The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025357706
Criticized by John the Baptist, King Herod bore a grudge against him and put him in prison. John had baptized Jesus indeed, but he was not sure if Jesus was really the promised Messiah until then, because Jesus had been doing the work of God vaguely after he had baptized. John called his disciples and told them to go to Jesus in order to see again if he was really the promised Messiah.
Jesus said to them that the sick were being healed and the gospel was being preached to the poor, and told them to return to John and tell him as they saw. Disciples of John went to him, and Jesus said to the crowd.
"Why did you go to John? To see a prophet? Yes. He is a prophet. No, more than a prophet. Usually, a prophet has never been foretold before his birth, but it was foretold about this prophet John long ago in the Scripture that he would be sent by God to prepare the way of the Lord. All the prophecies of the Scripture ends up with John. John is the greatest of men whom women gave birth to. But in the kingdom of heaven, even the least is greater than he."
We need to keep in mind that Jesus said, "John is a great prophet indeed. But he is lower than those who belong to the kingdom of heaven." What does this mean? Who is the least here? Getting straight to the point, the least people in the kingdom mentioned here are Jesus' disciples who just started building the kingdom of heaven with Jesus. This disciples are now treated as a lowly group. Some of them were a fisherman and a tax collector who was despised. But they were to be the disciples of Jesus later. John the Baptist was only born of a woman, but Jesus' disciples would be born again by the Holy Spirit and receive the spirit of sonship (to be children of God). John the Baptist was just a prophet and servant of God who introduced Jesus to people as the Lamb of God, while Jesus' disciples received Jesus in their heart as their King and became children of God. What a difference between a child and a servant in the past! And Jesus called his disciples his friends. His disciples are not servants but 'friends' of Jesus. Who is greater: John who as a servant introduced Jesus to people, and the friends of Jesus whom John introduced?
Jesus himself said that heaven is like mustard seed. In other words, heaven is small at first, but grows tremendously over time. Jesus' disciples are very insignificant now. However Jesus now promises his disciples a hopeful future. "Now people think John to be a great prophet of God. But you're greater than John. You'll see. Believe me." Is there anything bigger and more important in the world than we believe in Jesus and become children of God and friends of Jesus?
'ABCD - 2' 카테고리의 다른 글
| Baptism of Holy Spirit (0) | 2023.02.24 |
|---|---|
| Worship in the New Testament: Worship in spirit and truth - Jn 4:23 - (0) | 2023.02.22 |
| Peter: I am a sinner – Lk 5:8 - (0) | 2023.02.18 |
| Nathanael: A true Israelite - Jn 1:47 - (0) | 2023.02.17 |
| Jesus said: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand - Mt 4:17 - (0) | 2023.02.16 |