This verse is a microcosm of the contrast between John and Jesus, two cousins destined before birth for great things of strikingly different hues. It is the testimony of these people who have sought Jesus after his sudden departure from Jerusalem to crystalize it into a succinct statement preserved for us through the inspiration of the apostle John.
John is a cross between spartan and stoic. He lives in the desert, dressed in camel skin and leather. He preaches about repentance and the soon-coming kingdom of God. He proclaims the arrival of the Promised One. He announces judgment and calls people to be baptized and to avoid the condemnation! His preaching is convicting and soul-stirring. But he performs no miracles.
Jesus, on the other hand, is the fulfillment of John’s prophecies. He walks the country and the city announcing the arrival of the kingdom of heaven. He speaks of joy and peace and life. He eats with the common folk—even the outcasts. He attends feasts and weddings. He dresses in a garment soldiers would one day gamble for the right to own. He is the Promised One. He proclaims Good News and invites his hearers to be born again and become citizens of the kingdom of God! His preaching is earth-shaking and life-changing. Miracles follow him wherever he goes.
Jesus would sum it us differently when on another occasion he said, “To what then shall I liken the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying: ‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ (Luke 7:31-34). How little times change.
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