A CHRISTIAN LOOKS AT MATTHEW’S GOSPEL
John– the harbinger of a new age
Reading: Matthew 11:17-15
John’s disciples were about to head back when Jesus pays this extraordinary tribute to their master. Jesus speaks to the crowd and he asks who they went out into the desert to see? Was it someone who was weak and vacillating like a clump of reeds by the side of a river? Or was it someone dressed in splendid clothes? OK, says Jesus, so you were expecting a prophet – but can’t you see that John was more than that? John was the greatest son a woman could have but even the least person in the Kingdom of God will be greater than him.
Jesus is saying that John the Baptizer was the harbinger of the Kingdom of God that Kingdom which was being prepared to force its way into space-time history. All before John were looking forward but he was the Elijah figure Malachi spoke about, the One who would announce the arrival of the Messiah and his Kingdom, (Malachi 3:1).
Meditation: The Kingdom has begun and part of our task is to point to that fact.
Prayer pointer: I must pray that I won’t be a weak vacillating witness of the Messiah
Matthew: 73
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