And the messengers of John having departed, he began to speak to the crowds concerning John What went ye out into the wilderness to behold? a reed shaken by the wind?
John's messengers leave with their answer, and only then does Jesus speak to the crowd about the man who sent them. His first question asks them to remember why they once walked into empty country to hear John.
The timing is deliberate. John had just sent a question that sounded like wavering, and the crowd had heard it.
John, the forerunner, sits in prison. For a moment he is discouraged and gives up his testimony. At that very moment the Lord Himself bears witness to John in front of the crowd. What grace! What tender care in choosing such a moment to restore John! His doubts had lowered him as a prophet in everyone's eyes.
A public failure usually invites others to pile on.
This was the hour of failure. Others would have seized the chance to throw stones at the man who was down. The Lord instead defends and praises His old and tested servant.
The gentle word "blessed is the one who is not offended by me" went back with the messengers, meant for John's ears. What the crowd heard was different.
Once the messengers had gone, the Lord shows His tender compassion and care for John. He begins to defend the same man who had shown his weakness under suffering and long-delayed hope. He asks the crowd, "What did you go out into the wilderness to see?" A shallow judgment might have said John was only "a reed shaken by the wind" when he sent his disciples with that question. But no, the Lord will not allow it. He upholds John's honour and integrity. He has sent a little rebuke to John in private, through his disciples. Before the crowds He clothes him with honour.
Jesus does not argue John's case from new evidence. He points the crowd back to the journey they once made.
People do not go in crowds into the wilderness for nothing. It is a strong appeal to their own earlier thoughts, pressed home on them. It draws them back to remember what kind of man John was.
A reed bends wherever the wind pushes it. Used of a man, it means someone with no firm footing.
Who was John, He asked, the man crowds had gone out to see? A reed shaken by the wind? John was never blown about by every wind of teaching, never giving way to greater power, as a reed bends before the wind. He did not wear soft clothing. He had no fine clothes on him to catch the eye of the crowd.
The place itself answers the question.
People who want attention do not go to the wilderness. They look for what feeds the flesh, such as kings' courts, where they can show themselves off among the glitter and tinsel.
A wider principle stands behind this. How God deals with a person and how He speaks of that person are two different things.
He will expose us to ourselves. He will make us feel our ways and judge what we do. But the moment He begins to speak of us to others, He brings out the perfection of His own thoughts about us. He speaks of us according to the perfect standing He has given us in His presence.
The correction the Lord sent back to John shapes a rule for us.
That word was a little rebuke to John, but how kindly the Lord gave it! John should not have stumbled or taken offence. Yet see how the Lord praised him once the messengers were gone! We should be faithful to a person to his face, but always ready to stand up for him behind his back.
- Timing. Jesus waits until John's messengers are out of earshot. The praise is not flattery to his face. It defends an absent man at the hour his name was sinking.
- Two messages. The rebuke went to John in private, through his own disciples. The honour went to the crowd in public. Correction never came where it would shame him.
- Memory. The question about the wilderness sends the crowd back to their own journey. People do not walk into empty country for nothing. They already knew what drew them there.
- The reed. A reed bends with whatever wind blows. John never bent to pressure or to power. No one chasing fine clothes or applause goes looking in a desert.
- The pattern. God shows us our failures to ourselves. To others He speaks of us according to the standing He has given us. He asks the same of us: honest to a person's face, loyal behind their back.
But what went ye out to see? a man clothed in delicate garments? Behold, those who are in splendid clothing and live luxuriously are in the courts of kings.
John's messengers have just left. Jesus turns to the crowd and asks what drew them out into the wilderness. His three questions — a reed? a man in soft clothing? a prophet? — defend a servant who had just wavered. They also make the crowd weigh what real greatness looks like.
Nobody goes into a desert to see fine clothes. One writer notes where such things are found, and what they are worth.
He was no reed shaken by the wind: they could see that any day in the wilderness. Neither was he a man clothed in soft clothing: they would have to look to kings' courts to find men splendidly dressed and living in luxury. There is no moral grandeur in any of these things. A prophet then he was, and much more than a prophet.
