The Question of John the Baptist and Jesus’ Indictment of the Religious Leaders. Roberto a. Martinez

In commenting on the parable of the children in the marketplace, Langrange discusses the possibility of interpreting it either as an allegory or a simple comparison. In either case the parable results in an indictment against the Pharisees and the scholars of the Law. They have refused the baptism of John and have followed their own ideas. But the wisdom of God disposed that his baptism would prepare for the kingdom inaugurated by Jesus and that those who have been docile to the plan would be the true children of wisdom.128

In his commentary on Luke, Alfred Plummer regards the question posed by John’s delegation as a sign of impatience.129 For Plummer the Baptist was probably disappointed by the lack of progress shown by Jesus or by his failure to act more decisively against Herod and Herodias. Jesus’ ministry had become for the Baptist a cause of stumbling. Through his mighty works and reply, Jesus rebukes as well as encourages the Baptist to overcome this temptation.130 Plummer considers Jesus’ comments about the Baptist as a “panegyric” similar to a “funeral oration.” But despite the high praise, Jesus subordinates the Baptist to the members of the kingdom of God. Plummer regards 7:29–30 not as a parenthetical remark of the evangelist but as a statement of Jesus that contrasts the different ways in which the people and the hierarchy received the preaching of the Baptist.131 He attributes the complaints of the children in the marketplace at the end of the pericope to the Jews, who on the one hand wish the Baptist to ease his severity and on the other want Jesus to be more sober.132 Despite the rejection of the Jews, a faithful minority has welcomed the wisdom of God in the message of the Baptist and Jesus.

Although for Alfred Loisy the Baptist’s question in Luke 7:19 could reflect John’s original preaching, the designation “the one who is to come” is almost a sacramental formula that denotes the secondary character of the report.133 The response to the delegation of the Baptist is a redactional fiction: “Mais la notice n’en est pas moins, au point de vue rédactionnel, une interpolation, au point de vue historique une pure fiction.”134 The text reflects the struggle among the factions of the Baptist and Jesus. Each verse represents what each sectarian group claimed to have heard from its hero.135 Thus, Jesus’ speech about the Baptist is completely neutralized by an apologetic interest. In it one can find the Christian thesis regarding the inauguration of the kingdom of God by Jesus opposing the thesis of the Johannine circle concerning the eminent role of the Baptist.136 Likewise, the verses that deal with the way in which the preaching of John was received by Pharisees and publicans (7:29–30) reflect the Christian community’s apologetic concern for justifying the role of John.137 The parable of the children in the marketplace is a retrospective apologetic look at the role of John and Jesus made by the Christian tradition against the Jews.

Heinz Schürmann’s commentary on Luke represents another example of the passage’s interpretation. Schürmann examines a diversity of proposals regarding the integrity and the composition of the pericope and makes a host of redaction-critical observations. He notes that in the acts of compassion of Jesus as well as in the proclamation of his message, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled and the eschatological visitation of God comes to pass.138 The answer of Jesus, in which the narrator and the community become one, accomplishes a missionary task by affirming all those who recognized the Baptist as a messenger of God.139 In connection with Luke 3:16, the question serves to clarify whether the Baptist’s eager expectation is now fulfilled. For Schürmann the passage witnesses to a conflict that originates from the supernatural-eschatological picture of a savior and judge vis-à-vis the historic appearance of Jesus.140 The redaction of Luke clarifies the messianic and eschatological character of the wonders of Jesus. The paradox of the historical/eschatological Messiah, created by the proclamation/expectation of the Baptist, is highlighted by the possibility of the “scandal” in the final warning. This warning manifests the difficulty of the question.141

According to Schürmann the narrative is missionary: it tries to promote the significance of the ministry and preaching of Jesus as well as his eschatological message of jubilation.142 The answer is a kind of “propaganda” evidently directed at the circle of the Baptist’s followers, who had not yet accepted the message of Jesus. Schürmann speculates about the historical circumstances that underlay the pericope.143 He views the second part of Jesus’ testimony about the Baptist (7:28) as a later addition, formulated by the post-Easter community, aimed at discouraging the misinterpretation that believers should remain simply as disciples of John—salvation is only available through Jesus.144 Schürmann regards 7:29–30 as a Lagebericht about the success and failure of God over Israel. The verses support the following parable by suggesting that the official representatives of the Jews, i.e., the Pharisees and scholars of the Law, are the ones whom Jesus reprimands. Meanwhile, the people of Israel, including toll collectors and sinners, are given the good judgment to recognize in the works of the Baptist and Jesus the wisdom of God.145 In the parable of the children in the marketplace, the “people of this generation” are indicted for not heeding the call to conversion of the Baptist nor the message of jubilation of Jesus.146 They are the unhappy children of the parable. Schürmann proposes for this parable a post-Easter scenario in which Israel has collapsed and its recovery is hopeless; there is only hope for the “children of wisdom.”147

I. Howard Marshall dedicates a substantial portion of his remarks on the passage in his commentary on Luke to questioning whether particular verses of the passage should be regarded as interpolations or authentic.148 Marshall acknowledges that Luke, like Matthew, relied on a common source (Q), which Luke has expanded. He finds no serious reasons to question the historicity of the account. For Marshall, John has doubts about whether Jesus is the expected “coming one” because the final judgment is absent from Jesus’ ministry. In response, Jesus replies with a combination of OT allusions that depict him as the eschatological prophet who ushers in a new era of salvation. “The saying is thus an invitation to John to consider the scriptural significance of Jesus’ ministry, and hence to attain to a deeper, and lasting, faith in him.”149 Correspondingly, Jesus praises John as the “greatest among those born of women” only to restrict his importance in relation to the kingdom and in doing so subordinate the Baptist to him.150 The parable of the children in the marketplace is a verdict upon those who have not responded to the ministries of both John and Jesus, who nonetheless are vindicated by those who are wise, i.e., the children of wisdom.151

In his commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Joseph A. Fitzmyer points out that the pericope delineates the relationship between John and Jesus in relation to God’s plan of salvation as well as the reaction of