Following our Lord's response to John the Baptist, who was struggling with doubts, the Lord then moved on to highlight both the greatness and weakness of John. To this end, John, who was the greatest of all the Old Testament prophets, was also less than the least in the Kingdom of Heaven, because he was limited to the light that was given in the Old Covenant.
Furthermore, the Lord moves on to commend John for faithfully fulfilling his role as the
forerunner to the Christ. From the time of John, up to the present, desperate souls were
forcefully pressing their way into the Kingdom of Heaven. Coming in the spirit and power of
Elijah, John had opened up the gateway into the kingdom, calling all to repentance, and to be
baptized unto the cleansing of their sins, so that, they might be ready to receive the Messiah, who
would soon arrive. And at the baptism of Jesus, when Jesus was revealed as the Messiah, John
had begun to point his followers to the Christ, so that, they might now follow Him. And since
then, individuals had continued to flock to the Christ, pressing into the Kingdom.
However, not all were entering in. There were also many who, coming with wrong motives, or not coming at all, had missed the wave. The most prominent, among those who were rejecting the Christ, were the great majority of the Pharisees and the religious leaders of Israel.
For, they did not have ears to ear and eyes to see.
This morning then, as we move into verses 16-19, our Lord will now turn His attention
toward addressing the present generation, as a whole, especially as it has been shaped by the
foolish thinking and self-righteous traditions of the religious leaders. |
