoke to them, they would listen to you. But you will not have to learn those hard languages. No, I am sending you to the family of Israel. Only, these people have hard heads—they are very stubborn! And the people of Israel will refuse to listen to you because they don’t want to listen to me.”⁸ Had the people of these cities really understood what Jesus said and did among them, they would have followed the example of Job, “And I am ashamed of myself. I am so sorry. As I sit in the dust and ashes, I promise to change my heart and my life.”⁹

Now we must ask ourselves, will this same type of variance in judgment and penalties be applied to people committing the same sin? In other words, if there are different types or levels of rejection of the truth, will there subsequently be different types or levels of punishment? The common charge against all of these cities was their rebellion against God. But Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum had witnessed the coming of a Savior. They had seen the miracles that He performed but still refused to repent. The people of Sodom never saw such miracles. If this be so of a metropolis, how much more for those on this side of the cross if they reject so great a salvation!

Too many are worried only over the sin of Sodom, but not the sin of Capernaum. God will hold us accountable on the basis of what we know about the truth. Jesus hinted at this when He said, “To whom much is given, much will be required.” The only thing needed to make this an acceptable option, is not a clearly stated doctrine, but based on the myriad of Scriptures that declare that God is a just God. We find an interesting chapter on the city of Tyre and Sidon in Isaiah.¹⁰ But Jesus does not leave out His hometown of Capernaum.

A similar prophecy was made against Edom because they thought they were invulnerable due to the fact they made their homes high up on the mountainside in the caves, but God said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Even though you fly high like the eagle and put your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there.’”¹¹ But Capernaum was along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, so there must have been another reason. Perhaps Jesus used heaven as a metaphor for fame and fortune, and employed the word death figuratively as a symbol for it becoming a ghost town.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Part III

Verses 16-17: So what can I say about these kind of people today? What are they really like? The people today are like children playing in the marketplace. One group of children yell at the other group, “We played flute music for you, but you did not dance; we sang a funeral song, but you did not mourn.”

Like in any culture, there are games that children play to express fantasies and make believe stories. Oft times they are children’s versions of adult games and activities. In this case, it appears that the one game came from a festival or wedding, and the other from a funeral or burial. But the point here is that some of the children did not want to play the game. So the kids who were pantomiming did not like it that their friends were so uncooperative.

But Jesus is using this to illustrate the attitude of many who did not take John the Baptizer seriously. God had set forth a plan of redemption and salvation, and the very people He wanted to reveal it to did not respond in a serious and meaningful way. Rabbi Johanan learned this from Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai, “What is meant by, ‘If a wise man contends with a foolish man, whether he screams or laughs, nothing is accomplished?’¹ Rabbi Papa commented: That’s why men say, ‘You can weep or laugh for the person who does not know their future. But mourn for him who doesn’t know the difference between good and bad’.”²

So Jesus tapped into an already existing understanding of how people in the past had failed to abide by God’s will because they did not take His plan seriously. But none of this prevented the Messiah from coming when the time for His arrival came. And by the same token, nothing that has been done since His ascension back into heaven; no amount of doubt, skepticism, or unbelief will prevent His appearance in the skies to call those who have died in the faith from their resting place, and transform those still alive so they call all meet Him and each other in the air.

And as we look down the road of Revelation, there will be nothing that the Antichrist or the Beast or the Serpent can do in the future that will stop Him from coming to earth a second time to set up the Kingdom of God for a thousand years. So don’t let your heart be troubled, keep on believing, and you will see it happen as sure as there is a God who can make it happen. Then Jesus offers an example of applied theology:

Verses 18-19: Now in John the Baptizer’s case, when he showed up they did not see him eating or drinking wine like other people. Yet people keep saying: “He has a demon inside him.” However, the Son of Man came eating and drinking and people are saying: “Look at Him! He eats too much and drinks too much wine. He’s a friend of tax collectors and other sinners.” But the truth will be vindicated by the actual outcome.

Now our Lord turns philosopher. He wants the people to see how their actions and words exemplify their warped mentality. He uses an illustration of one group of children being disappointed because what they do does not have the intended effect. Could it be that our Lord was paraphrasing the story in Isaiah where the prophet uses a children’s nursery rhyme?³ In Hebrew it goes like this: Tzav la-tzav, tzav la-tzav, kav la-kav, kav la-kav, z‘eir sham, z‘eir sham. Then the Master points to the people and more or less says, that’s what you are doing to John the Baptizer and myself. In other words, you people had a preconceived idea of what both of us should be, but it hasn’t turned out that way and so you are upset.