John had chosen the desert. He brought its customs with him when he stepped out to preach.
John the Baptist found nothing there to attract him; he was in the desert, separated from the world wholly and visibly. So when God sends him out of the desert to prophesy among the world and its noisy activity, his heart meets emptiness and silence. "The voice of one crying in the wilderness," he says, for the world was a wilderness to him. He asks nothing of it; he does not go to it looking for "soft clothing"; he brings into it the customs of the country he has chosen.
One writer notes that John's testimony took three forms at once.
When John the Baptist takes this place of preparing the way and making the path plain, it is not only by his word and testimony, but in his own person. First, in his position he is that testimony. Second, in his clothing he is that testimony. Third, in his diet, his manner of life, he is that testimony... He wears clothing of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist. And why? Because God would have reality in His people, that is the reason.
Kings' courts had a real king in view. One writer sets Herod's life beside John's.
We read that "Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man." It was Herod, not John, who feared. This immoral king had given himself over to the luxurious indulgence of every evil passion. The manners of his court gave him every chance for it. John was the opposite. In the lonely wilderness he had learned the hard lesson of self-denial and self-mastery. His hairy garment and his plain diet were outward signs of the moral attitude of the man... John, who called the people to sackcloth and ashes, was not a man "dressed in soft clothing" himself... His practice matched his preaching.
One writer applies these words to an earlier prophet, and traces where such courage came from.
What the Lord Jesus said of John the Baptist would have suited Elijah also: "What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses" (Matthew 11:8)... Elijah was above all a man of prayer. He was used to dealing with the Sovereign of the universe at His lofty throne. So he did not dread Israel's petty sovereign sitting on his throne, whatever the strength of the armed guard around him!
John had sent a question that sounded like doubt. What he gets back is a public tribute.
First, He defends His servant (yes, the one who had just failed, and asked, "Are you the one who is to come?"). He points out that John was more than a prophet (v. 26) and indeed the very messenger announced by Malachi (v. 27; Mal. 3:1). John had just failed to confess who Christ was, but Christ does not fail to confess who John was!
One writer draws a wider principle. What God says to us in private is not what He says about us to others.
He will expose us to ourselves, and make us feel our ways and judge our doings. But the moment He begins to speak of us to others, He brings out the perfection of His own thoughts about us. He speaks of us according to the perfect standing He has given us in His presence.
- Crowd: The crowd had gone out into a wilderness, not to a wardrobe. Their own journey answers the Lord's question.
- Courts: Splendid clothing and easy living belong in kings' courts. There is no moral greatness in any of it.
- Clothing: John's camel's hair was part of his message. It marked a man who asked nothing from the world.
- Consistency: A preacher of repentance who lived in luxury would undo his own sermon. John's practice matched his preaching.
- Commendation: John had just failed, and Christ still defended him in public. He speaks of His servants according to His own thoughts of them.
But what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say to you, and [what is] more excellent than a prophet.
John was in prison, and his messengers had just left with the Lord's answer. Jesus then asked the crowd what they had walked into the wilderness to see, and His answer lifts John above every other prophet.
The Lord's question works by ruling out two things first. A reed and fine clothing both stand for something, and neither fits the man they had walked into the desert to hear.
What had the people gone into the wilderness to see? Was it merely a reed (a weakling) shaken by the wind, moved merely by earthly circumstances? Or was it a celebrity in fine clothing? People who want attention do not go to the wilderness. They seek what caters to the flesh, such as kings' courts. There they can show themselves off among the glitter and tinsel. Yet people were driven to go to the wilderness, to see what? A prophet? Yes, the Lord says, "and more than a prophet."
Neither picture fits John — not his nerve, and not his way of life.
On the surface it may look as if John were a reed easily shaken. But he was no coward. If Herod feared John, John did not fear Herod. You find people who go in for luxury in kings' palaces. There was nothing like that with John.
Prophets spoke about others. John was different, because Scripture had already spoken about him.
He had a very distinguished place. He was indeed "more than a prophet," because Scripture had spoken about him, both in Isaiah and in Malachi. And further, he was the immediate forerunner of the Messiah.
No one else could fill that place.
