"Who are you? Who? who? who? who?"
In the chapter before us, we have one question asked of two people. "Who are you? Who, who, who, who?" And it is about two, two, two, two. Who is John the Baptist? Who is Jesus? John asks the question, “Who is Jesus?” (v. 2). Jesus asks the question, “Who is John?” (vv. 7ff).
And in Matthew chapter 11, we have two answers to these questions: the popular answer, and Jesus’ answer.
The two questions are related because the work of Jesus and John are related. And the two questions are important because Jesus and John are important.
In fact, the answer to these two questions can change your life. So let’s pray that we understand together who John is and who Jesus is.
Dear Father,
Thanks for this part of Matthew’s gospel. We pray that you would show us who John the Baptist is from this part of the bible. We pray you would show us who Jesus was, and is, and will be. In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
In this part of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has just finished instructing the twelve disciples (v. 1). Then he sends them on their mission. They must preach, “the kingdom of heaven is near”. They must confess Jesus before men, or else Jesus will deny them before God. They must love Jesus more than their wives, parents, and children. They must lose their lives for Jesus. And Jesus promised them not peace, but a sword. That was Matthew chapter 10.
And then Jesus goes off and does the same as the disciples were doing, “teaching and preaching in their towns” (v. 1). And that’s where we get the first question, when John the Baptist asks, “Who is Jesus?” (vv. 2-6, 10,19).
The question, “who is Jesus?” is found in an unlikely place, on the lips of John the Baptist. Verses 2-3:
2When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples 3to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Now John the Baptist knew more about Jesus than almost anyone else. As a foetus, John leaped for joy hearing Mary’s voice (Luke 1:41, 44). In the desert, he pointed to Jesus as, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, 36). He knew enough to know he was unworthy to baptise Jesus, or even untie his sandal strap (Mark 1:7; Matt 3:13). John even sent his own disciples to follow him.
But now John the Baptist’s voice no longer echoes across the Jordan valley. John is in prison. It was inevitable really, because he kept telling Herod that it was not lawful for him to take his brother’s wife (Matt 14:3-4).
Now John has come to the point of asking Jesus a direct question, “Who exactly are you? Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” Perhaps John thinks that maybe someone else will come, following after Jesus. This would not be denying that Jesus is from God, but John is seeking confirmation from Jesus that Jesus is the coming one, the long awaited Messiah.
Why does John ask Jesus this question? Some think that John is asking for the sake of his disciples. He pretends to be puzzled and asks the question so that they can follow Jesus.[1] I don’t think John is doing this. Or perhaps John got depressed in prison. Maybe he got doubts. He wondered whether Jesus really was from God. And so he asks Jesus for confirmation. I don’t think this is what John is doing.
I think John is puzzled about Jesus. I think John asks the question because, at that stage, Jesus’ hadn’t done everything that the Messiah would do. There were many things that the Messiah would do, that Jesus hadn’t yet done. First, Jesus hasn’t judged sinners. The Old Testament Messiah was a judge. John told people that the one following him would judge with unquenchable fire (Matt 3:12). John knew this from Malachi. The coming of the Messiah, the Lord, would be unendurable for the wicked (Malachi 3:1-5[2]), and would cleanse like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap—like solvol.
But Jesus hasn’t yet done this yet. Jesus has come, but still there has been no thorough judgment. He has not yet judged the unrepentant adulterers, for example, like Herod.
What’s more, John the Baptist is in prison, and John knew Isaiah 61:1-2, that the Messiah would “proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn”. If a captive needed freedom and a prisoner needed release, it was John the Baptist. But Jesus has come, and John is rotting in prison. So it is quite understandable that he might ask, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus has not judged. Jesus has not freed prisoners. Jesus, are you still the one?
Typically, Jesus doesn’t give a straight answer. Verse 4:
Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see”.
Tell John what I have done. Let my works speak for themselves Remember Isaiah’s prophecy? My works fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy. The blind see, lame walk, deaf hear, just like Isaiah 35:4-6.[3] And moreover, I raise the dead and cleanse lepers, and not only this, but the good news is preached to the poor, just like Isaiah 61:1-2 said. Jesus is saying, I am fulfilling Isaiah, I am the one who was to come. Do not look for someone else.
