Albert Barnes Commentary Matthew 11:4-5

"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and tell John the things which ye hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good tidings preached to them." — Matthew 11:4-5 (ASV)

Go and shew John again, etc. Jesus referred them for an answer to these miracles. They were proof that he was the Messiah. Prophets had indeed performed miracles, but no prophet had performed so many, or any so important. Jesus, moreover, performed them in his own name, and by his own power. Prophets had done it by the power of God. Jesus, therefore, performed the works which none but the Messiah could do; and John might easily infer that he was the Christ.

The poor have the Gospel preached to them. It was predicted of the Messiah, that he would preach good tidings to the meek (Isaiah 41:1); or, as it is rendered in the New Testament, preach the gospel to the poor (Luke 4:18). By this, therefore, John might also infer that he was truly the Messiah. It adds to the force of this testimony that the poor have always been overlooked by Pharisees and philosophers. No sect of philosophers had condescended to notice them before Christ; and no system of religion had attempted to instruct them before the Christian religion. In all other schemes, the poor have been passed by as unworthy of notice.