Matthew 11:7–9: “While they were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Look, those who wear soft clothing are in the palaces of kings. What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.’”

This passage begins with messengers from John the Baptist asking Jesus, “Are you the one or shall we look for another?” (Matthew 11:2–3). And Jesus sent a message back. Now, after they were going, look at what Jesus is saying behind them.

What do you say behind people? He gave a very respectable response to John’s query. He was not offended that John was doubting His ministry, doubting that He was called. We want to be offended that people doubt our ministry, doubt that we are called. They are speaking all manner of things against us, and Jesus said, “Do not be bothered when people speak all manner of things against you… for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11–12).

But we do not really put that in mind. When people speak all manner of things against us, against our ministry, we want to defend ourselves. We want to find fault with them. We want to return accusation with accusation. We want to say, “What about you?” We want to go up in arms against them. We want to fight fire for fire. We want to say, “I am not a fool.” But we are called to be “fools” (1 Corinthians 4:10). We are supposed to, after somebody slaps you on the face, turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39). Basically, you are supposed to be a fool.

So Jesus responded in a respectable way, even though the question was “somehow”: “Are You the one to come?” or, “What are You even doing with Your life? What is Your meaning in life?” Jesus did not respond in any bad way. He said, “Go tell John this is what is happening, and blessed is the person who is not offended by Me” (Matthew 11:4–6).

But now Jesus is talking behind their backs. While they were going away, the messengers that John sent were now going away; Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John. So that they do not begin to have this animosity against John—“Why are you even asking Jesus this kind of question? Jesus has fed us.” So that they do not become gangs, “We are now this camp; we will gang up against that other camp.”

“What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” Because they experienced the ministry of John. “A reed shaken by the wind?” You are looking at the John in prison as if he is a reed shaken by the wind, because this is the same John who said all manner of amazing things about Jesus, and they had said to him, “The one you spoke about is now baptizing more people than you” (John 3:26). And John said, “He must increase; I must decrease” (John 3:30). That is one “version” of John.

But then it seems like there is another version of John in the prison, and Jesus is saying, pay attention to the person you went into the wilderness to see. This person who is now, in a way, doubting things, not sure of things, is a different version. That is the way I am thinking about it.

He said, “What did you go into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?” But now he is being shaken. “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Look, those who wear soft clothing are in the palaces of kings.” He is talking about the ruggedness, the rugged calling that John had.

“What did you go out to see? A prophet?” So Jesus says, “This is a prophet. This is a prophet. Do not doubt what he said.” They can have an issue with what is happening now—with the message that John sent—but that was a true prophet. Whatever you saw in the wilderness, whatever he told you while he was in the wilderness, was a message from God. Pay attention to it. Do not discard that experience as nothing just because of what just happened now.

“A prophet… yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.”

And tomorrow I will go to the next part of this passage. But I just want to draw attention to the fact: what did Jesus say behind this man? He did not begin to speak negatively behind him, even though there is now a kind of public disgrace of Jesus—someone questioning Him publicly. He did not disgrace John publicly in return.

Look at how the Bible talks about Joseph. Mary was pregnant before she was married to Joseph (Matthew 1:18–19). That was like a public disgrace of Joseph. But Joseph, we are told, is to be commended for being a good man who did not want to expose her the way she had just exposed him to public embarrassment. He wanted to put her away privately—not wanting to expose Mary, the mother of Jesus, to public shame. He wanted to make it a private thing, even though, from the outside, it looked like a public embarrassment: she was sleeping around even though she was betrothed to him.

What would be the instinct? The instinct would be, “Put her in the public sphere. Let us stone her.” But Joseph was commended for being a good person.

So Jesus also, I am saying, did not say bad things behind John’s back.

God bless you. See you later.