Posted by John Derrig
This blog post addresses the following question from the Frequently Asked Questions section of our website:
how can jesus say that john the baptist is the greatest born to a woman versus mother mary who was sinless and became the queen of heaven?
The statement from Jesus in this question occurs in two gospel accounts, Matthew (Mt 11:2-19) and Luke (Lk 7:18-35).
To address this question it is necessary to compare and contrast two approaches for interpreting Sacred Scripture: the Fundamentalist or Literalist approach and the Contextual approach.
Fundamentalists or literalists refer to Christians who believe that the Bible contains the actual words of God and that these words are all factually and literally correct. For example, a literalist would believe the creation story found in Genesis is exactly as it is written.
A contextualist, on the other hand, takes into account the literary genre and the cultural time and context of the passage in question. The contextual approach is well summarized in this passage from Dei Verbum:
To search out the intention of the sacred writers, attention should be given, among other things, to "literary forms." For truth is set forth and expressed differently in texts which are variously historical, prophetic, poetic, or of other forms of discourse. The interpreter must investigate what meaning the sacred writer intended to express and actually expressed in particular circumstances by using contemporary literary forms in accordance with the situation of his own time and culture. For the correct understanding of what the sacred author wanted to assert, due attention must be paid to the customary and characteristic styles of feeling, speaking and narrating which prevailed at the time of the sacred writer, and to the patterns men normally employed at that period in their everyday dealings with one another.
Dei Verbum, The Dogmatic Constitution on Sacred Scripture, Chapter 3, paragraph 12.
As Catholics we use the contextual approach to interpret Sacred Scripture rather than the fundamentalist or literalist approach.
To apply this contextual approach to the passage in question, we observe that Jesus is addressing, admonishing, and patiently teaching those in the crowd who are hostile to the message of repentance from His cousin John and the teachings about the kingdom of God from Jesus Himself. In the course of this teaching, Jesus endorses his cousin (Lk 7:28) and then contrasts the radical approach of John to His own approach (Lk 7:33 and 34). Also, it is important to identify the entire statement of Jesus about His cousin:
I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
Luke 7:28
In conclusion, we notice that Jesus’ intention in this teaching is not to compare John the Baptist to Peter, to any of His disciples, or to His mother Mary. Rather Jesus is admonishing and teaching those who reject John’s message of repentance and Jesus’ message about His kingdom.
