The Greatest Failed Example

How then did Jesus explain the anomalous situation of John the Baptist (and, presumably, of others like him)?  And what does it all mean for us?

I have already touched on the idea that John--of whom Jesus said "there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist"--could simply be thought unsaved merely because God ordained it so beforehand.  This really is no different an interpretation than that involved in "dispensations"--the notion that the requirements of salvation differ through great Ages of history.  (I know that I am describing "dispensations" conveniently for myself, and that often the topic is given more nuance, such as--for example--the idea that salvations of Adam's or Noah's or Abraham's or Moses time were mediated by pre-figurations of Christ.  Of course, each of these theories relies itself on a "dispensation"--a divine permission to equate Jesus, perhaps incorrectly, with some Old Testament entity.)

Indeed, the whole idea of predestination is a matter of dispensations--salvation granted or withheld by God's sovereign fiat--though at the same time the whole thrust of the Gospel is the business of people being convinced to embrace the true faith.  Such ideas as predestination are futile; they are presumptions upon the prerogatives of God; they are simply evidences of our tendency to muck about in things that are none of our business.

Our business is the Gospel, and the Gospel is about convincing people.  Back to our point: on what scores was John unconvinced?  I will look to the relevant part of Matthew's gospel, which includes the relevant (and shorter) part of Luke.

Jesus ends his message to John (through  John's emissaries) with "And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me" (Matthew 11:6, KJV).  This is not all that puzzling a stance on Jesus' part; one of the first things Jesus must do is overcome reflexive resistance on his listeners' part.  And this is not merely a question of people having an initial resistance; many can hear, read, and consider the message of Jesus all their lives, without embracing the substance of it.

Jesus turns then to his disciples and tells them what a great man John is, though "notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" (11:11).  Jesus continues with a description of the kingdom of heaven that comports with what we would expect when people of great stature attempt to gain citizenship in the kingdom through precisely that stature:

"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force" (11:12).  Jesus then continues with a brief description of John, a description not of his rectitude or his magnitude or his miraculous qualities, but rather a description of how the flawed John--described without really describing him--played into the unfolding of God's plan:

"For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.  And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come" (11:13-14).  The operative notion here is not John's stature, but rather the stature (or, better, the lack of stature) of Jesus' listeners.  Jesus' description of John cascades from John's greatness down to John as a mere vessel of God's message, and the thrust of Jesus' narrative leads to the inescapable duty on the part of the listener to humble themselves unto receptivity: "And if ye will receive it, this is Elias" followed by "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" (11:15).

So John, who the gospels say points to Jesus, points to Jesus continually, though this hardly seems an enviable position for John.  John, who through his efforts might well have gained salvation, nonetheless is used most crucially by Jesus to illustrate how futile our accomplishments are, how futile our conceits are, and how important it is for us to hack away our accomplishments and conceits and arrive at the simple substance of faith within us.  We will see in the rest of Jesus' discourse how this is so.