The chief priests and elders, the Pharisees and scribes took offense at Jesus: He was nothing like the Messiah they were expecting. Instead of trying to reconcile with their disappointment, they persevered in their disbelief. Knowing this and not wanting yet to give up on them, He reminds them of John the Baptist, His messenger and forerunner sent to prepare His way. He reminds them they went into the desert not to hear the strange, unearthly bantering of some oracle, nor some attractive ambassador of some earthly king. They went to the desert because they heard he was a prophet, but he was no mere prophet: he was the last prophet, the one who would precede the Messiah of whom all the prophets spoke. They all knew about John, but earlier in the week we learned that the chief priests and elders had rejected John’s teaching; we learn today that the Pharisees and scholars of the law present had not been baptized. This is important, for by refusing to be baptized by John they were also refusing to do something else: to repent of their sins.
John says in Matthew’s Gospel “I am baptizing you with water, for repentance…” (Matthew 3:11): those who accepted John’s baptism did so as an outward sign of repentance. Those who chose not to be baptized were either refusing to repent or believed themselves to be in no need of repentance. In either case they would not—could not—hear anything John had to say, much less what Jesus had to say. Yet tax collectors, it is noted, were baptized: they repented publicly of their sins, and thus they were ready for the coming of the Lord and could receive His teaching. For to refuse the message is to refuse not merely the messenger, but also the one who sent him; Jesus says as much when He says to His apostles, “Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me,” (Luke 10:16). Thus He warns the crowd that those who rejected John will reject Him, and whoever rejects Him rejects God, salvation. Let us heed the words that thundered from Heaven on the mountaintop of the Transfiguration “This is my chosen Son; listen to Him,” (Luke 9:35).