<p>11:11- see on 20:11.</p>
<p><em>Truly I say to you, among those that are born of women-&nbsp;</em>The Lord Jesus was Himself the greatest of all born of women (Gal. 4:4), but in His humility He adds no rider to the effect 'John was the greatest of all born of women, Myself excepted, of course'. How we love Him for His humility.</p>
<p><em>There has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist. Yet he that is the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he-&nbsp;</em>The little ones were the disciples, according to what the Lord had recently said in Mt. 10:42 (s.w.). He was urging them, yet again, to see their exalted status and to get over Judaism's attitude that the prophets were icons to whom the rank and file of God's people should never pretend. The Lord is using hyperbole here to make the point- that His immature 'little ones' were going to be far greater than even John, the greatest prophet. Or He could be implying that there will be some element of rank in God&rsquo;s future Kingdom- ruling over different numbers of cities, one star differing from another in glory. And the least in that age will be far greater than John was&nbsp;<em>in this life</em>. And yet Jesus was proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom in the sense of the breaking in of God&rsquo;s principles in the lives of men. He could mean that John was the greatest under the old system, but the least of those within the new system were greater than John. Oscar Cullmann made a case for translating&nbsp;<em>mikroteros</em>&nbsp;here as &ldquo;the youngest&rdquo;, with reference to the Lord being younger than John the Baptist and yet greater than him (see Jn. 3:30).</p>
<p>Note the present tense in &quot;is greater&quot;. The following verse speaks of preaching the Gospel of that Kingdom (Mt.11:12 cp. Lk.16:16), perhaps implying that by responding to Christ's Gospel of the Kingdom we are associated with the Kingdom, and are thereby &quot;greater&quot; than the message which John preached.</p>
<p>Luke adds: &ldquo;But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected for themselves the counsel of God, being not baptized by him&rdquo; (Lk. 7:30). God will fulfil His purpose for us- if we align ourselves with it, and thus see in everything that happens in our lives&nbsp;<em>His</em>&nbsp;will being forwarded. We can choose to not align ourselves with His will. The Pharisees rejected the purpose of God against themselves by not being baptized by John (Lk. 7:30 ESV). His will is not that we should sit around doing Sudoku, watching movies, bantering on the internet, trying to get as much money as possible to finance our nice meals, expensive coffees and designer clothes. His will, as expressed in His very Name, is that He &lsquo;will be&rsquo; grace, love, care, justice, salvation, righteousness, all over the world and to every man and woman. If these things are our focus, our mission, our purpose, our passion, our underlying heartthrob, if&nbsp;<em>His</em>&nbsp;will is behind&nbsp;<em>our</em>&nbsp;will&hellip; then everything somehow comes together for us in a dynamic and fulfilling existence, both in this world and in the life eternal.</p>