A prophet he was, and much more than a prophet. This is the witness of Jesus: "This is he of whom it is written, 'Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.'" (Mal. 3:1) He was the immediate forerunner of the Messiah. God put singular honour on him. There were many prophets; there was but one John, but one who could be the messenger before His face.
Jesus is quoting Malachi 3:1 here. He does not repeat it word for word, and the change points to Himself.
The Lord Jesus quoted this verse and made it clear that the messenger was John the Baptist. But He also changed the quotation in a way that showed that He Himself is Jehovah: "What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, 'Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you'" (Matt. 11:9-10; Luke 7:26-27).
When a man falls, most people rush to kick him. Jesus did the opposite.
This was the time of John's failure. Others would have used the moment to throw stones at the man who was down. Instead the Lord defends and praises His old and tried servant. He ends the tribute with these words: "Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist."
Even this praise leaves John nothing to boast about.
Was it not sad and humbling? The man raised up for the very purpose of bearing witness to Jesus now needed witness from Jesus. And Jesus, in the overflowing of His grace, gives witness. He points to what God was doing through Himself, and to John as well. So no flesh boasts in His presence. The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.
The Lord's defence of John reaches further than John.
His day of popularity was over. He was a prisoner. We have often seen it: a man is praised to the skies while he is the centre of attention. Then the tide turns, and the fickle crowd tramples him underfoot. Would anyone, then, think little of John? Such people clearly were not in line with God's thoughts about him. So the Lord, who had to rebuke him, at the same time vindicates him. And what He did for John, He will do for everyone who now faithfully confesses Him (Matt. 10:32; Rev. 3:9).
- Not a reed — no one walks into a desert to see a weakling swayed by circumstances, or a celebrity in fine clothes. Those belong in kings' courts.
- More than a prophet — Isaiah and Malachi had foretold John himself. He was the immediate forerunner of the Messiah.
- One messenger — there were many prophets, but only one man could go before His face; God put singular honour on him.
- More than John — Jesus changed the wording to "before your face." That change shows He Himself is Jehovah.
- Praised when down — the Lord praised His servant in front of the crowd at the time of John's failure. He will do the same for everyone who confesses Him.
This is he concerning whom it is written, Behold, *I* send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee;
John's messengers have just left with the Lord's answer, and John sits in prison, doubting. Jesus now turns to the crowd and settles John's place from a prophecy written about him long before.
The order of things has reversed. The man appointed to point people to Jesus now needs Jesus to point people to him — and Jesus does it generously.
But was it not sad and humbling that the man God raised up just to give witness to Jesus should need witness from Jesus? And Jesus, in the overflowing of His grace, gives witness both to what God was doing through Himself and to John. So no human being boasts in His presence. The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.
"This is he of whom it is written" sets John apart from every other prophet. Others spoke ahead of the Messiah; only one could walk directly in front of Him.
A prophet he was, then, and much more than a prophet. This is the witness of Jesus. He was the immediate forerunner of the Messiah. God put unusual honour on him. There were many prophets; there was only one John, only one who could be the messenger before His face.
Why give one man that place? The answer lies in who he stood next to.
John had a high honour. The Old Testament held a direct and specific prophecy about his ministry, and apart from the blessed Lord Himself, no servant of God ever had that. This was not because John was great in himself. It was because he stood so near to Christ, as His forerunner and herald. His ministry was unique. In the strict sense it belonged to neither Judaism nor Christianity, since Christ Himself began Christianity.
In Malachi, God speaks in His own name, Jehovah: the messenger will prepare the way before Me. Here the Lord quotes it as before You — spoken to Himself. Older translations read "before my face" and "before thy face."
Here we have Jehovah speaking, and Jehovah sending — "Behold, I send my messenger." And since it is Jehovah sending, it is Jehovah who is coming. In Malachi the wording is exact about this: "Behold, I send my messenger before my face." The Gospel changes the pronoun from the first person to the second, "before your face," because of the incarnation. The One who sends had taken the place of the One sent, but the Sender and the Sent are one.
The messenger's work was not to add light but to make people pay attention to Light already there.
