Matthew 11:24 | 1721
11:5 v Isa 35:4-6; 61:1; Lk 4:18, 19
11:6 w Mt 13:21
11:7 x Mt 3:1 11:9 y Mt 21:26; Lk 1:76 11:10 z Mal 3:1; Mk 1:2
11:14 a Mal 4:5; Mt 17:10-13;
Mk 9:11-13; Lk 1:17; Jn 1:21
11:15 b Mt 13:9, 43; Mk 4:23; Lk 14:35;
Rev 2:7
11:18 c Mt 3:4 d Lk 1:15 11:19 e Mt 9:11
11:21 f Mk 6:45; Lk 9:10; Jn 12:21 g Mt 15:21; Lk 6:17;
Ac 12:20 h Jnh 3:5‐9 11:22 i ver 24; Mt 10:15
11:23 j Mt 4:13 k Isa 14:13‐15
11:24 l Mt 10:15
4 Jesus re plied,“ Go back and re port to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have lep rosy a are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is pro claimed to the poor. v 6 Blessed is any one who does not stum ble on ac count of me.” w
7 As John’ s x dis ci ples were leav ing, Jesus be gan to speak to the crowd about John:“ What did you go out into the wil der ness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 8 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. 9 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? y Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is writ ten:
“‘ I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ b z
11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen any one greater than John the Bap tist; yet who ever is least in the king dom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Bap tist un til now, the king dom of heaven has been sub jected to vi o- lence, c and vi o lent peo ple have been raid ing it. 13 For all the Proph ets and the Law prophe sied un til John. 14 And if you are will ing to ac cept it, he is the Eli jah who was to come. a 15 Who ever has ears, let them hear. b
16“ To what can I com pare this gen er a tion? They are like chil dren sit ting in the mar ketplaces and call ing out to oth ers:
17“‘ We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
18 For John came nei ther eat ing c nor drink ing, d and they say,‘ He has a de mon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eat ing and drink ing, and they say,‘ Here is a glut ton and a drunk ard, a friend of tax col lec tors and sin ners.’ e But wis dom is proved right by her deeds.”
Woe on Unrepentant Towns
11:21-23pp— Lk 10:13-15
20 Then Jesus be gan to de nounce the towns in which most of his mir a cles had been performed, be cause they did not re pent. 21“ Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! f
For if the mir a cles that were per formed in you had been per formed in Tyre and Si don, g they would have re pented long ago in sack cloth and ashes. h 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Si don on the day of judg ment than for you. i 23 And you, Capernaum, j will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. d k For if the mir a cles that were per formed in you had been per formed in Sodom, it would have re mained to this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more bear able for Sodom on the day of judg ment than for you.” l
a 5 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin. b 10 Mal. 3:1 c 12 Or been forcefully advancing d 23 That is, the realm of the dead
11:2 – 3 in prison. See 14:3 – 5. deeds of the Messiah. Jesus’ deeds, especially his miracles, reinforce John’ s earlier convictions about Jesus’ identity. But Jesus has not set this prisoner free, and God has probably not revealed to John that he will have to languish in prison. So John is understandably confused and sends his followers to ask Jesus directly about his role. 11:4 – 6 Although Jesus does not answer John’ s question directly, he implies that his miracles and concern for the poor demonstrate his Messiah ship( cf. Isa 35:5 – 6; 61:1), which is illustrated already in Matt 5 – 9. The beatitude in v. 6 encourages John not to“ stumble” in his faith just because Jesus’ Messianic ministry is not entirely what he expected. 11:7 A reed swayed by the wind. A weak person whose mind is easily changed. John’ s consistently austere prophecy hardly fits that picture. 11:8 dressed in fine clothes... kings’ palaces. A pampered person benefiting from positions of power and privilege. Again John scarcely fits the mold.
11:9 – 10,14 Matt 3:1 – 6 depicts John’ s prophetic ministry. But Mal 3:1 promises a messenger— whom Mal 4:5 equates with Elijah— who would immediately precede the Messiah. As this unique forerunner, John is“ more than a prophet”( Matt 11:9). 11:11 those born of women. An idiom for human beings. greater than he. John the Baptist is greater than all OT prophets, because he most clearly points to Jesus as the Messiah, but he will not live to see the inauguration of the new covenant after Christ’ s death and resurrection. In that sense, even the least significant Christian( the“ least in the kingdom of heaven”) is“ greater than he.” 11:12 the days of John the Baptist. The time before John’ s imprisonment. subjected to violence. The hostility to Christ’ s ministry, almost from its outset( e. g., 9:34; Mark 3:6; John 5:16), is the“ violence” to which the kingdom of heaven has been“ subjected.” 11:13 Much of this hostility is related to the shift in ages between old and new covenants that Jesus brings but that many do not understand or accept. 11:16 – 19 Jesus’ ministry involved celebration, like playing the pipe so that people could dance( v. 17). John’ s ministry called others to“ mourn” in repentance, like singing a funeral“ dirge”( v. 17). But a fair number in the audiences of each of these two(“ this generation,” v. 16) rejected both overtures, like recalcitrant“ children”( v. 16) who refused to play the various games their playmates suggested. 11:19 wisdom. God’ s wisdom in all of this will nevertheless be“ proved right” by the good“ deeds” of John, Jesus, and their disciples. 11:20 – 24 The inhabitants of Chorazin and Bethsaida, small villages near the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, had witnessed Christ’ s miracles, like the people of Capernaum had( v. 23). So they would be more accountable on judgment day than even the most wicked cities in the OT, like“ Tyre and Sidon”( v. 22; see especially Ezek 28), because those cities“ would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes”( the outward garb and symbols of mourning, v. 21). Degrees of punishment in hell( or“ Hades” [ v. 23 ], the OT place of the wicked who have died) are consistent with the principle of judgment according to works( see note on 10:15).