But John’s still got a problem, for John never was freed from his prison. When we read on in Matthew’s Gospel, we see that John died there (Matt 14). John the Baptist never experienced earthly freedom again.
But Jesus was calling on John to trust him. Jesus is saying to John, “Look how I am fulfilling these parts. You need to trust me that I will fulfill the rest.”
And Jesus’ word to us is the same, “Look how I have fulfilled all these parts of the Old Testament scripture. You need to trust me that I will fulfill the rest.”
Today, Christians are in prison in different parts of the world for confessing Christ. For some, the only freedom from prison they will experience will be death, like John the Baptist, Peter, Paul. And they and us, like John the Baptist are called to trust that Jesus is the Messiah who sets prisoners free and judges the wicked.
But, friends, we know more than John. We know Jesus will come twice. John never heard Jesus say he would come back. John simply knew that the Messiah was coming, like when you see a train coming head on. You don’t know how many carriages it has, but you know it’s on the way.
But we know that Jesus came a first time to save, and will come a second time to judge. That’s because we live after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus’ first coming was not to condemn the world, but save the world (John 3:17). And by his death and resurrection, he set spiritual prisoners free.
But in his second coming, Jesus will condemn his enemies. Jesus’ second coming will be for judgment. We see this in his woes on the Galilean cities. For example, verse 24, “But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgement than for you.” Jesus is warning about a future judgement and time of anger. And Jesus speaks like this about the judgement because he is the judge himself, for he is coming back to judge.
Poor old John doesn’t get a straight answer from Jesus. But Jesus does give a straight answer, not to John, but to his disciples. It is in verse 27:
All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Who is Jesus? Only God really knows. No one knows the Son except the Father. Only the Father knows the Son, because he is the Father’s Son. And only the Son knows the Father, because he is the Son of the Father. Here is Jesus, claiming a unique relationship with God. He is Son to Father. No one else shares this relationship. And it is a reciprocal relationship. They know each other. The Son knows the Father. The Father knows the Son. In John’s Gospel, when the Jews heard this claim, they rightly understood it as a claim for equality with God.
And the Son mediates the Father. He chooses to reveal the Father to some. This is the language of John’s Gospel, here found in Matthew’s Gospel. It is the language Jesus used when he was alone with his disciples, explaining everything to them. But now in Scripture, through the apostles’ writings, it has been given to us.
In those parallel words of the Apostle John, “No one has ever seen God, but God the one and only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1:18).
Well, John has asked the question, “Who is Jesus?” Now Jesus will ask the question, “Who is John?” In verse 7, Jesus asks the crowd, “What did you go out into the desert to see?” Who is John? And Jesus wants to hit two false answers on the head.
First, some people on hearing this question might have thought John fickle, changeable, inconsistent, unstable. They thought him, “a reed swayed by the wind?” John says, “Jesus is the Christ.” Then John asks Jesus, “Are you?” Maybe he was fickle.
But Jesus defends John here. A man with only half the information wrestling to understand is not fickle. He just doesn’t know everything.
But perhaps John was “a man dressed in fine clothes”, literally, “soft” clothes. Maybe John was soft. But John wore sandpaper, not silk—a home made camel’s hair. And John may have been the king’s guest, but in Herod’s dungeon, not his palace. No, John wasn’t soft.
No, Jesus will give the true answer, and build upon it. John is “a prophet”. But wait, there is more. John is more than a prophet. He was also “the messenger” about whom the prophets spoke. He both prophesied and was prophesied about. He was the prophesied prophet. As verse 10 says, “This was him about whom it was written.”
But there’s still more. He is the messenger sent before God. Verse 10 again says he is “my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way before you.” He is the forerunner to the Messiah
But there is still more. Look at verse 14, “And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.” John the Baptist is the Elijah who was to come. John the Baptist wore clothes like Elijah (cf. Matt 3:4; 2 Kgs 1:8), and in Malachi 4:5-6, written 400 years previously, the last two verses of our Old Testament, we read, “See I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.” Jesus is saying John the Baptist is this promised Elijah.
Now this is interesting, because in John’s Gospel, we read that the religious leaders ask John the Baptist, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah.” And he said, “I am not” (John 1:21). So what’s the story? Is John the Baptist Elijah or not?
