For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.
Jesus shows that his disciples have a special blessing, because they live in the time when God’s promised Messiah has appeared in the world. The prophets and righteous people of the Old Covenant longed to see the Messiah and the coming of his kingdom, but they did not reach that moment. They knew about his coming only through prophecies, whereas the disciples were personally witnessing the realities that the prophets had foretold.