EXPLORE THE TEXT
We are to be sensitive to the fact that
God sometimes works in ways that contradict our expectations.
16 “To what should I compare this generation?
It’s like children sitting in the marketplaces
who call out to other children:
17 We played the flute for you, but you didn’t dance;
we sang a lament, but you didn’t 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, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
Summarize this content from page 102 in the PSG for more context:
“In Jesus’s comparison, He most likely was referring to two popular games
that children played, weddings and funerals.
The “flute” was typically used at weddings, while a “lament” was sung at funerals.
In these activities children would act out two important events in the life of the community. .Inevitably there would be a child or two who refused to play. .
With this comparison, Jesus set up the hearers for the condemnation He was about to bring. .
John and Jesus lived contrasting lifestyles.
Yet neither approach was acceptable to those who were skeptical of both men.
They resented John’s austerity and call for repentance. .For the critics, Jesus wasn’t strict enough in following the traditions of Judaism.”
In God’s design, John’s asceticism and Jesus’s liberty were both appropriate.
Each followed the path God had for them.
Believers have to be careful to avoid the trap of cynicism, thinking
that “one size fits all” when living out our faith.