God sends His messengers to tell people about the Light, and to call their attention to the Light. He takes pains, as it were, to knock at people's consciences and tell them Christ is coming. He sends a messenger before His face to prepare His way. Men might say, "If the Light is there, it will shine all around, and we shall see it." No! God sends to tell them it is there, but they take no notice.
John applied Isaiah's words to himself and took the low place. The Lord applied Malachi's words to him and lifted him high.
It is worth seeing this. John humbled himself in line with Isaiah's prophecy (John 1:23). The Lord exalted him in line with Malachi's prophecy.
This praise has a limit, and the Lord Himself named it.
The greatness of John, however, was relative, not absolute; official, not personal. He was a light-bearer (John 5:35), but not the Light itself, though he bore witness to the Light (John 1:7-8). Still, he stood above every prophet and messenger of God since the world began. He alone among them saw his own predictions about the Messiah come true. That office was the choicest service ever given to men. "Yet," the Lord added, "the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" (Matthew 11:11).
- Written — John's role was planned, not improvised. Malachi named the messenger who would go ahead of the Lord. Apart from Christ, no servant of God had his ministry foretold like this.
- Sent — his job was to knock at consciences and say the Light had come. People do not notice the Light on their own.
- Before Your face — God said "before Me"; Jesus quotes it "before You." Commentators take that change as proof that the One announced is Jehovah, God Himself.
- Lifted — John lowered himself with Isaiah's words. The Lord raised him with Malachi's, and He did it while John sat in prison, doubting.
- Measured — his greatness lay in his office, not in himself. The least in the kingdom stands higher. Nearness to Christ, not achievement, is what makes anyone great.
for I say unto you, Among them that are born of women a greater [prophet] is no one than John [the baptist]; but he who is a little one in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
Jesus says this while John sits in Herod's prison, waiting for word of release that never comes. In one breath the Lord praises John above every man born into this world, and then puts the least person in the kingdom above him.
John's messengers went home with an answer about Christ, but no promise of release. The Lord praised John to the crowd, not to his face.
The messengers brought him no word of coming deliverance from the power of Herod. Was he neglected by the Lord? Was he a vessel once used, then thrown aside when his work was done, with no care or thought for him? How often have men acted this way towards their servants! Not so the Lord: He never forgets His servants, though suffering for Him may be their lot. So now He bears testimony before the crowd in favour of His imprisoned forerunner.
The greatness the Lord names is not fame, and not even character. It is the office God handed him.
John had the great privilege, not only of prophesying of Christ, but of preparing the way before Him. He was God's messenger to announce the blessed Christ of God. No one else had ever held such dignity as this. No greater prophet had ever arisen. John's moral and spiritual greatness is plain. But that is not what the Lord means here. He means the dignity of the place God had given him.
The phrase itself draws a line. The Lord compares John with other men. The wording leaves Himself outside that comparison.
"Born of women." Chrysostom, whom Sadler follows, explains that our Lord excluded Himself from the number of those so described. Notice too that the word used here is gennētos, not genomenos ("come"), the word in Galatians 4:4.
John stood at the door and pointed inside. He never went in, because the kingdom had not yet been set up.
He had not been in the kingdom, because it was not yet set up. To be with Christ in His kingdom, and to enjoy the result of His glory being set up, was a greater thing than all testimony to the coming of the kingdom.
This is a statement about where John stood in time, not about where he ends up.
John, on earth, never was in it. He came before the King. We shall find him in the kingdom on high, but on earth he was never in it. He was never counted among the followers of the King.
Read as a comment on personal devotion, the verse would be absurd. Read as a comment on assigned position, it makes sense — and it reaches back over every believer before Christ.
To understand this last part of the verse, we must separate two things. One is John's own character and walk. The other is the official place God gave him in His plan. In his person and walk, few even in the kingdom could match his separation and devotion. But in the place God assigned him, the very weakest and least in the kingdom holds a better and higher place. The same is true of the saints of Old Testament times. Take Abraham. Set beside the best of God's children today, the father of the faithful might stand higher in personal faith, knowledge of God, and true devotion. Yet the weakest member of the Church of God holds a place Abraham never dreamed of, because God had not yet revealed it. It is not a question of what we are in ourselves. It is a question of the place God has seen fit to give us. And if He has chosen to give us a higher place, refusing it is not true humility.
