After Jesus performed many miracles he spoke to the crowd concerning John the Baptist. He told them John was not a weak messenger swayed by public opinion, he was a true prophet in the spirit and power of Elijah and came to prepare the way for him. He told them that no one greater than John has ever been born and yet the one who is the least in God's kingdom is greater than John. What Jesus was saying was that the least of those who belonged to the new movement initiated by Jesus is greater than than the greatest man who was ever born up to that time.

The tax collectors who were the most reviled were willing to repent and be baptized. The Pharisees, law experts, and scholars rejected both John and Jesus . John because he was too austere, Jesus because he was too much the life and soul of the party. But wisdom will out, and those who had understood what was going on would see that this was how it had to be. People today still judge Jesus by their expectations, instead of pausing and probing into the evidence to see what was really going on. Yet wisdom can still be glimpsed by those with eyes to see.