Luke 7:18-35 Wisdom is vindicated by all her children

Luke 7:18-35 Jesus responds to John the Baptist's disciples and compares John's ministry to His own. In the first six verses (7:18-23), we have the question that John sent by way of his disciples to Jesus. We might think this an odd question to come from John, since earlier he was the one who pointed to Jesus and declared Him to be the Son of God. (John 1:29-34) However, John was now in jail awaiting execution. Perhaps any of us, under dire circumstances, might be vulnerable to doubt. John asked for reassurance. Jesus offered him the witness of fulfilled Scripture. In Luke 7:22, Jesus referred to Isaiah 35:5-6. This whole chapter of Isaiah speaks of when the desert will bloom and all flesh will see the glory of God. Later in that chapter of Isaiah the prophet foresees the redeemed of The Lord returning to Zion with joy, everlasting joy. So Jesus offered John that the works of power that He performed were the sign that this prophecy was in the process of being fulfilled, in other words, that He was indeed the promised Messiah. Jesus closes with a new beatitude: Blessed is the person who does not stumble over Him. Perhaps by this He means that as Messiah He does not fulfill anyone's preconceived notions of what the Messiah would look like or do. But the blessing of receiving Him as Messiah would be upon anyone who does not judge Him by their own expectations, but recognizes Him according to the prophetic promise of Scripture.

         In the next section (Luke 7:24-28), Jesus talks about John to the multitudes. He specifically quotes Malachi 3:1 as being fulfilled by John. Was John what they expected to see or what God promised? His answer, by reference to the prophecy, is that John the Baptist was what God had promised. Malachi was a prophet, but John was more than a prophet, he was the messenger preparing the way for the advent of The Lord, and was therefore greater than any of the other prophets. And then this curious note ... that the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John.  In Matthew 13:16-17 Jesus makes a similar comment, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what His listeners saw, and they were blessed because they saw Him and heard Him. Thus he explicitly pointed out the transcendence of the new covenant, of His presence over the Old Testament revelation that involved the Temple worship and the occasional ministry of prophets. And so John was the ultimate consummation of Old Testament revelation and ministry, and he had specifically identified Jesus as the Messiah.

         In the final section in this passage about John the Baptist (Luke 7:29-35), Luke informs us that the people had been baptized with John's baptism for repentance and acknowledged God's justice, but that the Pharisees and lawyers rejected God's purpose for themselves, having not been baptized. So Jesus expounded on the folly of this generation, specifically of the Pharisees and the lawyers. God offered them two different options. John had been ascetic, and they rejected his call to repentance. Jesus partied as a normal person, eating and drinking, and hanging out with the common  people, and they rejected Him. The Pharisees were looking for a messenger from God like them - bound up in books and rules and theology. Jesus said, "Wisdom is vindicated by all her children." That is, John the Baptist and Jesus offered a call to follow God, but both of them called people to change their lives based on obedience to God. The Pharisees believed their lives were perfectly fine as they understood the law of Moses, and believed they followed it. Jesus did not suggest that this assessment was born of wisdom.