Trinity Matthew 11:16-19
[16] But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,
[17] And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.
[18] For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.
[19] The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
One of the most dramatic preachers of the New Testament was John the Baptist, that man whom God called to prepare the way for Jesus. People came from miles to hear him preach because he was different. Unlike their pastors in Jerusalem who held services in a magnificent temple with walls lined with gold and silver, John held services out on the prairie with no benches or altar or candles. Unlike their pastors who paraded about in magnificent robes, John had a cloak of camel’s hair with a leather belt. Unlike their clergy in the temple who fared sumptuously, John drank no kind of intoxicating drink and lived on a diet of locusts and wild honey. Unlike the Scribes and Pharisees who, in their sermons, complimented the people for their pious lives, John preached a message of repentance.
When the unbelieving multitude came out to the prairie, how it must have pleased them to hear the Baptist condemn the Publicans for cheating and the soldiers for demanding higher wages and the proud for not sharing their wealth. It was a different story, however, when he turned to them and said, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance.” Matthew 3:7 They resented anyone who condemned their life of works and who pointed them to the coming Christ as the promised Messiah. They did not mind going to hear a dramatic preacher in the wilderness, but any mention of sin or forgiveness turned them off, and so they looked to this other prophet, called Jesus. They followed Him from town to town, eagerly watching Him heal the sick, raise the dead, and provide free food. His message, however, was just as disappointing as the message of the Baptist was. If Jesus had complimented them on their piety and had suggested ways in which they could improve their lives, ways by which they could make themselves more kind and loving, they would have accepted Him with open arms. When He denounced them, however, as natural-born sinners whose only hope of salvation lay with Him, they closed their ears, and looked for someone else to follow, someone who would preach what they wanted to hear. They were as fickle as children are, “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine,” Ephesians 4:14. They were a total frustration to our Savior who cried out, “whereunto shall I liken this generation?”
To make His point, He used the picture of two groups of children playing in the marketplace. One group of children wanted to play a game and so they chose a happy game that they thought everyone would like. They pretended that they were at a wedding; they danced, sang, whistled, and expected everyone to join in. The other group of children, however, considered the game boring and uninteresting. Then they chose another game. They pretended that they were at a funeral. They walked about with long faces; they cried and wailed, as the professional mourners were accustomed to do at a Jewish funeral. Surely, if the other children didn’t want to sing and dance, they would want to mourn, but this didn’t work either. They felt helpless. Nothing they could say or do interested the other children who were either too proud or were too taken up with themselves to want to play with anybody else.
In this text, Jesus compares his generation with the children in the parable. The Jewish people were unenthusiastic about anything John the Baptist or Jesus or any prophet of God might say. They considered themselves wiser than our Savior was, and they justified their unbelief by discrediting how He lived. Jesus came eating and drinking, pointing to Himself as the One God had sent to save them from their sins. To discredit Him, however, they asked, “What thinking person could expect them to listen to a glutton, to a wino, to a friend of publicans and sinners?” John the Baptist had called them to repentance. He called them to look to Jesus as their Messiah, but they did not want to hear that. They asked, “How could anyone expect them to listen to a crazy man who refuses to drink wine and who eats insects for dinner?”
In the text, Jesus summarizes their behavior with the proverb, “wisdom is justified of her children.” If people don’t like what someone says, they dig up some dirt on his character or his life-style to discredit him. For a child of God, this behavior is a direct violation of the eighth commandment, which demands that we “help and improve our neighbor’s property and business.” For the world, however, considers this wisdom, nefarious tactics by which many a candidate has achieved political office.
The unbelieving Jews talked Jesus and John down, but they never really knew them. Was John crazy because he chose to ignore the formalism of temple worship and conduct services in the desert? Was Jesus really a glutton or drunkard because he chose to make wine at a wedding or to eat dinner with sinners? By looking at Jesus from the standpoint of their built-in prejudices, by defaming the person and ignoring the message, they tragically deprived themselves of eternal life. What they meant as sarcasm is a precious truth. Jesus is a friend of publicans and sinners. That is the kind of people that He came to save. ”I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:32. The same is true of John the Baptist. “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen [it], repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.” Matthew 21:32.
A generation consists roughly of 20 years. There have been over a hundred generations since the generation of our Savior, and yet nothing has improved. If Jesus were physically present today, to what would he liken our generation? Today’s world is no different from the disinterested children of the parable. Nothing the holy Son of God could say or do would satisfy the whims and caprices of the masses. The world lives for itself and is callously indifferent to the thought of sin and its disastrous results. Like the children, they are either too proud or they are too taken up with themselves to have any interest in the precious promises of the gospel. No matter what God says, they turn it around. If you tell them that God says there is only one way to heaven, they call you narrow; if you tell them that God is good, they will find a way to prove that God is evil.
This text is a powerful condemnation of the fickle unbelief of the world, and at the same time a powerful message to you and me. When Jesus said, “Wisdom is justified of her children,” He was describing the condition of the human heart. Naturally, we are no different from children playing games. To borrow an expression from the text, “When Jesus pipes, we fail to dance.” When God speaks to us in His word, we tend to say, “Oh, how boring. I’ve heard that all before.” When He asks us to share our gifts and talents with each other, we tend to ask, “What is in it for me?” The result is tragic. Whenever we take our salvation for granted, enthusiasm for the cause of the Gospel disappears. What made the publicans [and sinners] so excited about Christ was His words of forgiveness. They were so excited that they followed Him, they ate with Him, and they eagerly listened to every word He spoke.
The only thing that can make you and me excited about Christ is the undeserved forgiveness that He brings into our lives every day with the promises of the Bible. In a wonderful prayer the Psalmist one time pleaded that his Lord would create within him a clean heart, a new spirit, and the joy of salvation that comes with it. This is what he said, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me…Restore unto me the joy of my salvation. Psalm 51:10-12. If that is our prayer, we can’t help but leave church this morning with hearts warmed by the precious Gospel and with hands eager and excited to do His work.