This may also be true about many believers who even to this day do not want to admit that Jesus drank wine. Here we have our Lord’s own words that He did in fact consume wine. What type of wine is another debate. As far as John the Baptizer was concerned, he was following the advice God gave to the prophet Jeremiah, “And you are not to go into any house where there is celebrating to sit with them, eating and drinking.”⁴ And John the Baptizer also suffered the same scorn that many other prophets encountered, “The prophet is a fool. This man with God’s Spirit is crazy.”⁵

But the lament of the prophet Jeremiah would fit well with what Jesus was feeling at this moment, “My dear Jerusalem, what can I say about you? Who can I compare you to? Who can I say you are like? How can I comfort you, city of Zion? Have you been injured so severely that there is no remedy for your wounds?”⁶ But in the end, the fact, not the fiction, would prove that both He and John the Baptizer were in fact genuine prophets sent from God to awaken Israel to the Kingdom of God and salvation through grace.

One question any interested Christian would ask at this point may be: “What did John the Baptizer’s abstinence from meals served at festival with wine, and Jesus’ apparent acceptance of this as part of being who He was, have to do with the people’s acceptance of John the Baptizer as the forerunner of the Messiah, and Jesus as the Anointed One?” Our Lord is making the point that even though John the Baptizer was a self-disciplined, self-controlled individual who never stuffed his belly with more food than was needed and stay completely away from wine, they still found fault with him, even accusing him of being controlled by demonic forces. Meanwhile, the Son of Man ate normal meals with family and friends and drank the table wine that went with it, yet they accused him of getting drunk and hanging out with sinners. It is an early case of: “You’re cursed if you do and cursed if you don’t!”

The Jews had their own way of judging if a person drank properly. It is in a story about one Rabbi named Huna visiting the home of another Rabbi. After he arrived, the house staff asked: “Sir, would you please recline on the couch. After he reclined, they offered him a goblet, which he accepted at the first invitation and drank it in two swallows without pausing once.” The Rabbi he was visiting then asked him: ‘What is the reason that you call yourself Rabbi Huna?’ He replied: ‘That is my name.’ His host then asked: ‘What is the reason that when you were told to recline on the couch you did?’ He answered: ‘Couches are always reserved for distinguished visitors while others sit on ordinary stools. Also, do whatever your host tells you, do.’ His host Rabbi then asked: ‘What is the reason that when a goblet was offered you accepted it at the first invitation?’ He replied: ‘One may show reluctance to an ordinary man, but one must not show reluctance to a great man.” He was then asked: “Why did you drink it in two swallows?’ — He said to his host: ‘Because it was taught: He who drinks his goblet in one swallow is a swiller; in two swallows, shows good breeding; in three swallows, is highclassed.”⁷

Just watching Jesus would have told them He was neither a glutton nor a winebibber. But they chose to believe what they wanted to believe regardless of the evidence. There is no reason to believe our Lord would have failed the test of good manners as taught by one Rabbi: “A man should not begin to eat leek or onion from the top side, but from the leaves; and if he did eat so, he is a glutton.”⁸ Since neither of these two scenarios were true, their attitude was what got in the way of accepting what they were actually seeing and hearing. Jesus had one clear message that would be expressed today as: “The proof is in the pudding.”

When I lived and worked in Asia there were many guests who came from the United States on missionary trips to see the work. Often when I took them to a Chinese, Japanese or Filipino restaurant, they would look at the food and wondered it they would like it or not. I used this same maxim by telling them, “The proof of whether you’ll like it, is not in the looks but in the taste.” Perhaps the words of the Psalmist came to our Lord’s mind at this point: “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”⁹

How true this is of living for God through Christ in the Spirit. Many worldly people listen to believers and find nothing exciting in praying and reading the Bible each morning, going to church several times a week, staying away from sinful activities because they want to keep their bodies, hearts and minds clean for the One who sit on the throne of their lives. But all of us know that it tastes so good that it takes away all the desire for the things of this world. The pleasure they give only lasts for a moment, but the joy of the Lord lasts forever and ever.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Part II (Con’t)

Verse 12: Since the time John the Baptizer came until now, God’s kingdom has been meeting strong resistance; yes, aggressive people have been trying to stop it in its tracks.

In this we see a two-fold period of reluctance and resistance to the new covenant that would be brought by the arrival of the Messiah. The term “until now,” refers to all that had gone on before the Anointed One came to announce that the Kingdom of God was coming. Since this teaching of Jesus occurred early on in His ministry, He must be pointing to past resistance to the coming of Messiah. Herein lies the subtlety of what Jesus was saying. For most Jews, the Messianic age would provide freedom from any and all foreign powers holding sway over the Holy Land. But from the time of the destruction of the first Temple by Nebuchadnezzar to the arrival of the Romans, the Jews had lived under occupation forces coming both from within and without the country. So the resistance Jesus is speaking of may be better understood as longstanding doubt about any real Messiah.

In other words, even the most dedicated Jew had began to despair that the Messiah would come at all. Then in that same term “until now,” we see the resistance that John the Baptizer and Jesus met once it was announced that the Messiah was here. And that opposition was also based primarily on doubt and unbelief. However, we know that this skepticism and aggressive resistance would eventually become violent when they beheaded John the Baptizer and crucified Jesus of Nazareth on the cross.

