Matthew 11:7

‘And as these went their way, Jesus began to say to the crowds concerning John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?” '

Jesus begins to impress on the crowds the greatness of John. He questions them as to what it was about John that caused them to flock to see him. What made them go into the wilderness? Certainly not just a reed (or a reedbed) shaking in the wind. That was too common a sight. Or was it the weakness and frailty of the reed that Jesus had in mind? A reed was helpless before the wind, and vulnerable (1 Kings 14:15), but possibly Jesus wants them to acknowledge that John was not like that. Note the connection with the later quotation from Isaiah in Matthew 12:20. There the Servant will deal tenderly with the broken reed. He has not come only for such as John.