"What went ye out for to see?" inquired Jesus, "A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee." He went on to declare that there had not arisen a greater prophet than John, nevertheless one least in the kingdom of God would be greater than he. Prophets whom the Jews knew by means of their sacred writings had been divine messengers inspiring men to righteousness and often flaming out with rebuke of sin. The priests had been concerned with ceremonial order, with the exactitude of tithing, and with sacrifices and offerings. The prophets had called upon men to show an inward righteousness which would be exhibited in true morality and mercifulness. While the conservators called upon men to conform to the traditions of the past the prophetic messengers called for reformation; hence John, coming in the line of the prophets, cried out to men that they should repent and be cleansed from their sins. Of him Paul says, "John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus."
Jesus began by calling upon men to repent, but his word had a new power and his declaration that the kingdom of heaven was at hand had proofs of the actual presence and power of that kingdom. The Pharisees naturally opposed the reformation which this teaching inaugurated. They were the upholders of national and ritualistic religion. Jesus acknowledged their zeal but he rebuked their neglect of what he called "the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith." As a divine messenger he was the one to whom prophets had borne witness, and was so recognized at a time when his disciples were tempted to leave him, and turning to the twelve he asked, "Will ye also go away?" Then Simon Peter replied: "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." The message of Christ Jesus was conclusive, completing an era, and being as the light of a new day to men.
The prophets often dealt with doom; the Master proclaimed a gospel of joy for all people. He relieved the minds of men from their fear of a distant God, joyless and vengeful, and bore witness to God's presence as joy, peace, healing, salvation, goodness, life eternal. The teachers of the past to whom he refers as "them of old time," had taught men to hate, to seek revenge, to hold themselves separate from and superior to others. As the one coming to fulfill the spiritual hopes of the prophets he set aside the literalism of the teachers with quiet dignity and power and introduced his rules for loving-kindness with the prelude, "I say unto you."