An early church Bishop had this to say about the strong resistance that came against the arrival of the messenger for the Kingdom of God: “Every prophecy is fulfilled. The spirit of Elijah is sent in advance through John’s words. Christ is proclaimed to some and acknowledged by others. He is born for some and loved by others. The violent irony is that His own people rejected Him, while strangers accepted Him. His own people speak ill of Him, while His enemies embrace Him. The act of adoption offers an inheritance, while the family rejects it. Sons refuse to accept their Father’s last will, while the slaves of the household receive it. This is what is meant by the phrase ‘the kingdom of heaven suffers violence.’”¹

We see this more clearly in what Jesus now has to say about this resistance:

Verse 13: Before John the Baptizer came, the Law of Moses and all the prophets told about the things that would happen.

This was an amazing statement about John the Baptizer by our Lord, especially with the high regard and reverence the Jews had for Abraham, Moses and their venerable prophets. They said of them: “With every single word that went forth from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, the whole world was filled with spices [fragrance].”² It is extremely helpful that Jesus describes the state of things as He sees them at that point in His ministry. Until John the Baptizer started preaching repentance, and Jesus the Messiah arrived, all of the prophesies about His coming were known. But since the time of Malachi’s prophecy about Elijah and the advent of the Messiah, prophesies had ceased and were restricted to the time they were made and for limited purposes.³ According to Bible chronologists, from the time of Malachi until Jesus came was some 400 years of silence.

It can be safely said that although there were many Jews who hoped the Messiah would appear during this time because of their suffering, others turned away from their faith and their apprehension caused many of them to look for the world-to-come Jews and reject Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah.

So instead of the announcement of John the Baptizer and the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth receiving a joyful and excited welcome, they were both given a cold shoulder and ridiculed for the claims they made. In addition, many of the Rabbis believed that all these prophecies concerning the Messiah would apply only when that moment came for His arrival to set Israel free. Since this did not seem to be the theme of John the Baptizer’s preaching nor the subject of Jesus teaching, they rejected what they heard.

One Rabbi surmised that since goodness and prosperity would accompany the Messiah’s appearance, then why are the poor still around?⁴ Others concluded that based on Deuteronomy 15:11, this implied that poverty would continue up to the Messianic era and then be erased. This same Rabbi goes on to state: “All the prophets prophesied only for the Messianic age.”⁵ In other words, all that was scheduled for the world to come, that the “eye has not seen” would be for those who wait patiently for the Messiah to appear.

Since these critics of John the Baptizer and Jesus had seen nothing to convince them that the world-to-come had arrived, it was easy for them to dismiss the two as impostors. One Rabbi even went so far as to say: “There shall be no Messiah for Israel, because they have already enjoyed him in the days of Hezekiah.”⁶ While other Rabbis disagreed, it still signaled there was a segment of Jewish society that did believe, and made the task for John the Baptizer and Jesus of Nazareth even harder. But what they didn’t know, was that both these holy men and instruments of God were foretelling that the day would come when everything they dreamed about the Messianic arrival would go up in flames as the Temple crumbled before their eyes.⁷ It is important to notice, from that day to this, no prophet has risen in Israel who added one word to the prophecies of the Messiah.

So the disagreement between the Rabbis mentioned before gets wider and wider as they continue to look to the future, when in fact He has already come. But I don’t think that Jesus meant for what He said to be taken as far as some would do in completely dismissing what the Jews said and understood about how God spoke and what He said, as one church father indicated: “So, too, it will be no speech of the Father to the Jew: ‘Thou art always with Me, and all Mine are thine.’ For the Jews are pronounced ‘apostate sons, begotten indeed and raised on high, but who have not understood the Lord, and who have quite forsaken the Lord, and have provoked unto anger the Holy One of Israel’”.⁸ So Jesus leaves it up to His listeners to accept or dismiss what He was saying.

Verse 14: And if you believe what they said, then John the Baptizer is Elijah. He is the one they said would come. So you people who hear this, listen closely!

The coming of Elijah was no surprise to the Jews. After all, long after Micah made his prediction a Jewish scribe echoed the same promise around 180-175 BC: “At the appointed time, it is written, you are destined to calm the wrath of God before it breaks out in fury, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and to restore the tribes of Jacob”.⁹ Moses and Elijah were important to the Jews for several reasons, but one of them was their shared experience of ascension. Said the Rabbis: “Did not Moses and Elijah ascend to Heaven? Is it not in fact written, ‘And Moses went up unto God?’¹⁰…But is it not written, ‘And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven?’¹¹”.¹² This may put new light on why Peter thought they should build three tabernacles on the mountain after Jesus, Elijah and Moses spoke to each other during the transfiguration.¹³

We also find throughout Jewish literature where Rabbis tell of having spoken to the spirit of Elijah and were able to ask him questions. In one case, Rabbah ben Abbuha encountered the spirit of Elijah and said to him: “Which of these reasons prompted Esther to act as she did? Elijah replied: All the reasons given by all the Teachers and all the Expounders’.¹⁴ In another instance, Rabbi Joshua ben Levi met Elijah’s spirit standing by the entrance of Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai’s tomb and asked him: “Have I a portion in the world to come?”¹⁵

So Jesus knew He was speaking to people who accepted that Elijah could appear and speak to people. Yet, even though John the Baptizer proclaimed the coming of the Anointed One, his message was mainly to Jews before the crucified and risen Messiah would send out apostles to tell the whole world. According to Jesus’ own words, no human ever born of the flesh has ever risen to the stature of John the Baptizer in bringing the good news of the kingdom of heaven. Yet, the most insignificant Christian having been born of the Spirit is greater in the kingdom of heaven than John the Baptizer because of their mission to save the world.

