Luke 7:24 — Community Reflections

LUKE 7:24 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind?”

After John's messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: what did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? — the three rhetorical questions about John are Jesus' public commendation of the forerunner. What did you go out to see: the question addresses the crowd's own expectations when they went out to John. A reed swayed by the wind: someone who adapts to every pressure and changes direction with every breeze — not John.

Church Fathers on Luke 7:24

The Lord, knowing the secrets of men, foresaw that some would say, If until now John is ignorant of Jesus, how did he show Him to us, saying, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sins of the world? To quench therefore this feeling which had taken possession of them, He prevented the injury which might arise from the offense, as it follows, And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak to the people concerning John, what went you out for to see? A…
Cyril of Alexandria · 5th century

But you went not out into the desert, (where there is no pleasantness,) leaving your cities, except as caring for this man.
TITUS BOST ·

Now these things were spoken by our Lord after the departure of John’s disciples, for He would not utter the praises of the Baptist while they were present, lest His words should be counted as those of a flatterer.
GREEK EX ·

Read all 23 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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