Matthew 11:7, commentary and pictures

After John's messengers had left, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, asking what had drawn them out into the wilderness to hear him after they had followed him and hoped he was the promised deliverer. The shaken reed pictures a fickle person swayed about by changing opinions and influences. John was the opposite of such weakness, not wavering or unstable but steadfast and firm in integrity, duty and principle like a rock. He could not be moved by flattery, error, reward or worldly honor, but fearlessly rebuked sin in rulers and people of every rank, remaining faithful even in prison at the cost of his life. Practical godliness gives that same steadiness of character, holding its course under any circumstance and growing stronger through conflict and rebuff, while without it the soul is left like a reed driven by the storm of temptation toward unhappiness and ruin.

Setting and Wording

Jesus began His testimony to the multitudes concerning John and his mission after John's messengers departed. Multitudes had accepted John's preaching, followed him from place to place, and cherished the hope that he was the Messiah, while John directed their minds to the Coming One. His wilderness ministry had drawn great crowds before he was imprisoned in Herod Antipas's fortress. There as a faithful, fearless herald he was troubled because he expected the Messiah to overthrow oppressors and bring judgment. He had faithfully rebuked Herod for his unlawful alliance with Herodias.

The question about what they went out into the wilderness to see asks what drew the people to hear John preach. The reed shaken with the wind pictures a fickle person swayed by changing opinions. The wilderness was not a place to find those who live delicately or wear rich, soft clothing. John's plain, rough, practical garment contrasted with the gorgeous, splendid, costly clothing of Jewish priests and elders and those in kings' courts. That contrast showed outward display was not his motive or character, while they sought people's admiration through outward display rather than God's approval through purity of character and holy lives.

The testimony declares John was not weak or wavering. He was not a man in soft raiment like those in kings' courts. He was a prophet and much more than a prophet. He was the messenger sent before Christ to prepare His way. He was the greatest among those born of women, yet less than the least in the kingdom of God.

John's Firm Integrity

The wind-tossed reed is a picture of a fickle person swayed by changing opinions, and John was its opposite. He was no trembling reed, but steadfast and firm in integrity, duty and principles, standing like a rock. Flattery could not move him, nor prevailing error, nor rewards, nor worldly honor.

He stood firm in rebuking sin and crime in rulers and ordinary people alike, in people of every rank including kings and nobles. He spoke fearlessly, loyal to God and zealous for righteousness, without turning aside from duty. He remained faithful in prison as well as in the wilderness, even at the cost of his life.

By contrast, the rabbis fit the reed picture because they shifted with popular opinion. John's imprisonment did not mean that God had forsaken him or that his faith had failed.

Steadfastness in Daily Life

Practical religion forms a steady character that holds its shape under any circumstance and does not bend like a reed shaken by wind when conditions shift and influences change. Conflicts and rebuffs are meant to strengthen faith and give it stability rather than unsettle it. The truths of the gospel and divine grace supply that steadiness, enabling firm standing against harmful influences without loss of purity. Followers of Christ must therefore refuse to be carried by every passing influence.

A mind schooled by daily tests of faithfulness does not waver or hesitate between right and wrong, because it discerns the principle at stake and chooses the right. Faithfulness in small matters builds the strength to stay faithful in greater matters. Steadiness in truth and sound moral principle means remaining unmoved by vain, proud, and worldly influences.

Without such stability the soul becomes like a reed swayed by the storm of temptation, unsettled in truth through a weak hold on God and open to unbelief and worldly influence. It is driven through bitter and almost overwhelming storms into unhappiness and ruin, clinging to pride until left prostrate and seemingly without willpower or strength to rise. That unstable course is as unstable as water. Those who despised past warnings do despite to the Spirit of grace, and some have received their last entreaties, so that if they are saved now it will be only by obeying those warnings.

Young people who yield to selfish desires and indulgence instead of practicing self-denial, bearing the cross, and enduring hardship reveal characters not firm in the Christian life. They remain unstable and pliable rather than firm and decided, without strength of will and easily swayed. Without that self-denial and endurance they are unprepared to follow Christ through hardship and to employ their abilities in God's service.

Education decides in large measure whether one grows up like the trembling reed. Harsh control that denies the young the chance to learn to think and act with sound judgment leaves them dependent and easily led by others when they must act for themselves. The reed moved by wind pictures one with no stability and firm principle, no confidence to think, act, and decide from personal judgment, who follows the judgment of others in the wrong direction and yields to temptation once restraint and guidance are removed. Children avoid that end not by being left to think and act independently of parents and teachers, but by being taught to respect experienced judgment, to unite their minds with the minds of parents and teachers, and to see the propriety of heeding counsel, so that when they go out from the guiding hand they act from independent firm principle and do not waver when parental and teacher guidance is no longer present.

A weak grasp of the faith likewise leaves one like a reed trembling in the wind. A family weak in the principles of the faith became vulnerable to deceptive spiritualist teachings and stood in need of careful help. Friends swayed by suspicion, duplicity, and falsehood likewise proved untrustworthy.