Jesus then goes on to explain why: It’s not because John the Baptizer will be left out of the kingdom; it’s not because John the Baptizer was not anointed to preach the good news; it’s not because John the Baptizer did not fulfill God’s will for his life. It was because up until John the Baptizer’s coming the kingdom of God had little chance of advancing and being accepted because it’s concept of salvation by faith were rejected under the Law. But now, every born again believer will be able to advance the kingdom significantly and its acceptance under Grace.

This is significant because as Job says, “We are all human beings. Our life is short and full of trouble. Our life is like a flower that grows quickly and then dies away. Our life is like a shadow that is here for a short time and then is gone. So God, do You need to keep an eye on something so small?”¹⁶ But while this effort to spread God’s grace in His kingdom is momentous, it hasn’t been easy. Our Lord points out that many have been trying to force their way in. But this has been no surprise to God, He knew it all along. As a matter of fact, God used the prophet Malachi to announce it, “Remember and obey the law of my servant Moses. I gave those laws and rules to him at Mount Horeb. They are for all the people of Israel. Look, I will send Elijah the prophet to you. He will come before that great and terrible time of judgment from the Lord.”¹⁷

But the question is, will they believe what they’ve heard. Our Lord echoes the thoughts from Ezekiel: “They are people who refuse to obey, so they may not listen to you. But even if they don’t stop sinning, at least they will know that there is a prophet living among them.”¹⁸ This may have been because Jesus felt compelled by what God also said to Ezekiel: “This is what the Lord God says ….’ They may not listen, and they may not stop sinning, but you must still tell them my message.”¹⁹

What a wonderful commission this is to us today. Sometimes we feel let down and become discouraged because we don’t see the response we are expecting for the time and effort we take in sharing God’s Word. But the good Lord will not judge us based on how many responded to what we said. That work is up to the Holy Spirit. But He will judge us on the basis of our faithfulness to His calling. So, as the great Prime Minister of Britain said to the people of England during the height of the second world war: “Never give up! Never give up! Never give up!

I once read where a man took his car to a hotel. As soon as he arrived he immediately declared bankruptcy. How and why did that happen? Let your imagination run loose and see if you can come up with an answer.

The problem with this brain teaser is that there is not enough information to find a clear answer. It reminds me of what may go through the mind of a person who is told to repeat a prayer offered by the speaker, and if they do they will immediately be born again, all their sins will be washed away, and they will become a new creation in Christ Jesus.

Now, if this is said after the speaker has offered a message in which sin and the penalty of sin is clearly defined, and Jesus is described as the only Savior to whom the Holy Spirit will lead us to in order for us to received forgiveness from the Father who is in heaven, then there is enough to go on to make a decision. But to offer a new life in Christ to anyone after talking about how blessed, prosperous, and favored you will become just by saying that prayer is very misleading.

I remember answering the phone years ago and being told I had just won a completely paid trip for two to a resort for three days because my name was picked out of the phone book. The joyfully sounding person on the other end told me that my airfare, hotel costs, meals and other expenses would be fully covered. All I had to do was say, “Yes!”

Thank God I was born of Prussian stock and my German brain began to yell, “Check this out!” So I started to investigate and found out it was a real estate agency trying to sell homes in a resort area, and once you accepted the invitation and went, they were hoping to woo you into buying property. Of course, I politely turned down their invitation.

The sinner’s prayer asking for mercy and forgiveness of sin should only be said after the person is properly informed of what such a confession will do and their responsibilities in accepting God’s answer. It is not always a smooth, prosperous ride after you make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life. So they may end up trying to pay back a loan they really didn’t know they were taking out on some property in heaven that will only be theirs after they die.

Oh yes, the man in the brainteaser. He was playing Monopoly and landed on property with a hotel belonging to another player and didn’t have enough money to pay the rent. That makes a lot more sense, doesn’t it!

In a church I pastored in the Dakotas years ago, one Sunday evening after preaching a salvation message I invited anyone who wanted to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior to come forward so we could pray with them. I innocently used this phrase: “Let the blood of Jesus Christ wash away all your sins. Let his blood cleanse you and set you free.”

