Verse 18 John the Baptist is still in prison and word reaches him that though he is bound in chains, the gospel is not. The Word of God is on the move and performing.

Verses 19-20 John the Baptist had been preaching that when the Messiah comes, so will the wrath of God. But here he was sitting in prison and God’s kingdom had not come yet. John the Baptist sent the disciples back to Jesus to ask if he indeed was the One they had been waiting for, the Messiah.

Verses 21-22 John’s messengers come with the question of whether He is the One they have been waiting for and in one hour, Jesus heals people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits. And then healed those who were blind and gave them sight. There was no question now who Jesus was.

When Jesus comes into our lives He will do more than just physical healing. All of these things listed can be applied to the spiritual healing He will do in us. With His Word and His Spirit, Jesus will give us healing in our souls and spiritual eyesight where we were once blind to His work. He will help us walk in this spiritual life with him where we were once paralyzed. He will clean our hearts of diseases like anxiety, depression, anger, and restore our mental health. Jesus will open our spiritual ears to hear Him speaking. Our dead lives will be raised up to a new life in Him. And we, who were once poor of anything worth value in heaven will finally hear the Good News preached to us and rejoice in it.

Verse 23 Jesus says “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” (ESV) Remember that even though Jesus has done all these miracles that seemingly prove He is the Messiah, there are many stumbling blocks for people to get over in order to believe, like his lack of education growing up in Nazareth, his poverty, and the range of characters who were now following him. All the miracles he performed could not help some believe that this was the One they had been waiting for. And Jesus says those who believe are blessed. Those who believe have shown themselves humble and wise to be able to get past the prejudices of his upbringing, education, and following and see that He is the One.

Verse 24 Jesus tells John’s disciples/followers to report back to John all the miracles they had witnessed and heard about. All of these miracles were fulfilling what Isaiah 61:1 says the Messiah will do. That He is the One anointed to preach the gospel to the humble, meek, those willing to submit to God’s Word. And to save the souls of the poor and needy (Psalm 72:13). This was meant as encouragement to John, to build up his faith that even though his circumstances had him in prison, the gospel message was still moving. The devil cannot stop God’s hand, even if we’re in a holding place in life. This is encouragement if God has ever told us to wait on something. His hand is still moving behind the scenes. He will accomplish His purposes.

Verses 25-27 Jesus then spoke to the crowd about John the Baptist, letting them know that despite his circumstances of being in prison, he was not a weak man. Jesus let the crowds know that John had a strong conviction and was not bending with any wind of thinking, opinions, or ideas that blew through. He was steady and constant. He was a rock and not a reed. If John was a reed bending with the wind – bending to please people – he would have bowed to Herod who put him in jail and did what he could to please the courts and get out. But John held onto his convictions and didn’t let his situation or circumstances sway him from the Truth. John was a man of self-denial and living in the wilderness. He wasn’t living large in luxury. He didn’t live life delicately. John the Baptist was a prophet fulfilling Malachi 3:1 as a messenger who prepared for the Messiah’s way. He received his instruction from God and not man. Prophets who spoke of the Messiah talked about him as if he was still far off in the future. John spoke of the Messiah as if he was here at the door knocking.

Verse 28 Jesus includes that no one is greater than John except those who are considered the “least”. Prophets were considered even more honorable than kings and princes. But those who have been given the mercy of Jesus to follow Him and be faithful in their ministry work will be considered even greater than John.

Jesus was bringing a new covenant/agreement with God that would make amends (atone) for everyone’s sin through Jesus’ death. There would be grace for those who came to God for forgiveness and repented. The gap in a sinner’s relationship with God would be closed because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross that paid the price. Once and for all! And now, even the least of people who believe in Jesus’s atoning work on the cross for our sin can come into God’s Kingdom and they will be considered greater than all those who were under the old covenant. The old covenant, which is covered in the Old Testament of the Bible, required sinners to confess and offer a sacrifice for their own sin. These sacrifices were called a burnt offering. They were a symbol of the sinner, so they usually had blood in them like a bull, goat, lamb, pigeon/dove. If the person was poor, flour was an acceptable sacrifice because it’s all they had. The sacrifice would be brought to the temple and burned up. This resembled the sin in the sinner being placed on the fire of God. Could you imagine going through all that work every time you sinned? At some point, my house would end up in the fire because I’d be so broke from my sin. This is a point in itself – we are spiritually broke because of sin. But Jesus paid the ransom and rescued us from the prison of being spiritually poor.

So anyone operating under the new covenant that Jesus came to bring will have a greater spiritual capacity than John, who had been operating under the old.