The greater place has real content. It can be named item by item.
A baby does not have the understanding of a grown man. What is true of people is true of the ages of God's dealings too. God gave the saints of earlier ages a lower standing than the Christian standing, in every case. Luke 7:28 states this very clearly. Old Testament saints were born of God, and they are now in heaven. But it is false to argue from this that they knew what the Christian knows — forgiveness of sins, justification of life, peace, the heavenly calling — as we know it. In fact the value and effect of Christ's work could be known, in the understanding and power of the Spirit, only after Christ had suffered, been raised, and was glorified.
Commentators differ on which kingdom is meant. Grant takes the Lord to speak of the coming glorious kingdom. He adds that believers already enjoy a favoured place John did not have.
- Place — John's greatness is the greatness of the post God gave him: forerunner of the King, a dignity no one else received.
- Door — that post left him outside the room. He announced the kingdom, but on earth he never entered it.
- Gift — the least believer's advantage is not deeper devotion. It is a given position, one Abraham never knew.
- Content — that position holds forgiveness, justification of life, peace, and a heavenly calling. None of it could be known before the cross.
- Response — refusing such a place is not humility. The Lord who defended His prisoner is the same Lord who assigns each of His people their place.
(And all the people who heard [it], and the tax-gatherers, justified God, having been baptised with the baptism of John;
John's preaching had already divided Israel before Jesus spoke these words. This verse names the side that got it right: ordinary people and tax collectors who had gone down into the Jordan for John's baptism. The strange part is the verdict itself. They "declared God just" — people passing sentence in favour of their Maker.
To justify God is to agree with His assessment of us, and the agreement is not vague — it is a specific admission of what we deserve.
The strange thing is that we who try in vain to justify ourselves are called instead to justify God. For ourselves, "it is God who justifies," and God alone. But we justify Him when we take our place according to His estimate of what we are. He has spoken about us with a plainness we cannot mistake unless we choose to, and with a finality that leaves no room for argument. The tax collectors "declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John." They were all baptized in the Jordan, the river of death, "confessing their sins" — the sins for which death was the just due. So they proclaimed God's righteousness against themselves. That was repentance. And there God could proclaim the righteousness of people whose own testimony was that they had none.
One act cannot praise both God and self. So the verse puts a question to every reader.
Have we taken the place of self-condemnation? Have we bowed in true repentance before God? This is to justify God. The two things go together — yes, they are one and the same. The man who condemns himself justifies God; and the man who justifies God condemns himself. On the other hand, the man who justifies himself judges God; and the man who judges God justifies himself.
The verse names tax collectors. The crowd at the river was not a respectable one.
And what kind of people are seen coming to the prophet's baptism? Tax collectors, men whose character was openly despicable; soldiers, used to oppressing the people. Corruption and violence, but now owned and judged, meet at the baptism of repentance. "John," said the Lord, "came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him." (Matt. 21:32.) Such people have nothing to fall back on, and God can only recognize in them the fruit of His own work.
John's ministry was preparation, not the main event. Yet accepting it decided whether a person could receive what came next.
They were right so far. It was a witness of what was coming: it was a confession of their own sin. So far they justified God. But the prudent and wise — the religious, the learned, the great, "the Pharisees and the lawyers" — "rejected the purpose of God for themselves," because they refused even the preparatory work of John the Baptist. Because they refused the lesser testimony, they never went on to the greater things — the reality from God… It is in the conscience that a person receives Christ for salvation. Feeling and understanding alone will never do. There must be conscience. Those whose sleeping consciences had been stirred toward God about their sins were only too glad to receive Christ.
The heart that says "God is right to condemn me" is the same heart that says "God is right to save me."
When we know what we are as sinners, we justify God, never ourselves. Then in His ways with us He justifies us… John the Baptist came requiring fruit, calling to repentance. The tax collectors and sinners justified God in this… they justified God. The first good fruit we ever bear is always the admission that we bear bad fruit. Then came the blessed Lord, telling of sovereign grace that rose above all their sins; they justified God in this too. The man who justifies God for condemning him most thankfully justifies God for sending His Son to save him.
