Luke 7:18–35

IN PRAISE OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

¹⁸Then John’s disciples told him about all these things.^o So John summoned two of his disciples ¹⁹and sent them to the Lord, asking, “Are you the one^p who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

²⁰When the men reached him, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to ask you, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ ”

²¹At that time Jesus healed many people of diseases,^q afflictions, and evil spirits,^r and he granted sight to many blind people.^{s 22}He replied to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear,^t the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news,^{u 23}and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.”

²⁴After John’s messengers left, he began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind? ²⁵What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothes? See, those who are splendidly dressed and live in luxury are in royal palaces. ²⁶What then did you go out to see? A prophet?^v Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ²⁷This is the one about whom it is written:

See, I am sending my messenger

ahead of you;

he will prepare your way before you.^Dw

²⁸I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John,^E but the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

²⁹(And when all the people, including the tax collectors, heard this, they acknowledged God’s way of righteousness, because they had been baptized with John’s baptism.^{a 30}But since the Pharisees and experts in the law^b had not been baptized by him, they rejected the plan of God for themselves.^c)

AN UNRESPONSIVE GENERATION

³¹“To what then should I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? ³²They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to each other:

We played the flute for you,

but you didn’t dance;

we sang a lament,

but you didn’t weep!

³³For John the Baptist did not come eating bread or drinking wine,^d and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ ³⁴The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’^{e 35}Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”