Verses 29-30 Those who were baptized by John the Baptist received Jesus. And interestingly, it’s the people who were not highly regarded or highly esteemed in the community who made the decision to follow John and be baptized by him. Tax collectors, who were very disgraceful in the eyes of the public and looked down upon because they didn’t follow the laws and had bad morals when collecting money, there are the kinds of characters repenting and reforming their lives which brought God great glory.

Those who rejected John also rejected Jesus, and the purposes and plan that God had for them. These were people considered ‘great’ in the church and nation and had a reputation of religion and devotion to God like religious leaders, Pharisees, lawyers, and politicians. They were celebrated by people for their knowledge of the scriptures and yet here they were rejecting the messengers of God because of their own prejudices and ideas of what the Messiah should look and be like. They mixed their own thoughts with scriptures and came up with an ideal Messiah that looked and acted nothing like Jesus.

Verses 31-32 Here’s one of Jesus’ stories to explain how he and John were being treated by the Jewish leadership. The leaders were making a joke of Jesus and John and behaving like children singing silly songs. The leaders weren’t happy with John’s message of repentance, self-discipline, and abstaining from any indulgences. But they also weren’t happy with Jesus’ gracious fellowship with sinners. The religious leaders were like children who couldn’t be satisfied. They took this topic of eternal peace very lightheartedly like a game.

This might be one of the biggest obstacles to believing Jesus. There’s “work” on the other side of believing in Jesus that turns people off. (Just to be clear, the work is not what we think of as work. It is a Holy Spirit work that happens in our hearts and flows out of us through our hands and feet. But to explain that to an unbeliever is difficult if they aren’t willing to walk away from a comfortable lifestyle. This world offers so much comfort and security in the things that gratify the flesh and make us immediately (yet temporarily) happy. It doesn’t require us to change or believe in what is not seen.

Verses 33-34 John didn’t sit around eating and drinking wine with the people. He lived in the wilderness and was a self-denying man. He liked to sit alone with his thoughts. And so the religious leaders claimed John must have a demon in him. And Jesus, he was nearly the opposite. He would eat and drink wine with all the characters in town, like the Pharisees and lawyers knowing they didn’t like him, and tax collectors who had no morals. They look at Jesus as too liberal to be a Messiah. John was looked at as crazy and Jesus was looked at as corrupt in his morals.

This is such a good lesson that we all have gifts and personalities that God has given us to reach those around us. No single way should be judged against the others. I might have kingdom conversations in a coffee shop and someone else may have kingdom conversations in a bar. I might be gifted to write messages of hope with pen and paper and someone else might be gifted to create messages of hope with paint or other materials. Others might sing, speak, work with children with supernatural patience and creativity, or stand at the church front doors with a smile. Both Jesus and John served and spoke about the kingdom in very different ways.

Verse 35 The NLT breaks this verse down and says, “Wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it.” The ESV says “wisdom is justified by all her children” or in other words, wisdom is justified/shown to be right by the way our lives turn out. The fruit of our lives will prove wisdom is there. We shouldn’t judge the way one person lives their life for God. If wisdom is in it, it will show itself or justify its actions with good fruit in the end.

By God’s grace only we can submit to what wisdom says and do the right thing. Our flesh wants to do the selfish thing but God’s strength in us helps us decide on and do the right and wise things in our lives. Our lives will show wisdom is present by its fruit. We don’t have to defend our decisions to do things a certain way.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” James‬ ‭1:5-8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” James‬ ‭1:5-8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Those who received both John and Jesus demonstrated they were wiser than Israel’s religious leaders.

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for wisdom. Thank you for being our wisdom and Peace. Your way of life is so much better than we can do on our own. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for working in us and gifting us with wisdom and peace in our lives. You always prove You are the right way to go. Thank you for the proof within Your Word. It’s a gift that we can read about Your miracles and all that You did on this earth. It encourages our faith. There is no question about who You are, Jesus. We pray for continued healing in our souls, Jesus. Clean our hearts of any diseases like anxiety, depression, anger, bitterness, lust, and restore our mental health. We ask for the eyes to see your work in our lives. Open our spiritual ears so that we can hear You speaking. Help us to walk in wisdom with you, Jesus, so that it may produce fruit that honors You. We don’t want to be double-minded people, swaying in the wind of every thought that blows our way. Give us a steadfast spirit like John so that we can maintain our conviction even when our circumstances have us chained up in a prison of sorts. We want that lasting joy of knowing You in our lives. Help us to open our mouths and be a messenger of Your Good News. May the world see a life of repentance and a reformed heart when they look at us. May our lives point to Your power working inside us, for the glory of Your name, God. In Jesus’ name, Amen.