Claim. Jesus’s statement that John the Baptist was the greatest of those born of women yet “he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matt 11:11) is read as Jesus’s judgment that JtB succeeded as prophet (testifying to the Messiah) but failed at the higher task of attending the Messiah — and his place in the kingdom reflects the failed-attendance, not the successful prophecy.
Elaboration. Per 2.3. The Faithlessness of John the Baptist: DP poses the question and answers it directly. Past prophets testified to the Messiah indirectly across time; John’s mission was to testify directly. By that measure JtB was greatest. “Nevertheless, in terms of attending the Messiah, he was the least of all.” Everyone in the kingdom “knew that Jesus was the Messiah and served him with devotion. Yet John the Baptist, who had been called upon to serve the Messiah more closely than anyone else, separated from Jesus and walked his own way.”
DP reads Jesus’s follow-up “wisdom is justified by her deeds” (Matt 11:19) as direct rebuke: “had John acted wisely, he would not have left Jesus… Unfortunately, he was foolish. He blocked the Jewish people’s path to Jesus, as well as his own path.”
Orthodox reading takes Matt 11:11’s “least in the kingdom” as a New Covenant temporal distinction — those after Pentecost stand in a fuller dispensation than even JtB. DP transposes the verse from dispensational-temporal to personal-evaluative.
See also. dp-jtb-faithlessness-was-main-reason-jesus-had-to-die, dp-jtb-prison-doubts-confirm-faithlessness