18 The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, 19 calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 20 And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” 21 In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. 22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

24 When John's messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings' courts. 26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ 28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” 29 (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, 30 but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

31 “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ 33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”

These can be confusing verses upon first read, but there are three main things that occur.

First, John the Baptist (most likely in jail at this point) is hearing of Jesus but perhaps he is confused by Him. He understands the Scriptures, he knows of King David, he knows of the prophecy, and perhaps he expected Jesus to be a little more... forceful? And Jesus responds by quoting Isaiah 29:18 and Isaiah 61:1, and essentially says "John, I came not primarily to heal natural needs, I came to heal the spiritual needs."

Second, Jesus essentially rebukes the Jewish hearers for rejecting John the Baptist, clearly a prophet-- and more than just another prophet! He is the prophet talked about in Malachi 3:1 that will pave the way for the Messiah. Jesus makes the point that, while John might not meet your worldly expectations for glamor and luxury, his humble posture brought about a gospel of repentence unto God. And the Pharisees would have none of it.

Third, Jesus goes even further and basically calls the hardened Jews childish (not child-like, but childish). Essentially He is saying that their mindset is so darkened, their perspective so skewed, their desires and passions so self-oriented, they can't even see John the Baptist for who he is (the Malachi 3:1 prophet) and the Jesus for who He really is (the Messiah and Son of Man).

We all have a certain expectation of God (assumptions, preconceived notions, God should be this or that way), informed by our experiences, how we were raised, perhaps our own earthly fathers, years of Sunday School (good or bad), and so on and so forth. And we should all know and assume that our expectations of God are very limited. They are common, earthly, limited, and in a sense unholy. We can know Him, but He is unknowable. We know Him, but yet when God gives us a glimpse of His glory (like Job 42:1-6) we realize He is too vast and holy for us to know.

Job 42:3 says "Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know."

I believe this was John the Baptist's experience. In one sense he knew what to expect from God (from the Scriptures), but in another sense Jesus was so compelling, so vastly different, so vastly humble and merciful, full of grace and compassion, so different from what the Jews expected (or perhaps wanted).