I noticed a lady stand up and start forward but then stop. She returned to her pew for a second or two, and then left the sanctuary through the front door. While we prayed with those who did come forward, she suddenly reappeared and came forward with tears in her eyes. After I led her in prayer for salvation, she looked up at me and said, “Okay, I’m ready”

I was so happy, I thought she meant she was ready to serve the Lord. So I told here how different her life was going to be. But she continued: “Go ahead. I’m ready.” So I asked her, “What are you ready for?” She looked at me and said, “I’m ready for the blood, go ahead and pour the blood over me.” I immediately connected her statement to what I had said earlier. I assured her that we don’t actually pour blood over someone. She was so relieved, because the reason she left earlier was she didn’t want to spoil her nice new dress. But once outside her conviction was so great and she wanted to be born again so much that she decided have the blood poured on her anyway.

When someone is that willing to yield their life to Christ, can you ever doubt their sincerity? But, it also taught me never to assume that everyone who hears preaching automatically understands all our churchy language. So I made up my mind that from then on I’d make what I said as clear as possible. So when we talk to people who are not church goers, who have never read the Bible or heard a sermon, we should not assume that they understand the language of believers.

The great theologian Karl Barth was lecturing at seminary in Chicago in 1952 when he was asked by a student if he could summarize his whole life’s work in theology in one sentence, Dr. Barth responded “Yes, I can. In the words of a song I learned at my mother’s knee: ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so’.”

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Part II

Verse 8: If that isn’t what you saw, then what did you really expect to see? Someone dressed in expensive clothing? Of course not. People who wear fine clothes are all in kings’ palaces.

Here our Lord gives us insight into one of the tricks of the trade for orators, and that was to dress in expensive clothing in order to look impressive and thereby influence the listener into thinking that what they are hearing is priceless. We read that one renown Roman lawyer named Malacinus had such a reputation. This was one of the reasons he was so well respected, especially when he went against Saint Nikon of the Greek Orthodox Church and defended the Jews in Sparta.¹ Today it appears some have kept this practice alive and added expensive cars, houses and airplanes.

So, did they go out to see a finely dressed orator? What they saw was a man who resembled the prophet like the one described to Ahaziah: “What did the man look like who met you and told you this? They answered Ahaziah, ‘This man was wearing a hairy coat with a leather belt around his waist.’ Then Ahaziah said, ‘That was Elijah the Tishbite.’”² This seems to have been the dress for prophets: “They will not wear the rough cloth that shows a person is a prophet.”³

One well respected German Jewish historian wrote in his book, that in the early days of Herod the Great a faction of scribes had attached themselves to his policies and party, and in so doing had laid aside the drab garments of their order, and had appeared in the gorgeous raiment worn by Herod’s other courtiers.⁴ Perhaps that’s why Jesus stated that such people were only found in kings’ palaces. Of course we know that Jesus was being satirical. But at the same time He certainly revealed what would have impressed these critics. It may have also shed some light on how Jesus dressed.

Verses 9-10:  So what did you actually go out to see? A prophet? For sure, and he was much more than an ordinary prophet. This Scripture was written about him: “Listen! I will send my angel ahead of You. He will prepare the way for You.”⁵

So if these people went out to see if John the Baptizer was a prophet, Jesus let’s them know they got what they were looking for and more. Our Lord told the crowd that John the Baptizer was not some self-appointed seer, that he was actually spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, “Listen, there is someone shouting: ‘Prepare a way in the desert for the Lord. Make a straight road there for our God.’”⁶ One Early Church writer had this to say about why John the Baptizer was more than just your everyday prophet: “Jesus now begins to tell the reasons why the blessed John was more than a prophet—from such a One John did deserve praise. Now John had borne witness to Christ, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God.’⁷ But he received more from Christ than he gave. For when John glorified Christ, he conferred human praise on him; but Christ conferred divine glory on John. For John spoke of Christ as a Lamb, but when Christ foretold John he spoke of him as an angel. And John did not praise Christ in full measure, for Christ not only took away the sin of the world but also granted eternal life to the world. But Christ exalted John higher than he appeared; John was a man, but Christ called him an angel.”⁸

And even the prophet Malachi spoke of this, “The Lord All-Powerful says, ‘I am sending my messenger to prepare the way for me. Then suddenly, the Lord you are looking for will come to His temple. Yes, the Angel you are waiting for, the one who will tell about my agreement, is really coming!”⁹ Jewish scholars differ on who they think this Lord or Angel would be. One of them sees this Angel as one who will carry out God’s justice and deal with the wicked.¹⁰ But another revered Rabbi says of this Angel, He could…possibly be the Messiah ben Joseph.¹¹ In other words, Jesus of Nazareth.

Early Church father Jerome offers his commentary on John the Baptizer. He writes: “John is greater than the other prophets for this reason: the other prophets predicted that someone was to come, but John pointed out with his finger that He had indeed come, saying, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.’¹² And he reached not only the rank of a prophet but even to that of Baptizer, by baptizing his Lord. This heightened his significance. He thereby fulfilled the prophecy of Malachi in which an angel is foretold.¹³ John belonged to the order of the angels not by nature but by the importance of his task. It means he was the messenger who would announce the coming of the Lord.”¹⁴

But it is what Jesus now goes on to say that would shock everyone who heard Him. For if John the Baptizer was greater than all the prophets before him, how then could the followers of Jesus be even greater than John the Baptizer? Jesus had no doubts that John the Baptizer was the spiritual incarnation of Elijah, just as he was promised.