Commentators differ over whether this sentence is still the Lord's speech or Luke's own aside.
Luke 7:29–30 — Some take these verses as a parenthesis, that is, as Luke's own comment… while others, such as Meyer, Weiss, and Plummer, regard the words as spoken by the Lord. But, as Norris says, the tenses used show that it is the Evangelist who speaks.
Others read it as unbroken speech from Jesus:
Verses 29 and 30 are still the words of the Lord Jesus. The people in general, and the tax collectors in particular, recognized that God was right to send John to call Israel to repentance. So they submitted to John's baptism of repentance, and in public they justified God instead of themselves.
- Justify — to justify God is to accept His estimate of us and take His side against ourselves.
- Confess — they made that agreement public in the Jordan, confessing their sins and owning death as their due.
- Reach — tax collectors and soldiers came, and at that baptism they owned and judged their own corruption and violence.
- Test — the man who condemns himself justifies God; the man who justifies himself judges God.
- Result — the man who justifies God for condemning him is glad to justify God for sending His Son to save him.
but the Pharisees and the lawyers rendered null as to themselves the counsel of God, not having been baptised by him.)
Luke records two answers to John the Baptist's preaching: ordinary people and tax collectors took his baptism, but the religious leaders refused it. This verse is the darker half of that contrast, and it asks how men can push away God's own plan for their good.
The verse names two groups. A "lawyer" here was not a court lawyer but a teacher of the law of Moses.
A teacher of the law, one who explained the law. The Lord said of the lawyers that they put heavy burdens on others, but did not carry those burdens themselves. In their explanations they took away the key of knowledge. They did not go in themselves, and they held back those who were going in. It is a solemn description, and it may sadly fit some people today.
God's "counsel" here was no hidden plan. John preached it openly, and it carried blessing in it.
When John the Baptist preached to Israel, God's counsel through him was "repent and be baptised for the forgiveness of sins." But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected that counsel and would not let him baptise them (Luke 7:30). Had they accepted the counsel of God, it would have meant blessing for them, as it did for those John baptised. Repentance and confession of sin is the way into God's blessing. How sad it is to see men, in Judaism or in the Christian world, reject the counsel of God that would bring them blessing.
Older translations read "against themselves." That can sound as if God's counsel was aimed at their harm. One writer corrects the sense: the counsel was for them, and in throwing it out they hurt only themselves.
The common people and the tax collectors justified God when John baptised them. Scripture says they justified God because, by accepting John's baptism, they admitted that God's way of dealing in their day was right. The Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God — which was for them, not against them — since John did not baptise them.
Their problem was pride, not understanding. John's baptism put everyone on one level.
John's baptism was a baptism of repentance, and that brings all men down to one common level of lowliness and self-judgment. The Pharisees saw this well enough. That is why, puffed up with pride, they rejected the counsel of God and refused his baptism.
The same test still stands, and the gospel presses it harder than John ever did:
They thought it beneath them to enter the kingdom by the same narrow gate and hard road that was open to the tax collector and the prostitute. But there can be no other way to God for the sinner. The grace of the gospel condemns sins and calls for repentance even more than John did, who came in the way of righteousness. The gospel says that nothing but the blood of Jesus, God's Son, could cleanse from sins... It was repulsive for a moral man and a zealous Jew to confess his sins, like a tax collector or a prostitute. How intolerable to stand with such people on the same common level of guilt and ruin!
John's ministry was preparation, not the main event. Refusing the preparation shut them out of what followed.
But the careful and the wise — the religious, the learned, the great, "the Pharisees and lawyers" — rejected the counsel of God and made it void for themselves. They refused even the preparatory work of John the Baptist. They refused the lesser testimony, so they never passed on into the greater things — the reality from God. They refused what their own consciences should have proved true, so they were not ready to receive the gift of His grace. The conscience is where a person receives Christ for salvation.
Turning down the messenger settled what they would do with the One he announced.
