Matthew 11

Jesus continues to preach (v. 1)—Matthew briefly mentions that, after instructing His disciples as found in chapter 10, Christ resumes His preaching tour.

A question from John the Baptist’s disciples (vs. 2-6)—Jesus just wasn’t acting the way the Jews thought he would. Even as great a man as John the Baptist was apparently expecting an all-conquering Messiah, which was the common, and desired, Jewish wish of that day. Jesus was running around preaching, not raising an army. So John, who was in prison at the time, sent a couple of his disciples to query Jesus, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?" (v. 3). Christ doesn’t answer with a direct “yes” or “no.” Any fool can claim to be the Messiah, so He points them to His works: “’Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them’” (vs. 4-5). What does the evidence say? Jesus asks them. Draw your own conclusions. Jesus didn’t want people to believe in Him just on His say-so; a lot of people will do that. Jesus wanted our faith to be grounded in something much deeper than simply human words—believe because of the demonstrations of power and good works. That would produce a greater, deeper foundation for commitment to Him. God has never asked us to believe anything without evidence, so this is in total keeping with the way He constituted man in the first place. He gave us a mind, a brain, a logical intuition, and He expects us to use it. But if we put emotion, prejudice, human reason, or desire before that, then our vision will be skewed and we will not see the truth of the evidence laid before us. God doesn’t make the evidence so overwhelming that we can’t reject it; that would deny our freedom of choice. But the proof is there if we are willing to receive it.

Jesus praises John the Baptist (vs. 7-15)—John was indeed a great man, a prophet (v. 9), and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy (v. 10). There were none greater—except the least in the kingdom of heaven (v. 11). Jesus, of course, is not slapping John here, He is exalting God’s kingdom. The lowliest widow in the church is greater than John the Baptist. Verse 12 is a bit confusing: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” The Greek is clearer here. Without going into word studies, the basic idea is that those who enter the kingdom of heaven are so earnest to do so that they will let nothing stop them, even if, in effect, they must be violent about it. Jesus is emphasizing again the value of the kingdom: don’t let anything, or anybody, keep you from being right with God. Jesus then tells His hearers that John was the “Elijah” who was to come, an expectation of the Jews from Malachi 4:5—“ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” The “day of the Lord” will be “great” for those who accept Jesus, and “dreadful” for those who do not. Some thought Jesus was the “Elijah” to come (Matt. 16:14), but John was. Jesus is the Christ.

The spiritually blind (vs. 16-19)—Yet the evidence didn’t matter to some; they weren’t going to believe regardless. They condemned John for doing one thing, then condemned Jesus for doing the exact opposite. Not much you can do for folks who have simply determined in their hearts that they are not going to believe, regardless of the evidence presented. And in this case, we have not only Jesus’ miracles but John as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Double substantiation, but not good enough for many.

Jesus rebukes disbelieving cities (vs. 20-24)—Jesus had preached to people in certain cities—Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum—who had seen great works that wicked cities like Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom hadn’t seen. If those latter cities had seen what Jesus had done, they would have repented, or at least “remained until this day” (v. 23), which is amazing given the nature of Sodom especially. Thus, the unbelieving cities of Jesus’ day could expect a harsher judgment than those wicked who had gone before. “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30).

Jesus’ invitation (vs. 25-29)—The chapter closes with Jesus offering a prayer to God, thanking Him for the simple and pure hearts that receive the gospel. He extends the marvelous and touching invitation: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (vs. 28-30).  No human language can improve upon that through via mortal comments.