A respected British commentator sees Malachi’s prophecy this way,¹⁵ and agrees with Dr. John Gill who expounds: “Elijah the Tishbite himself, is intended; though others think, that some great prophet of equal degree with him, and who is called by his name, is what the prophecy has regard to, which is the true sense of the passage: nor should it be once called in question, when our Lord Himself has applied it to John the Baptist; to whom the things said in it perfectly agree. He was an ‘angel’, not by nature, but by office; a ‘messenger’ sent by God, ‘before the face’ of the Messiah; six months before him: such a space of time he was born before him; and such a space of time he entered on his public ministry before him; and ‘prepared’ his ‘way before’ him, by preaching the doctrine of repentance, administering the ordinance of baptism, pointing at the Messiah, and exhorting persons to believe on him. All which proves him to be, what Christ says he was, ‘more than a prophet.’”¹⁶

Jesus did this for more reasons than to validate the man and ministry of John the Baptizer, He was also pointing this out to show the spiritual blindness of those who did not accept John the Baptizer or his message. So if their spiritual vision was that impaired, no wonder they did not accept Him as well. But then our Master shows the difference between those under the law and those under grace.

Verse 11: The truth is that John the Baptizer is greater than anyone who has ever been born of a woman. But even the least important person in God’s kingdom is greater than John the Baptizer.

One Early Church interpreter of the Bible had this to say about John the Baptizer’s special status: “If John is being judged against other people according to being born from a woman, he will be found to be the greatest of them all. He alone was filled with the Holy Spirit inside his mother’s womb, so that he ‘leaped,’¹⁷ and his mother prophesied because she partook in this as well. But if John is judged in relation to those who are to partake of the Spirit in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus says, he will be found to be the least. Thus Jesus says that John by no means partakes of such great grace as those who will be reborn into immortality after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and that John will experience physical death. At that time, however, the Spirit’s abundance toward people will be so great that no one who has partaken of even the least part of it can afterward fall into death.”¹⁸

So we must understand that Jesus was not putting down or dismissing John the Baptizer as an important cog in the wheel of God’s plan for sending the Messiah. What He was pointing out was that John preached to the Jews and his baptism was based on the old covenant and had little to do with the kingdom of God. But those that followed Him would be sent out with the message of the new covenant, not only to the Jews but to the whole world. So in that sense, even the least important disciple preaching the Gospel would be doing what John the Baptizer was unable to do. Nevertheless, John will have his place in that kingdom when the Messiah returns again.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Part I (Con’t)

Verse 6: Great blessings belong to those who are not offended by what I’ve said.

As they say, actions speak louder than words. Christ could have given John the Baptizer’s disciples a long dissertation on the Scriptures, messianic theories, prophetic exegesis, etc. Instead, He told them only to report back to John what they saw Him doing. Our answer to the inquisitive today should be no less. When we are asked if Jesus is really the Son of God, Savior of the world, let us reply likewise; look at what He did and is still doing! And one of the best examples is the story of the change Jesus made in our own life. So the response John the Baptizer’s followers got from Jesus was clear enough for them to examine the Scriptures that spoke about the Messiah’s ministry.

After all, did not the Psalmist say: “The LORD makes the blind see again.”¹ Did not Isaiah prophesy, “The deaf will hear the words in the book. The blind will see through the darkness and fog. The LORD will make poor people happy. The poorest people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.”² And also in Isaiah we find where it says: “Bring out the people who have eyes but are blind. Bring out the people who have ears but are deaf.”³ Even His feeding of the multitude was forecast.⁴ And Isaiah said He would preach the gospel to the poor and afflicted.⁵ Jesus added that the lepers were being cleansed and the dead were being raised to life, so that John the Baptizer would know that only a man from God could perform such miracles. The Master took the time to do this so that John the Baptizer’s disciples would have no problem accepting Him for who the Scriptures said He was.

Our Lord may have formed His response to their questions with what Isaiah prophesied: “If you people will respect Him, He will be a safe place for you. But if you don’t respect Him, so He will be like a stone that you stumble over. He is a rock that makes both Judea and Israel to fall. He will become a trap that all the people of Jerusalem will fall into. (Many people will trip over this Rock. They will fall and be broken. They will be caught in the trap).”⁶

No one ever stumbles over an object unless they are trying jump or step over it without using it as a stepping stone. No one who ever encountered Jesus has ever stumbled over Him except by trying to avoid Him and ignore what He said. This theory includes no provisions for stumbling over Christ in the dark (meaning ‘ignorance’.) Christ does not dwell in darkness. The Scripture says, “Those living in darkness have seen a great light.”⁷ Upon investigation, they find it is Christ who was standing there waiting for them. If they try to dismiss Him as being their only Savior, they will surely stumble. If they closed their eyes against the light (meaning ‘truth’), they will also fall.

