Chapter 11

¹When Jesus had finished giving his twelve disciples these instructions, he went on from there to teach and preach in their towns.

²Now when John heard in prison of what the Christ was doing, he sent by his disciples ³and said to him,

“Are you the one who was to come, or should we look for someone else?”

⁴Jesus answered,

“Go and report to John what you hear and see. ⁵The blind are regaining their sight and the lame can walk, the lepers are being cured and the deaf can hear, the dead are being raised and good news is being preached to the poor. ⁶And blessed is the man who finds nothing that repels him in me.”

⁷But as they were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John.

“What was it that you went out into the desert to look at? A reed swaying in the wind? ⁸Then what did you go out there to see? A man luxuriously dressed? Men who dress in that way you find in the palaces of kings. ⁹Then why did you go out there? Was it to see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and far more than a prophet! ¹⁰This is the man of whom the Scripture says,

“ ‘Here I send my messenger on before you;

He will prepare the road ahead of you.’

¹¹“I tell you, among men born of women no one greater than John the Baptist has ever appeared. And yet those who are of little importance in the Kingdom of Heaven are greater than he. ¹²But from the time of John the Baptist until now men have been taking the Kingdom of Heaven by storm and impetuously crowding into it. ¹³For up to the time of John all the Prophets and the Law itself prophesied about it, ¹⁴and, if you are ready to accept the idea, he is himself Elijah who was to come. ¹⁵Let him who has ears listen! ¹⁶But to what can I compare this present age? It is like children sitting about in the bazaars and calling out to their playmates,

¹⁷“ ‘We have played the flute for you, and you would not dance!

We have wailed and you would not beat your breasts!’

¹⁸For when John came, he neither ate nor drank, and people said, ‘He has a demon!’ ¹⁹Now that the Son of Man has come, he does eat and drink, and people say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drinker, the companion of tax-collectors and irreligious people!’ And yet Wisdom is vindicated by her actions!”

²⁰Then he began to reproach the towns in which his numerous wonders had been done, because they did not repent.

²¹“Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the wonders that have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago! ²²But I tell you, Tyre and Sidon will fare better on the Day of Judgment than you will! ²³And you, Capernaum! Are you to be exalted to the skies? You will go down among the dead! For if the wonders that have been done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have stood until today. ²⁴But I tell you that the land of Sodom will fare better on the Day of Judgment than you will!”

²⁵At that same time Jesus said,

“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding all this from the learned and intelligent and revealing it to children. ²⁶Yes, I thank you, Father, for choosing to have it so. ²⁷Everything has been handed over to me by my Father, and no one understands the Son but the Father, nor does anyone understand the Father but the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ²⁸Come to me, all of you who toil and are burdened, and I will let you rest. ²⁹Let my yoke be put upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble-minded, and your hearts will find rest, ³⁰for the yoke I offer you is a kindly one, and the load I ask you to bear is light.”