Standards of Evaluation

Text: Mattthew 11:1 – 15

Who are these men? People were asking these questions about John the Baptizer and Jesus. People still ask these questions. We still ask these questions. At least, I hope we do. While we Christians have ascribed roles and some character traits to these men, I believe it is a good practice to delve deeper into who they were then and who they are to us now. In this account John is in prison and he is hearing about the miracles Jesus is performing.

According to Luke's gospel, Jesus and John are cousins. In the King James Version the angel, talking to Mary in Luke 1, says this, "Behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible." Mary visited Elisabeth when they were both pregnant, Elisabeth being farther along. John and Jesus were about 6 months apart in age. They probably played together as children. They knew each other. And yet, John asks Jesus, "Are you the one or shall we wait for another?" John wanted to be sure. He was in jail and I imagine he wanted his spirit to be settled on the matter. Cousin to cousin and prophet to prophet, John asks Jesus who he is. And he trusts Jesus to tell him the truth. Jesus answers by sending information that superficially it seems John already knows. What does this message mean to John?

Jesus was a man who spoke in parables and riddles. According to Matthew "without a parable he told them nothing." Is it possible that Jesus was sending a message to John that would make sense to him in a way that it wouldn't to others? Don't we have people with whom we speak that a certain phrase holds a deeper meaning than it would with others? John knew that the lame were walking and the blind were able to see because of Jesus. What John didn't know was if Jesus was The One. Jesus doesn't tell him yes or no ... I think he tells him something more, something we will never really be able to understand. And what of the last phrase, "Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me." In fact there were many people taking offense at what Jesus was doing. Sure the sick were healed, but he was doing it on the Sabbath. Okay so he was doing miracles, but he was letting unclean people touch him and letting his disciples eat with unceremonially washed hands.

Why were people offended at Jesus doing these amazingly good things? I think it's because they were letting their standards get in the way of their evaluation. They couldn't look past what they had known before, how things had been done before, even the rules that had been set out before. They couldn't appreciate the miracles because they were distracted by their bias and protocol. May God save us from our bias and our protocol.

This same bias and protocol was at play when people evaluated John's identity. After the disciples of John left, Jesus turned to the crowd to address John's identity. "What did you go out to see," he asked? Some people thought John to be crazy. Others thought he was the Messiah. Many followed him as a prophet and even more were influenced by his teachings and were baptized by him. Jesus challenges the crowd. He names their opinions. Is he a reed shaken by the wind? Is he royalty from heaven? Is he a prophet? Yes, Jesus tells them, he is a prophet and so much more. And then Jesus says a very curious thing. "Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

How can this be? What is he saying? If no one has arisen greater than John, where does that put Jesus? Yet the least is greater than John. What is the standard of this evaluation? Such a mysterious saying. But he goes on to say, "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John came; and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. Let anyone with ears listen!"

Let anyone with ears listen. Let anyone who can drop their bias and reliance on protocol accept and understand. Jesus asks a lot of us in many ways. This is one of those ways. In his statement about John, that he is Elijah who is to come, Jesus not only tells us who John is but he tells us who he is. Mark 9 gives us insight into this. We are in the middle of the story of the transformation on the mountain where Peter, James and John saw Jesus transfigured along with Elijah and Moses. Afterward, as they were walking down the mountain together, "they asked him, 'Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?' He said to them, 'Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him.'"

Malachi prophesied that Elijah, the first prophet of Israel, would precede the coming of the Messiah. The scribes handed down this prophesy as a teaching. Peter, James and John were confused. If Jesus was the Messiah, where was Elijah? Jesus explains to them in the story of the transfiguration that Elijah has come. He explains even more explicitly in our story today saying that John the Baptist is Elijah. John is the messenger preparing the way for the Messiah.

One might not see Elijah in John the Baptist at first blush. He was rough and crude. He isolated himself in the desert and only ate locusts and honey. We hear no stories about him attending weddings like Jesus did. The only relationships of his that we hear about are those he had with his followers and with King Herod. Elijah may not have had many friends, but we do read about him helping the widow and her son, being a sought after consultant to King Ahab, and having a confidant and trusted mentee in Elisha. He might not have been the most sophisticated chap, but he doesn’t seem to have been quite as hated in the same way that John was. Furthermore, there is a certain romanticism that happens when someone becomes an archetype. John the Baptist didn't really fit any romantic vision of Elijah. Yet Jesus tells them that if they will listen to him, if they will drop their romanticism and expectations, they will see that John is Elijah the messenger and that the way was prepared by him. Jesus proclaims himself Messiah without having to use those words. He answers John's question to him, are you The One, in one message to John's disciples and then in another message to the gathered crowd.

But how is it that John can be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven of those born of women and yet the least are greater than him? Is this a riddle to be analyzed? Is this a secret truth that, if we uncover it we will understand something of the essence of God? Maybe. But rather than figuring out how it is that this can be I want to figure out how it is that we can live this truth. The questions in the passage are all about identity. The premise that I see is that we need to drop our bias and let go of our protocols. If we concede that John the Baptist is the greatest and yet those who are least are greater than he, how must be live? Who are least in the kingdom of heaven? I mean, out of all the people that we meet, that we hear about, that we read about ... out of all these people, who are ascribed to be the least in the kingdom of heaven? If these people are least, and Jesus tells us that they are greater than John the Baptist, how must we live?

I believe too often our standards get in the way of being able to evaluate according to Christ's teaching. Sometimes these are standards that we know we have and sometimes they are internalized. This week let’s practice getting in touch with those ideas or frameworks that create standards that limit our evaluations. And let’s pray that we have ears to hear the teachings of Jesus. When we let go of our bias and our protocols, who knows who will be revealed to us as being greater than John the Baptist.