In verse 6 of our text the English word “offended” is a translation of the Greek word “skandalizō.” It is also translated elsewhere as “stumble,” “take offense,” “fall away,” in various English versions. However, in the oldest Hebrew text of Matthew, it reads: “Who is not perplexed in me.”⁸ But the word doesn’t simply imply that this Rock is a mere nuisance, but that those who are offended by it and stumble, will fall into disobedience and thereby sin against God. So it is a life or death decision to either accept Him or reject Him.

Therefore, let’s synthesize this thought as follows: “Anyone who takes offense because they are perplexed when confronted by the truth of who Christ really is, they do not do so in ignorance but by rejecting the light of truth.” Some scholars believe that the final phrase by Jesus of hoping that no one would be offended, was a subliminal message to John the Baptizer who may have hoped that if Jesus was the Messiah, he would be freed from prison and allowed to preach and baptize again. As we will see, that didn’t happen.

Verse 7: When John the Baptizer’s followers left, Jesus began sharing with the people about John the Baptizer. He said, “What did you people go out to the uninhabited area to see? Someone who is weak, like a straw reed blowing back and forth in the wind?”

This visit by John the Baptizer’s disciples must have made a great impact on Jesus and His followers. So our Lord took time to explain how He felt about the ministry of the one who baptized Him. I love our Master’s direct quizzing of the people’s attitudes who stood listening that day. The metaphors used by Jesus are very interesting. The straw reed waving back and forth in the wind may have been a reference to John waving his arms back and forth while he preached. So our Lord’s question really was about them going out only to see this wild preacher hollering and shouting while he preached. But most likely the reference to the reed meant John the Baptizer was not pushed about by the winds of opposition. We see this illustrated in a line from Rabbi Judah: “For the Lord will smite Israel as a reed standing in water is shaken.⁹”¹⁰ Instead, they found a dedicated prophet who would not be silenced or intimidated by their questions or skepticism.

One of the earliest Popes who was known as a great debater had this to say about Jesus’ use of a shaken reed in comparison to John the Baptizer. He says: “As soon as a slight breeze blows on a reed it bends in response. What does the reed represent if not an unsure mind? As soon as it is touched by praise or slander, it turns in every direction. If a slight breeze of commendation comes from someone’s mouth, it is cheerful and proud, and it bends completely, so to speak, toward being receptive. But if a gust of slander comes from the same source from which the breeze of praise was coming, it is quickly turned in the opposite direction, toward raving anger. John the Baptizer was no reed, shaken by the wind. No one’s pleasant attitude made him agreeable, and no one’s anger made him bitter.”¹¹

Since many urban dwellers today do not see reeds growing by the water’s edge, they may be hard-pressed to understand this metaphor our Lord chose to use as the direct opposite of what John the baptizer was and represented. Nevertheless, even today everyone knows that the invisible wind is what makes palm trees bend over as if they will break, and causes tree branches to sway back and forth, and that in autumn causes them to lose their leaves. But John the Baptizer neither bent nor did he allow those against him to take away his steadfastness in preaching repentance and heralding the Messiah who came.

But one of the more modern instruments that may fit the bill is the ever present windsock at every airport. It tells the pilot which way the wind is blowing so that he can face the airplane into the wind to gain altitude faster, and also to land against the wind so that it helps slow the plan down so that it isn’t blown past the edge of the runway. This windsock does not resist the breeze, but is easily moved to point in what ever direction it is blowing. But while the windsock moves in whatever direction the wind blows, the pilot uses it to his advantage to keep the airplane steady during take off and landing.

John the Baptizer was like the pilot. His eyes remained steadfast on the goal of his mission. None of the questions, skepticism or criticisms of the Scribes and Pharisees could alter his direction. Now he wanted to guide his own disciples onto the path of the Messiah. What a wonderful example Jesus presents of this steadfast voice crying out, and one that we as Christians can emulate today. Even when the winds of compliment or criticism blow in our direction, it takes a steady hand to keep us moving toward our goal and God’s destiny for our lives, and that steady hand is the influence of God in our heart, mind, and soul through the Holy Spirit. So don’t let the Rock become your stumbling block.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Part I

Verses 2-3: When John the baptizer was in prison, he heard about the things that were happening—things the Messiah would do. So he sent some of his followers to Jesus. They asked Him, “Are you the One we have been expecting, or should we wait for someone else?”

This begins a new vignette in the life and ministry of Jesus. No doubt John the Baptizer heard many stories of what was going on up in Galilee. So his new mission was to find out what it all meant. This was done as much for his disciples sake, more than for himself. He also may have suspected that the end of his ministry was near.

Bible historians tell us that the prison John the Baptizer was incarcerated in was located at Machaerus, about five miles east of the Dead Sea. Jewish historian Flavius Josephus describes this as a castle on the borders of the territorial dominions of Aretas¹ and Herod.² Being true to his calling as a forerunner of Christ, John the Baptizer now wanted those who had come to faith through him to be able to transfer that faith to Jesus. In his question of whether Jesus was the expected Anointed One, he was passively referring to all the scriptures that spoke about the Son of Man.

