Jesus has set aside two wrong pictures of John: a reed shaken with the wind, and a man in soft clothing (Luke 7:24-25). Now He names the right one. The people had regarded John as a prophet, and Gill notes that John's fame as a prophet drew great numbers out to see and hear him. Jesus agrees, then goes further. His question presses the crowd to take seriously what they had already seen: if John was a prophet, then his message called for a response, and the next verses show some received it and some rejected it (Luke 7:29-30).

Jesus answers at once: "Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet" (Luke 7:26). He explains why: "This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee" (Luke 7:27). Then He adds, "Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he" (Luke 7:28). The people and the publicans "justified God," while the Pharisees and lawyers "rejected the counsel of God against themselves" (Luke 7:29-30).

Jesus' words in Luke 7:27 quote Malachi 3:1, where God says, "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me." At John's birth his father had said, "thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways" (Luke 1:76).

Barnes (on the parallel, Matthew 11:9) explains why John was more than a prophet. The most eminent earlier prophets were those who had most clearly predicted the Messiah, yet John surpassed them: he "lived in the time of the Messiah himself," and "He was the instrument of introducing him to the nation." Gill makes a similar point on this verse: John was the forerunner, who saw Jesus and baptized Him.

This question shows God keeping His word. Through Malachi He promised to send a messenger before Him (Malachi 3:1), and Jesus says John is that messenger (Luke 7:27). John's greatness did not come from his clothes, his strength, or even his hardship. It came from his place in God's plan: he stood closest to the coming of Christ and pointed to Him.

Then Jesus turns the honor around. "He that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he" (Luke 7:28). Matthew Henry explains that the least gospel minister, serving "under a more excellent dispensation," holds a more honorable office than John. The question is not only who John was, but whether the hearers would enter the kingdom John announced.