Thoughts

John the Baptist from prison sends his disciples to ask Jesus whether he is the one expected, or whether they are to wait for another. Green (p137) pictures John sitting in prison and not seeing the revolutionary behaviour from Jesus that he had expected. Chrysostom, in contrast, considers that for John to have such serious doubts now would bring into question all the confidence he had displayed in Jesus before (XXXVI:1) and therefore he is sending his disciples for their own benefit, rather than for his (XXXVI:2). The text does not give an indication of John’s motive, which must therefore remain a matter of conjecture, but a straight reading of the text would indicate that the question was a genuine question of John’s.

Green goes further than to suggest John’s doubts, however. Even after commenting on Jesus’s strong commendation of John that he was “a prophet… and much more than a prophet… there has never been anyone greater than John the Baptist” (11:9-11) Green interprets “the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he” (11:11) to indicate that because of John’s doubts, he does not know the King and is not in the Kingdom (p138), and later (p144) he suggests that John even “rejected him” because of his doubts. This seems to be going a good deal further than the text.

There is another question, here, however. Most (if not all) English translations interpret the word ‘μικροτερος’ here as a superlative (‘least’) though technically it is in the form of a comparative (‘less’). Chrysostom takes it literally as a comparative, and suggests that the one who is ‘less’ in the Kingdom of Heaven than John is now Jesus: less in age, less in repute among the people, thus maintaining John’s standing from the previous verses without dropping it to exclusion from the Kingdom of Heaven as Green does.

In fact, even interpreting μικροτερος as ‘less’ still leaves open Green’s interpretation of John’s doubts (though not his rejection of Jesus!), but perhaps it could be modified by comparison with Jesus’s saying in Lk 11:27. In response to a woman’s crying out ‘blessed is the womb that bore you’, Jesus said ‘blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it’. This response clearly does not indicate that the keeper of God’s word should be blessed instead of his mother (see Lk 1:48: “all generations will call me blessed”), instead it means that (1) more important than biological affinity to him is obedience to God’s word and (2) the reason his mother is blessed is not primarily from carrying him in her womb, but because it was out of a life of obedience to God’s word that she received him into her womb. If this is a valid parallel, then, here Jesus would be indicating that (1) John’s great works as a prophet are not as important as the works of one who lives the life of righteousness he has been teaching as descriptive of life in the Kingdom of Heaven and (2) the reason that John will in the end be considered great is for living out the life of repentance and righteousness, not just for proclaiming the message. Thus John’s reputation established by Jesus in the preceding verses still stands – but in the context of Jesus’s teaching on life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

In this passage, the disciples are sent out in a precursor of the Great Commission to be give to them by Christ at the end of Matthew’s gospel (Mt 28:18-20). Green and John Chrysostom both speak of this ‘sending out’ as a sort of training of the apostles in the ways of mission: they have seen the ministry of proclaiming, teaching and acts of power (those three categories mentioned in Mt 4:23 and demonstrated in Mt 3-4; 5-7; 8-9:34) and now they are to be sent out to do this themselves. Chrysostom calls this mission “a sort of training school, to strip themselves for their conflicts with the world” and notes that their call here is only to reap the harvest: they can take no pride in the harvest themselves, for it was another who did the hard work of planting the seed and enabling it to grow (XXXII p.212 and cf. Jn 4:38). Indeed, it is made clear that not only is there no opportunity for personal pride in this work, but they should not find any personal or worldly security: all they need has been given them freely and they must likewise give freely to those they meet (10:8) with no fear or self-justification (10:19).

This freedom from fear, worldly security and self-justification is highlighted by Chrysostom (mentioning also Jn 14:27 and Rom 10:15 – referring to Is 52:7): “how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace” – that the disciples are sent out as sheep among wolves, living a ‘Sermon-on-the-Mount’ life (Mt 5:38-48) in Christ’s grace alone (2 Cor. 12:9). As the serpent in battle will give up everything but his head, Chrysostom says (XXXIII p.220), we are to give up everything but the faith so that, like the martyrs, no persecution or even torture can stop the mouths of those speaking by the Holy Spirit (10:17-20): he who endures to the end shall be saved (Mt 24:13)

Both Chrysostom and Green specifically point out the applicability of this instruction on mission and ‘sending out’ also to us, but in rather different ways. Green sees us addressed also as those to be sent out to imitate the preaching, teaching and healing. Chrysostom says, “not of the apostles alone are they said, but also of the saints afterwards. Let us therefore become worthy to entertain them” (XXXII p.216), reminding us that we also must be ready to receive those who come to us with nothing but the words of Christ – in this way we will receive the peace that is offered by him through them, and not have it leave us (10:13) and through it, communion with Christ himself (10:40-42). For those of us used to hearing the first message, Chrysostom’s words are a special reminder: let us not fall into the pride of thinking that we are only the teachers of the message and not the listeners. He also reminds us that the peace is the greeting that precedes the communion, in Mt 10:12-13 as in the Liturgy.

In the Great Commission, as here, he gives them authority before sending them out. As Green points out (p.134) it is Christ’s initiative, and our role is to cooperate when we are sent out. Christ’s authority is given them to carry out the works of power as he himself did over the unclean spirits (10:1) but also, through the gift of the Spirit, to know what to speak in times of trouble and persecution (10:20). Further, Chrysostom points out the significance of the ‘εν’ in v.32 in contrast to its absence in v.33 – the power to confess Christ comes of our communion with him: he in us and we in him. But this authority is also a double-edged sword when it comes of a Lord whose strength is made perfect in weakness: since a disciple is not above his master (v.24), Green points out (p.133) that means the disciple too will face the cross (v.38). Thus the disciple is placed between earthly life and death on the one hand, and heavenly life and the ‘fearful judgement seat’ on the other (Chrysostom XXXV p.230, ref. Mt10:28,32-33).