The fortress Machaerus originally built by king Alexander Jannaeus (104-78 BC)

No doubt it was those scriptures from the Torah and the Prophets that prompted John the Baptizer to make sure his disciples determine if Jesus as the real Messiah or expose Him as an impersonator. After all, He was the One who would crush Satan’s head.³ He would be a star rising from the family of Jacob.⁴ He would come from the tribe of Judah.⁵ He would be from King David’s family.⁶ He would be born of a virgin and named “Immanuel.”⁷ He would be a special child given to the Jews from God, and would be responsible for leading them to new heights.

Furthermore, it was said: “His name will be ‘Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God, Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace.’ His power will continue to grow, and there will be peace without end. This will establish Him as the king sitting on David’s throne and ruling his kingdom. He will rule with goodness and justice forever and ever.”⁸ He would be born in Bethlehem of Judea.⁹ He would be a prophet just like Moses.¹⁰ He would be the LORD’S Son.¹¹ He would refer to Himself as a Shepherd.¹² And that when He came: “The eyes of the blind will be opened so that they can see, and the ears of the deaf will be opened so that they can hear. Crippled people will dance like deer, and those who cannot speak now will use their voices to sing happy songs.”¹³

So if John the Baptizer could get any verification on these things, he would be able to convince his followers that Jesus of Nazareth was in fact the Messiah. But with John the Baptizer already in prison, there must have been some motivation to ask these questions because like the others, everyone expected the Messiah to drive the Romans out of the Promised Land and establish the Kingdom of David once again so the flag of Israel could fly over a free country. That would then most likely guarantee that John the Baptizer would be freed.

This certainly seems to be the way one early Church bishop understands it. He writes: “About this text, some will argue, ‘When John sent his disciples, he was neither ignorant himself nor did he mean for them to learn, which seems clear to anyone who has entered to a certain extent into the meaning of the holy Scriptures.’ But this is foolish, because when John was about to die and join the departed, he sent them to ask whether he was the one who was to come and free those who had been vanquished by death. In this way the good news was delivered to his disciples as well. John the baptizer had already said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’¹⁴ He already knew very well that the Messiah would offer Himself up to God for the sake of all humanity. Certainly, if John the baptizer indeed knew that Jesus was the Christ, he was not ignorant about Christ’s mission. On the contrary, he knew exactly what benefits were to come to humanity through Him. John might seem to be telling different people different things in different contexts. Isn’t it true that John had so much knowledge about Christ that he said a great deal about him to various people? Isn’t it true that in accordance with the greater part of what John had said in his own testimony, he recognized Jesus as the deliverer of good news? It is hardly conceivable that John was ignorant about the Christ but now was guessing and wanted to find out for sure from Him. That would be inconsistent. And who would, in the attempt to discover something so great, send along his disciples as if they were competent in themselves to teach and witness?”¹⁵

Verses 4-5: Jesus answered, “Go back and tell John the baptizer what you have heard and seen: The blind can see. The crippled can walk. People with leprosy are healed. The deaf can hear. The dead are brought back to life. And the Good News is being told to the poor.”

Just from this context of what Jesus said to the disciples of John the Baptizer, their visit with Jesus was not a short abbreviated one. We are not told exactly when they arrived to where Jesus was ministering or when they left. But the number of miracles that Jesus mentioned certainly suggests that they were with Him for a long enough time to walk with Him through the villages of Galilee and see how the people responded to Him, and how He reacted to their needs. No doubt, Jesus took the time to show and tell them what He wanted them to hear because there was little need to convince John the Baptizer who had already declared Jesus to be the Messiah.

The anonymous early church writer we referenced before offers this commentary: “What then is the meaning of ‘what you see and hear’? As Luke says, the Lord knew that these disciples would come from John. And at that time, He was preparing a worthy meal for a multitude of guests, good people. In this way, even though Christ was silent, His works would vouch for Him,¹⁶ for those who had been cured were thanking Him. Some said, ‘We never saw anything like this in Israel.’¹⁷ And others said, ‘God has visited His people with goodness.’¹⁸ Others said, ‘Glory be to God, who has given such authority to humans.’¹⁹ And so the disciples of John the Baptizer would feast their eyes and ears, seeing the miracles of healing and hearing the voices of those who thanked Him; or at least seeing miracles done by Him and hearing His teaching; or at the very least seeing the good health of those who had been sick and hearing the testimony of those from whom demons had been cast out.”²⁰

Today when people inquire about whether Jesus was the promised Savior, there is no need to invite them to church to watch miracles performed in His name. That would be another way of selling Jesus as a product. Instead, it is the Holy Spirit that draws them to Christ, and when they hear His words preached, the conviction of their sins is what causes them to reach out for forgiveness. But one thing is for sure, the change that comes into their heart, mind and body is the miracle that they can then point to when sharing Jesus with others. And it may be that miracle of a person’s new birth will be what the Holy Spirit uses to  bring even more to Christ for redemption and salvation.