Amen I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist. In today’s Gospel reading, we see Jesus testifying to the greatness of his cousin and forerunner, John the Baptist. John, who was then in prison, had sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus if he was indeed the awaited Messiah (we are not told whether it was at the instigation of the Baptist himself or of his disciples). And after sending John’s messengers back to him with an answer (which, by the way, was not very direct), Jesus turned to those about him to tell them about John the Baptist. John’s greatness lay in his being the second Elijah, the great prophet who was to return before the appearance of the Messiah (cf. Malachi 4:4; Matthew 17:10-13). And in Jesus’ words, it was in the ministry of John the Baptist that all the prophecies of old were fulfilled (preparing the way for the Lord). However, in the midst of his testimony, Jesus added a BUT… “The least in the kingdom can be greater than him!” While it can be possible that Jesus was either referencing to himself (the Son of Man came to serve and not to be served) or to someone else, it was clear that greatness was still up for grabs.
Because of the link John provided between the Old and New Dispensations (Old and New Testaments), John surpassed in greatness both his peers and those who had come before him. It was his ministry that provided a prelude to the ushering in of the kingdom of God by Jesus. The kingdom that Jesus was inaugurating was to become the fulfillment of the hopes of men and women down the ages. The kingdom would be the culmination of creation, the coming to full cycle of God’s purposes for creation (the creature gazing at the face of the Creator). Nothing surpasses this. Nothing can be greater than being in the presence of God. This would be achieved by those who shall have accepted the message of Jesus and belonged to the kingdom. Only those who consider themselves least can accept the message of Jesus (cf. Matthew 11:25: God reveals the mystery of the kingdom to the little ones).