“When John’s messengers
Had gone,
Jesus began
To speak
To the crowds
About John.
‘What did you go out
Into the wilderness
To look at?
A reed shaken
By the wind?’”
Ἀπελθόντων δὲ τῶν ἀγγέλων Ἰωάνου ἤρξατο λέγειν πρὸς τοὺς ὄχλους περὶ Ἰωάνου Τί ἐξήλθατε εἰς τὴν ἔρημον θεάσασθαι; κάλαμον ὑπὸ ἀνέμου σαλευόμενον;
Luke indicated that after John’s messengers had gone (Ἀπελθόντων δὲ τῶν ἀγγέλων Ἰωάνου), Jesus began to speak (ἤρξατο λέγειν) to the crowds (πρὸς τοὺς ὄχλους) about John the Baptist (περὶ Ἰωάνου). These questions are word for word like Matthew, chapter 7:24, indicating a possible Q source. Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. He asked them what did they go out into the wilderness to look at (Τί ἐξήλθατε εἰς τὴν ἔρημον θεάσασθαι)? Was it a reed shaken by the wind (κάλαμον ὑπὸ ἀνέμου σαλευόμενον)? Matthew indicated the same when he said that as these disciples of John were leaving on their journey, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. He asked them these questions. Why did they go out into the wilderness to see John? Was he a reed shaking in the wind? This idea of the plentiful reeds waving in the desert would be compared to the luxury of a royal palace. What do you think of John the Baptist?
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 