The Greatness of the Hinge Text: Matthew 11:7-15
Introduction: No Reeds Allowed
We live in an age that prizes softness. Our Christianity is often a plush, comfortable, therapeutic affair. We want pastors who are relatable life coaches, not prophets who dine on locusts. We want churches that feel like coffee shops, not wilderness outposts. We want a Jesus who affirms us, not a Christ who confronts us. Into this effeminate and squishy religious landscape, the character of John the Baptist lands like a granite boulder. And Jesus's evaluation of him here is a direct assault on our modern sensibilities.
John is in prison. His disciples have just come to Jesus with a question born of that dark place, asking if Jesus is truly the One. After Jesus answers them and sends them away, He turns to the crowd and effectively asks them, "What did you think you were getting with John? When you went out into the desert, what was the attraction? Were you looking for another pliable politician, another celebrity pastor who shifts with the cultural winds? Were you looking for a man obsessed with comfort and luxury? Or were you looking for a prophet?"
Jesus uses this moment not just to vindicate John, but to define the nature of His kingdom and the kind of men it produces and requires. The kingdom is not for the faint of heart. It is not for the reed, shaken by the wind. It is not for the man in soft clothing. The kingdom of heaven is a battlefield, and it requires warriors. This passage forces us to ask ourselves the same questions. When we come to Christ, what are we looking for? Are we looking for comfort, or for a commission? Are we looking for affirmation, or for the truth? Jesus's tribute to John is a bracing corrective to a church that has grown far too comfortable in the king's palaces.
The Text
Now as these men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' palaces! But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, 'BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.' Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
(Matthew 11:7-15 LSB)
What John Was Not (vv. 7-8)
Jesus begins with a series of rhetorical questions, designed to expose the crowd's expectations and, by extension, our own.
"What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' palaces!" (Matthew 11:7-8)
First, was he a reed shaken by the wind? A reed is a symbol of instability. It bends with every breeze. It has no backbone. This is a picture of the man-pleaser, the compromiser, the pastor whose convictions are determined by the latest opinion poll or the preferences of the big donors. John was the furthest thing from this. He was an oak. He stood in the wilderness and called the nation to repentance. He confronted the religious leaders as a "brood of vipers." He rebuked King Herod for his adultery, a stand that would cost him his head. John was not shaken by the wind; he was the wind, a hurricane of righteousness sent from God.
Second, was he a man in soft clothing? This is a picture of the courtier, the flatterer who seeks the comfort and luxury of the palace. Such men tell kings what they want to hear in order to secure their own ease. They are masters of flattery, not truth. John's clothing was camel's hair. His food was locusts and wild honey. His pulpit was the desert. He was utterly detached from the world's system of comfort, power, and prestige. Jesus's point is sharp: if you want softness and flattery, go to the palaces of worldly power. But if you want a word from God, you must go to the wilderness where His prophets are.
This is a permanent rebuke to every form of the prosperity gospel and every attempt to make Christianity fashionable and comfortable. The path of the prophet is not the path of luxury. The man of God must be free from the love of money and the fear of men, and John was the archetype of this freedom.
What John Was (vv. 9-10)
Having stripped away the false expectations, Jesus reveals John's true identity.
"But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, 'BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.'" (Matthew 11:9-10)
He was a prophet, yes. He spoke the word of God without compromise. But he was more. He was the fulfillment of prophecy. Jesus quotes Malachi 3:1, identifying John as the personal herald of the Messiah King. All the other prophets spoke of a Messiah who was to come in the distant future. They saw His day from afar. But John was the forerunner. His unique task was to stand on the stage of history and point to the incarnate Son of God and say, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
He was not just another link in the prophetic chain; he was the clasp that connected the Old Covenant to the New. He was the best man at the wedding of Christ and His church. This role gives him a unique and unparalleled greatness in the history of redemption.
The Greatness Paradox (v. 11)
Jesus then makes one of the most staggering statements in all of Scripture.
"Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." (Matthew 11:11)
Think about that. John was greater than Abraham, the father of the faithful. He was greater than Moses, the lawgiver. He was greater than David, the king after God's own heart. Why? Because of his proximity to Christ. Greatness in God's kingdom is measured by one's relationship to Jesus. John had the supreme privilege of preparing the way for, and identifying, the Messiah in the flesh.
But then comes the paradox. "Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." How can this be? This is not a statement about John's personal character or salvation. It is a statement about his redemptive-historical position. John belongs to the old era. He operated under the Law and the Prophets. He was killed before the great saving events of the New Covenant were accomplished: the cross, the resurrection, the ascension, and the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost.
The least believer today, the most obscure Christian in the remotest village, is "greater" than John in one crucial sense: we stand on the other side of the cross. We look back on a finished work. We have the full canon of Scripture. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit in a way that was not possible for Old Testament saints. We have been baptized into the body of Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly places. It is a positional greatness, a greatness of privilege. John stood on the highest peak of the Old Covenant, but the lowest valley in the New Covenant is higher ground. This should not make us arrogant; it should fill us with profound humility and gratitude for the immeasurable grace we have received.
A Violent Kingdom (vv. 12-15)
Jesus then describes the nature of the kingdom that John announced.
"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (Matthew 11:12-15)
The kingdom is not a passive, placid reality. It is a force, an invasion. Since John began his ministry, the kingdom has been breaking into history with power. And it demands a forceful response. "Violent men take it by force." This is not a call to carnal warfare. This is a description of the kind of faith that lays hold of the kingdom. It is not a polite, tentative, "I'd rather not impose" kind of faith. It is the desperate, wrestling faith of Jacob who said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." It is the faith of the tax collectors and prostitutes who pressed into the kingdom while the self-righteous stood aloof. It is a holy urgency, a zealous pursuit, a recognition that something of infinite value is at stake.
Jesus identifies John as the fulfillment of the prophecy that Elijah would return, which means the Messianic age has dawned. John is the hinge. Everything in the Law and Prophets pointed to him, and he pointed to Christ. This is a pivotal moment in history, and you have to be "willing to accept it." It requires faith.
And so Jesus concludes with His familiar refrain: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." This is not a matter of mere intellectual assent. It is a call for spiritual perception. Are you hearing this? Do you understand the nature of the kingdom? Do you see the unparalleled greatness of John and the even greater privilege that you possess as a citizen of the new covenant? And if you do, are you laying hold of this kingdom with the holy violence it demands? Or are you a reed, shaken by the wind?
Conclusion: More Than Conquerors
Jesus's tribute to John is a mirror for the church. It shows us what we are meant to be, and what we so often are not. We are not called to be reeds, bending to every cultural pressure. We are not called to seek soft clothing, the approval and comfort of the world. We are called to be prophets, men and women of conviction, who speak the truth of God whether it is popular or not.
We are called to be more than prophets. We are citizens of the kingdom of heaven, standing on this side of the resurrection. We have a greater privilege than even the greatest man born of woman in the old age. The question is, what are we doing with that privilege?
The kingdom is all around us. It is advancing, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. But it advances through "violent" men and women, those who take God at His word and lay hold of His promises with a tenacious, unyielding faith. Let us not be a generation of reeds. Let us ask God for the spirit and power of John the Baptist, the spirit and power of Elijah, so that we might prepare the way for the King in our own day. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.