The leaders of the people rejected the prophet of righteousness. They would not admit that his baptism was "from heaven" (Matt. 21:25). So they also rejected a greater one than he — Him through whom grace and truth had come (John 1:17).
- Counsel offered. God's counsel through John was repentance and baptism for forgiveness. It was a plain call, not a hidden plan, and taking it brought blessing.
- Counsel for them. The counsel was for them, not against them. What they threw away was their own good.
- Pride refused it. John's baptism brought everyone down to one level. Their pride would not stand beside tax collectors and prostitutes.
- Conscience is the gate. They refused John's lesser testimony, so they never reached the greater. A person receives Christ for salvation only when the conscience is reached.
- Refusal compounds. They turned down the messenger of righteousness, and then they turned down the One who brought grace and truth.
To whom therefore shall I liken the men of this generation, and to whom are they like?
The Lord has just praised John the Baptist, and now He turns to the crowd that heard both John and Himself. He asks what this generation is like, because it had refused God's message in two very different tones.
Some older Bibles open this verse with "And the Lord said." Later copyists added those words. Drop them, and you can see that the Lord is still speaking without a break.
In Luke 7:31 the Revisers are right to drop the false words that begin the verse, along with other small additions that have no proper support. Copyists put them there because they did not see that verses 29 and 30 are an aside by the writer of the Gospel, and that the Lord carries on from the end of verse 28.
The question has a purpose. After defending His servant, the Lord turns to the listeners themselves.
After defending His servant, He also wanted to reach the consciences of His hearers... He answers His own question with a picture of children playing in the market who do not react to any tune.
Commentators differ over how wide the phrase reaches. Kelly notes that some limit it to one group:
"This generation." Meyer, Hofmann and Hahn take this to mean the Pharisees.
Others take it as a description of the whole crowd, not just one party:
The Lord used a question to stir the interest of the people. He asked what He might compare with "the people of this generation" — that is, a generation of self-righteous men.
The Lord compares them to children playing games in the place where adults do serious business.
They were merely like children in the middle of the serious business going on around them, idling away their time by mocking the realities of life. They trifled in their pleasure, they trifled with sorrow... They would have had John dance to their piping, and Jesus and His disciples beat their breasts to their idle dirge.
Notice who gives the orders in this picture. These people expected God's messengers to dance to their tune. They would not answer God's call.
Two very different messages came. John came with strict demands. Jesus came with grace. The crowd refused both, for opposite reasons.
They were equally displeased with John and with Jesus, content with neither law nor grace. People do not like righteousness — that is too strict for them; and they do not like grace — that is too free. They would have part of one and part of the other.
The problem was never the form of the message. Whatever way God spoke, this crowd found an excuse to refuse it.
It would be easy to treat this verse as old history about other people. One writer will not let us.
In verse 31 He looks at the generation and says, "Now what are you like?" ... In substance He says, "We have come to you, children of the marketplace, both piping and lamenting, and you have neither danced nor wept." God's hand is very skilful in touching the instrument, but He cannot get a single note of music in return. That is you and me, dear reader, for the Lord is describing our common nature. God's finger has touched the instrument in every possible way, and He can get no answer. "Nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh."
The Lord does not stop at the charge. He ends with wisdom justified by her children, and Luke gives a living example next.
The one was too strict, the other too free. The gladness of the one and the sorrowful strain of the other were both disdained. But the Lord adds, "wisdom is justified by all her children." Then the Spirit adds the beautiful account that illustrates this. The woman who was a sinner is the contrast to the unwise generation, and enters the family of Wisdom.
- Question — The Lord keeps speaking from verse 28. Verses 29–30 are the writer's aside, and later copyists added the opening "And the Lord said."
- Childishness — The picture is children playing in a marketplace. They want God's messengers to dance to their tune instead of listening to His.
- Both tunes — God played two tunes, law through John and grace through Christ. This generation refused both: one too strict, one too free.
- Mirror — God's finger touched the instrument in every possible way and drew no note back. That is our common nature, not one nation's fault.
- Response — Wisdom is justified by her children. Luke's next scene shows one: a woman known as a sinner, the opposite of a generation that would not answer.