<p>7:24 <i>And when the messengers of John had departed, he began to say to the crowds concerning John: What did you go out into the wilderness to see?- </i>The crowds whom the Lord was addressing were therefore eager listeners of John, even perhaps in a sense his disciples. We see her the fulfilment of John&rsquo;s commission- to prepare&nbsp;<i>in the wilderness</i>&nbsp;a smooth way for the coming of the Messianic King of glory. But the crowds didn&rsquo;t respond, and Messiah didn&rsquo;t come in His glorious Kingdom. I suggested on Mt. 10:11 that the mission of the disciples was initially to those who had responded to John the Baptist&rsquo;s teaching; and now whilst they were away on their preaching tour doing such follow up work, the Lord was doing the same, addressing a crowd who had also responded to John enough to trek out into the wilderness to hear him.</p><p><i>A reed shaken with the wind?</i>- See on :41. The reference is probably to the reeds growing in the Jordan where John baptized. Just as the people didn&rsquo;t go there to look at the reeds but at John as God&rsquo;s prophet, so the Lord is hinting that they should not look on John&rsquo;s weakness but upon who he essentially was. When John the Baptist had this crisis of faith, the Lord spoke of John to the multitude as if he was a strong believer, no reed shaken in the wind of doubt. And yet He didn&rsquo;t just paper over John&rsquo;s doubts and forget them, pretending He hadn&rsquo;t seen. The message He returned to John encouraged him to look back to the Isaiah prophecies of Messiah, and to remember especially the way that the weak, doubting ones would be made strong. The Lord evidently sought to strengthen the weak John by this allusion. The language of being&nbsp;<i>shaken</i>&nbsp;by&nbsp;<i>wind</i> is used elsewhere by the Lord in describing the process of condemnation at the last day (both Greek words are found in Mt. 7:25,27). The Lord&rsquo;s idea may therefore be: &lsquo;Sure, John is wavering at this very moment. But when you saw him in the wilderness, he wasn&rsquo;t; and in God&rsquo;s eyes, even now, he&rsquo;s not shaking in the wind, he&rsquo;s not going to be condemned at the day of judgment- even though, as you&rsquo;ve just heard, he has his doubts and weaknesses&rsquo;. Perhaps the Lord had John in mind when He soon afterwards spoke of how He would not condemn even a broken reed (s.w.- Mt. 12:20), but rather still use it as a channel for the oil of the Spirit. The whole situation with John is helpful in coping with others who clearly are passing through times of trial which is resulting in their faith wavering. Think positively of who they were, have been, and still essentially are&hellip;</p>