But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”
With these words Jesus reveals that the promise of Elijah’s coming (Mal. 4:5) has already been fulfilled, yet people were not able to recognize the One sent by God and treated him according to their own will, rejecting and persecuting him (from the next verse it is clear that this refers to John the Baptist). That rejection shows the blindness of the human heart, which does not recognize God’s work when it does not match its expectations. In these words Jesus also foretells that the same fate awaits Him as the Son of Man, because the truth sent by God is often met not with faith but with opposition. This episode shows that prophetic ministry and the saving path pass through rejection and suffering, yet it is precisely through that way that God’s will is accomplished.