Well I’ll tell you how I put them together. There is a sense where John is and isn’t Elijah. In the Old Testament, Elijah didn’t die. He got beamed up to God, taken by chariots of fire to the God of Israel. Now, some people might have thought that John the Baptist was Elijah returned to earth. This John denies. He is not Elijah physically. John’s parents were Zechariah and Elizabeth, a relative of Mary, Jesus mother. But symbolically, John the Baptist is Elijah. So, in a sense, he is Elijah. It is a bit like when we have communion together. Is the bread Jesus’ body and is the wine his blood? Well, yes and no. Yes, It is Jesus’ body and blood symbolically. It represents him, so eating the bread symbolizes trusting in Jesus, which we do in our heart. But the bread is not actually Jesus’ body. Jesus’ body is in heaven. There is no change from bread and wine to Jesus’ flesh and blood. And in the same way, it is true to say John the Baptist both is and isn’t Elijah.
John the Baptist is a prophet, greater than all the prophets before him, and he is the new Elijah who was to come. But Jesus has still more to say about John the Baptist.
If John has fallen in your estimation because of his doubts about Jesus, listen to what Jesus says about him. Verse 11:
I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
No one born of woman is greater than John. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, indeed everyone in the crowd to whom Jesus spoke, had nothing on John the Baptist. Rugged, self-sufficient, courageous, bold, enduring hardship for the sake of God and the truth; yet humble, always pointing away from himself to another, not wanting to create an empire for himself or people who follow him, but wanting people to repent and follow Jesus. I look at John the Baptist and think that I want to be like him. I need to point people away from myself and towards Jesus. No one born of woman was greater.
No one is greater except you, except me, except the least one of us here. John didn’t get to see that Jesus died for us. rose again, and now lives to plead with God on our behalf. But we have. The littlest well instructed kid in our kids’ church can sing, “He died on the cross, he died on the cross, he died on the cross, for me, for me, for you and me!” In some way, that is more than John knew. Though he knew Christ was the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire, yet there are many things that he did not see as clearly as we do now. So the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John.
So now we have heard Jesus’ answers to these two questions. Who is John the Baptist? The greatest of all prophets, the promised Elijah, but he didn’t have the full picture. Who is Jesus? The coming one, the Messiah, who has a unique, reciprocal relationship with the Father. He is the Son who makes the Father known. And he calls John (and us) to trust him that he will fulfill the rest of his job description—he came once to save, and will come again to judge. That’s Jesus’ answer.
We know who Jesus and John are. But what response are we going to make to them? It seems to me that there are two responses.
We can reject them. We can reject John and his testimony to Jesus. We can reject Jesus himself. That’s what the people of that generation did. They rejected John and Jesus. Verse 16-18
16To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: 17"We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge and you did not mourn." 18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, "He has a demon." 19The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, "Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. But wisdom is proved right by her actions."
John the Baptist: he eats locusts, he’s a teetotaler, he wears camel hair, he lives by himself. He can’t be from God, he’s just too different.
Jesus: he eats normal food, drinks normal drink, wears normal clothes, hangs out with normal, sinful, people. He can’t be from God, he’s just too normal.
Some people are never satisfied. John the Baptist is too hard. Jesus is too soft. Ah this bed is just right, this bed that we make. If I were God, I would send someone just like me. I’m sure we are from God. We are not too hard, not too soft. We are just right. John the Baptist and Jesus should be more like us.
And so people make up their own Jesus. They reject him.
The alternative is that we can accept Jesus as he is. We can accept Jesus invitation to come to him and learn. Verses 28 to 30:
Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Jesus’ invitation is made to those who are tired. And Jesus says, come to me, hitch yourself to me, and put your shoulder to the wheel next to me. It’s a paradox. Hitch yourself to me, and in being my co-worker, you will find rest from your work. The Lord Jesus’ service is perfect freedom.
[1] E.g. Ryle and the church fathers.
[2] “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant whom you desire, will come”, says the LORD Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver […] So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers […]” (Malachi 3:1-5 NIV)
[3] "Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.' Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shot for joy." (Isaiah 35:4-6 NIV)