“And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?”
My Notes
What Does Matthew 11:7 Mean?
"What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?" After John's disciples leave, Jesus asks the crowd three rhetorical questions about John: Did you go to see a reed in the wind (a weak, bendable person)? Did you go to see someone in soft clothing (a comfortable palace-dweller)? Did you go to see a prophet? The first two are absurd — nobody goes to the wilderness for reeds or fashion. The third is the point: yes, a prophet. And more than a prophet.
The "reed shaken with the wind" describes a person with no spine — bending with every breeze, saying whatever the current wind requires. Jesus asks: is that what you went to see? Obviously not. John is the opposite of a reed. He's inflexible, uncompromising, willing to go to prison rather than bend.
Jesus' defense of John comes immediately after John's doubt. The man who just questioned Jesus is publicly declared to be more than a prophet — the greatest born among women (verse 11). Doubt doesn't diminish John's stature. Questioning Jesus doesn't reduce John's significance.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Are you a reed or a John — do you bend when pressure comes, or do you stand?
- 2.How does Jesus defending John during John's weakest moment encourage you?
- 3.What 'wind' is currently testing your resolve to stand firm?
- 4.What does it mean that doubt didn't diminish John's significance in Jesus' eyes?
Devotional
What did you go out to see? A reed shaken by the wind? Obviously not. You went to see something that doesn't bend.
Jesus defends John immediately after John's doubt. The man who just sent a message asking "are You the one?" is publicly declared the greatest person ever born. Doubt didn't lower John's rank. Questioning didn't reduce his significance. Jesus celebrates John at the exact moment John is weakest.
The reed question is pointed: a reed bends with every wind. It has no internal structure. It goes wherever the breeze takes it. John is the anti-reed. He told Herod the truth and went to prison for it. He didn't bend when the wind changed. He didn't adjust his message when it became dangerous.
The people who went to the wilderness didn't go for reeds — the Jordan riverbank was full of them. They went for the anti-reed: the voice that says the same thing regardless of consequences. The prophetic voice that doesn't adjust to the audience, doesn't soften for the powerful, doesn't bend when the wind blows against it.
Are you a reed or a John? When the wind changes — when the opinion shifts, when the pressure increases, when the consequences arrive — do you bend or do you stand? The crowd goes to the wilderness for people who don't bend. Nobody makes a journey to see a reed.
Be the thing people go out to see: something that stands when everything else sways.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
But what went ye out for to see?.... Since it cannot be thought it was to see the reeds in the wilderness blow to and…
And as they departed ... - Jesus took occasion, from the inquiries made by John’s disciples, to instruct the people…
We have here the high encomium which our Lord Jesus gave of John the Baptist; not only to revive his honour, but to…
A reed shaken with the wind If the first suggestion (Mat 11:11) be adopted, the words have a corroborative force. It was…
Cross References
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