John the Baptist and Christ: The Greatest Prophet Paradox

The narrative involving the two disciples of John the Baptist and Christ, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 11:1-19), has presented considerable interpretive difficulty to New Testament exegetes. Jesus makes the paradoxical statements that not only is John a prophet, but also, "among those born of women there has risen no one greater", yet the one who is "least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he". Jesus' remarks that the "kingdom of heaven has suffered violence" since the days of John and "men of violence take it by force" have similarly puzzled exegetes. This work proposes the novel interpretation that the prophet paradox can best be interpreted in the context of Matthean servitude. Jesus employs Semitic hyperbolic rhetoric to suggest that those who humble themselves as children (Matthew 18:4) and servants (Matthew 23:11) are, in reality, the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The servant interpretation posits that those who reject the redemption plan of God in favor of the temporal do violence to the kingdom of heaven. Thus, the servant interpretation suggests that John the Baptist, James, John, and Peter were all guilty of seeking the seats of honor within (Matthew 23:6) and doing violence to the kingdom of heaven. Jesus counters that His own greatness is the result of His meek submission (Matthew 11:28-30) to the redemption plan of the Father (Matthew 3:17) and, contrary to presuppositions of John, not the result of the scale or scope of His own earthly ministry.