16 “To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
17 “‘We played the flute for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not mourn.’
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not mourn.’
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.”’ But wisdom is proved right by her actions.”
Verses like these make me think how so much has changed over the centuries since Jesus lived, and yet, so much has remained the same. Human nature has not changed ONE IOTA since 2000 years ago. We may have all kinds of new options technologically, recreationally, but the desires and wills and emotions and wishes behind all of those things are the same.
Today's verses deal with criticism. Isn't it true that you can never make everyone happy? I have three kids. Almost every single time they try to agree on something, for example which movie to watch for a movie night, they will each want something different. This is partly due to the fact that two are boys and one is a girl, and partly to their age differences, and partly to personal interests and preferences, but you can be guaranteed that even though there are many movies that all three of them like, it is rare that they will all want to watch the same one at the same time.
I looked up a John MacArthur sermon called Treating Christ with Criticism and Indifference. MacArthur talks about children in Jesus' time (re: v. 17), whose games generally imitated what they saw in the world of the grown-ups around them. Two of the games played most frequently, it would seem, were "wedding" (playing the flute and dancing) and "funeral" (singing a dirge and mourning). So a group would choose a game, but there would be a few children who didn't want to play. So they'd choose a different game, but it didn't matter what the game was, those children didn't like that game either.
Peevish children. The sad game, you see, is opposite the glad game. But they aren't going to play either game, they just stubbornly don't want to play. They just want to kind of sit on the sidelines and criticize ... the sheer perversity of human nature.
Now the principle of the parable is very clear. There are some people who just don't want to play no matter what the game is, right? No matter how you approach them they don't want to play. They'll criticize the wedding and they'll criticize the funeral. Nothing satisfies them. They will always find fault because they are basically unwilling to participate, unwilling to be satisfied.
Now, Jesus says that is like this generation. You just don't want to play. No matter what the game is...you will not be satisfied. You're like the children who when called by their little friends had no openness and no interest...just a bitter, critical, contrary spirit.
So, John the Baptist came to the people living a completely different kind of life from most. He lived in the desert, away from society, didn't have the usual social and personal relationships, and ate honey and locusts. He wore a camel's hair cloak. People who wanted to hear him had to come to him. He preached about judgment and condemnation. He was criticized for being so different, so apart from society, that he must be possessed by a demon. Jesus came and ate with people, socialized with them, went to weddings and funerals, met people where they were at. He came to them. Basically the opposite of how John the Baptist lived. And he was criticized as a glutton, a drunk, and for associating with the "wrong kind" of people.
I like how John MacArthur put it here:
But the point is that He came in the normal flow of life. And they said He was a drunkard and a glutton. And then they went beyond that and they said, and they put the word friend last in the Greek, and they said: "Publicans, or tax collectors, and sinners He befriends." Because He came mixing with all kinds of hurting, needy people, sharing their sorrows and their joy, they said He was a rounder. And because John came living in the desert, fasting, despising food and isolated from people, they said he was mad and demonic. And the point of the whole deal is that they were just critical, that's all. There was nothing that could be done that could please them.
William Barclay says: "The plain fact is that when people do not want to listen to the truth, they will easily enough find an excuse for not listening. They do not even try to be consistent in their criticism. They'll criticize the same person and the same institution from quite opposite grounds and reasons. if people are determined to make no response, they will remain stubbornly and sullenly unresponsive no matter what invitation is made to them." end quote.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 11:20-30.
1 comment:
So true. May we not have such critical hearts!
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