Matt. 11:7-15 “God is looking for a few good acoustic activists”

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 01 Apr 2012

Translation

11:07 Then, as these guys were going along, Jesus began to talk to the crowds concerning John:

            “What did y’all go out into the desert to watch?

                        A cat-tail being shaken by a storm-wind?

            11:08 Well then, what did y’all go out to see?

                        A man that’s been decked out in soft clothes?

                                    You see, the ones sporting the soft things are in the houses of the kings.

            11:09 Well then, what did y’all go out to see?

                        A prophet?

 

Yes! I tell you, he is even more than a prophet,

            11:10 for this is the man concerning whom it has been written,

                        ‘Look, I myself am commissioning my messenger, just before your presence,

                        who will prepare your way in front of you.’

11:11 Truly, I tell y’all, there has not been raised up

            among those who have been given birth by women

            one greater than John the Baptizer,

            yet the littlest in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than him.

 

11:12 And from the days of John the Baptizer until now, the kingdom of the heavens is forcing itself, and forceful men are seizing it.

            11:13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied up until John.

            11:14 And if y’all are willing to accept [this], he is Elijah, the one who was about to come.

11:15 He who has ears to hear had better be listening!

Intro: Good listening makes the difference between winning and losing

This week I led worship and served as a judge in Topeka for our state tournament of the National Christian Forensics and Communication Association. One of the events I judged was called “Team Policy Debate” where two teams of two debaters each take opposite sides of a resolution to change some policy related to the Criminal Justice System of the Federal government. The affirmative team is supposed to affirm the resolution to change the system, and the negative team is supposed to negate the resolution and say that the system should not be changed.

 

Often the debaters ask me before they start what my judging philosophy is. I tell them that I am a resolutional judge. My judging philosophy is pretty simple: there are two check boxes on my ballot, one labeled “affirm­ative,” and one labeled “negative.” So if the debaters convince me that the Criminal Justice System needs to be changed, then I will check that the affirmative team won. If, on the other hand, I am convinced that the Criminal Justice System should not be changed, then I will check that the negative team won.

 

Even so, I found myself wondering sometimes if the debaters heard me. They could get an easy win if they just focused on the issue I wanted to judge, but often they argued over other things instead. Often what happens is that a negative team gets so focused on blowing holes in the details of the plan for change advanced by the affirmative team that they (the negative team) forget to argue the more fundamental issue that the criminal justice system should not be changed. In fact, in a couple of debate rounds I heard, the negative team actually argued to affirm the resolution to change the justice system by complaining about how bad the system was and suggesting specific ways that it should be changed as an alternative to the affirmative team’s plan. Needless to say, I gave them the loss because I told them I wanted them to argue against the resolution to change the system, not argue for the resolution . If they had just listened, they could have won. It’s easy to forget the important things, so it is important to be good listeners and consistent at acting upon what we hear.

 

Mat 11:7 Then, as these guys were going along, Jesus began to talk to the crowds concerning John: “What did y’all go out into the desert to watch? A cat-tail being shaken by a storm-wind?

Τούτων δὲ πορευομένων ἤρξατο ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς λέγειν τοῖς ὄχλοις περὶ ᾿Ιωάννου· τί ἐξήλθετε εἰς τὴν ἔρημον θεάσασθαι; κάλαμον[1] ὑπὸ ἀνέμου[2] σαλευόμενον;

 

Mat 11:8 Well then, what did y’all go out to see? A man that’s been decked out in soft clothes? You see, the ones sporting the soft stuff are in the houses of the kings.

 ἀλλὰ τί ἐξήλθετε ἰδεῖν; ἄνθρωπον ἐν μαλακοῖς [ἱματίοις-א,B,D] ἠμφιεσμένον[3]; ἰδοὺ οἱ τὰ μαλακὰ φοροῦντες[4] ἐν τοῖς οἴκοις τῶν βασιλέων [εἰσίν-א,B].

 

Mat 11:9 Well then, what did y’all go out to see? A prophet? Yes! I tell you, he is even more than a prophet,  ἀλλὰ τί ἐξήλθετε ἰδεῖν; προφήτην; ναί λέγω ὑμῖν, καὶ περισσότερον προφήτου.

 

Mat 11:10 for this is the man concerning whom it has been written, ‘Look, I myself am com­mis­sioning my messenger, just before your presence, who will prepare your way in front of you.’

 οὗτος [γάρ-א,B,D] ἐστι περὶ οὗ γέγραπται· ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπου σου, ὃς κατασκευάσει τὴν ὁδόν σου ἔμπροσθέν σου.

 

The next two verses present more than I can cover in one sermon, so what I want to do is come back to them next week and skip down from verse 10 to verse 13 for now and finish out the thought about John and the fulfillment of prophecy:

 

Mat 11:13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied up until John.
 
πάντες γὰρ οἱ προφῆται καὶ ὁ νόμος ἕως ᾿Ιωάννου προεφήτευσαν·

 

Mat 11:14 And if y’all are willing to accept [this], he is Elijah, the one who was about to come.
καὶ εἰ θέλετε δέξασθαι, αὐτός ἐστιν ᾿Ηλίας ὁ μέλλων ἔρχεσθαι.

Mat 11:15 He who has ears to hear had better be listening! ὁ ἔχων ὦτα [ἀκούειν-B,D] ἀκουέτω.



[1] Kalamon = “reed” in most English translations. Describes a “staff” in Mt. 27:29, a measuring tool in Rev. 11:1, and a writing tool in 3 Jn 13, so this plant must have been rigid but lightweight. It grew along the edges of water (Job 40:21, Isa 19:26, 35:7) so was probably like what we call a cat-tail, but with a more pleasant aroma (Ex. 30:23, Song 4:14).

[2] The Anemos is apparently the only general word in N.T. Greek for a storm-wind that is not specific to a regular seasonal storm that comes from a certain direction. We encountered it in ch. 7 in the parable of the two houses and in ch. 8 with the storm on the lake that Jesus stilled. It is paired with saleumenon here and also in the parable of the two houses in Luke 6, for the smart man’s house was not “shaken apart” when the anemos blew on it.

[3] Used only here and Matt. 6:30 (where I translated it “dressed”) in N.T., aside from parallel passages in Lk.

[4] Only other uses in N.T. John 19:5 (crown of thorns); Rom. 13:4 (sword); 1Cor. 15:49 (image of God); James 2:3 (fine clothes - ἐσθῆτα τὴν λαμπρὰν)

[5] The Septuagint of Ex. 23:10 is identical to the beginning of the quote in Matthew, reading ιδου εγω αποστελλω τον αγγελον μου προ προσωπου σου… Mal. 3:1 reads rather differently from Matthew’s quote: ιδου εγω εξαποστελλω τον αγγελον μου και επιβλεψεται οδον προ προσωπου μου… I conclude that Matthew’s quote follows the Masoretic Hebrew text, but loosely: הנני שׁלח מלאכי ופנה דרך לפני

[6] ei + Indicative verb in the Protasis and Indicative verb in the Apodosis indicate a True Conditional Clause, according to Dr. Dwight Zeller’s Greek Review Workbook