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The Baptist, now in prison, sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he really was the one who was to come. In reply, Jesus first spoke about himself. He pointed out that he healed the sick, raised the dead, and preached good news to the poor. And he spoke of these activities in terms that recalled prophecies from Isa 29:18-19; 35:5-6; and 61:1.
Jesus then turned his attention to John the Baptist. He described him as a prophet and more than a prophet, the herald of the Lord’s coming promised in Mal 3:1. Yet because John belonged to the old covenant of the law, the least person in God’s kingdom was greater than he.
The incident closes with Jesus' observations about the reactions of people to the Baptist and to himself. His critics were never satisfied. They were like children who would play neither wedding nor funeral. They refused either to dance or to cry. They said that John the Baptist, an ascetic, had a demon. They called Jesus, on the other hand, a glutton and a drunkard. But, as Jesus observed, the wisdom of God is proved right by all her children, including Jesus and John.