Then the two disciples did not know what they should answer Me. Only after a while did the elder of them ask Me ‘why John now had to languish in prison, although before God and all people he had never sinned?!’
I say: ‘If he wished it, he too could be free! The moon did indeed render good service in the night; but if it also wishes to contend for rank beside the sun, as though its light were as important by day at the sun’s side as the sun’s light, then the moon is in great error. For once the sun is there, the earth can very well dispense with the moon’s glimmer! Do you understand this?
‘If John recognized Me more clearly when I came to him at the Jordan, who really commanded him not to follow Me?! He remained in his wilderness, constantly acted as a most rigorous penitent, and yet had never sinned. Why did he do that? He has handed himself over to Herod; now let him see how he gets on with the fox.
‘But also tell him that I have not come to take earthly power from the great, but to confirm them on their ruling seats; yet whoever wishes to dispute with Me will have a hard struggle to undergo!’
When the two disciples had received and heard such words from Me, they replied no further, but took their leave, immediately set out on their return to John in Jerusalem, and reported this to him at once—
but John struck his breast and said: ‘Yes, yes, it is He, He is right; He must increase, and I decrease and die from this world.’
But in the place called Seba, a fishing village on the Sea of Galilee, the many people there and also those who have followed Me there from other places opened their eyes wide concerning John the Baptist and said: ‘How could he possibly commit a sin?! For his not following you, O Lord, though he had recognized you, was surely a principal sin for which he must now do penance! Lord, do we do wrong if we judge thus?’
(Matt. 11:7) But I answered them and say: ‘When the moon shines at night in its full light, everyone goes out, admires its light and rejoices in it; but when the sun comes while the moon still shines in the sky with an exceedingly pale and faint glow, everyone turns away from the moon, feasts their eyes on the mighty sunlight and praises it in every ray-giving dewdrop, since beneath the sun a drop of water shines more than ten moons in the night.
‘But does the moon therefore commit a sin because it is darkened by the sun during the day, and because even a dewdrop gives the beholder’s eye more light than the whole moon?!
‘I tell you all: whoever has ears, let him hear! The Son of Man too is a sun, and John is His moon; the moon did indeed shine in your spirit’s night and testify in advance to the light that has now come to you, which you still do not recognize in your darkness. But if this moon’s radiance now grows faint because the sun of day shines among you, how can you think of him with a sin?!
‘Truly, I tell you: as long as people have existed on this earth, from Adam until now, never has a purer soul inhabited and enlivened a body!
‘I now ask you all, since there is no one among you who did not go out into the wilderness where John preached and baptized; all of you have heard his preaching, and most of you have also had yourselves baptized. What did you go out into the wilderness to see?
‘(Matt. 11:8) Did you perhaps wish to see a reed that the wind may blow to and fro? Or did you go out to see a person in soft clothes?! Look, those who wear soft clothes dwell in kings’ houses, but not in the harsh wilderness at Bethabara! (Matt. 11:9) Or did you go out to see a prophet?
‘Yes, I tell you: John is more (Matt. 11:10) than a prophet! For this is he of whom it is written: “Look, I send My angel before You, who shall prepare Your way before You!” Do you now perceive who he is?
‘Truly, I say (Matt. 11:11) still more clearly than I have already told you before: among all who have been born of women from the beginning, no one has arisen who would be greater than this John the Baptist; but I also tell you that from now on, whoever may be even the least (Matt. 11:12) in God’s kingdom will be greater than he.
‘But also mark this well: from the days of John the Baptist until now and onward, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and those who do violence to it seize it for themselves!
‘(Matt. 11:13) All the prophets, as also the law of Moses, have prophesied until John; before Me he was (Matt. 11:14) the last prophet.
‘If you wish to accept it, this very John is Elijah, who was to come once more in the future, that is, before the Messiah! He has indeed come, prophesied before Me and prepared My ways, as you yourselves have experienced. Now say whether you really know who John is!’