“To what then should I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace, and call to one another, saying, ‘We piped to you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned, and you didn’t weep.’ For John the Baptizer came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard; a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Wisdom is justified by all her children.”
Parallel Translations
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“To what then should I compare the people of this generation? What are they like?
They are like children who sit in the marketplace, and call to one another, saying, ‘We piped to you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned, and you didn’t weep.’
For John the Baptizer came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’
The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard; a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
Wisdom is justified by all her children.”
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And the lorde sayd: Wher vnto shall I lyke the men of this generacion and what thinge are they lyke?
They are lyke vnto chyldre sittynge in the market place and cryinge one to another and sayinge: We have pyped vnto you and ye have not daunsed: we have mourned to you and ye have not wept.
For Iohn baptist cam nether eatynge breed ner drinkynge wyne and ye saye: he hath the devyll.
The sonne of man is come and eateth and drinketh and ye saye: beholde a man which is a glotton and a drinker of wyne a frende of publicans and synners.
Yet is wysdome iustified of all her chyldren.
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And the Lord saide, Whereunto shall I liken the men of this generation? and what thing are they like vnto?
They are like vnto litle children sitting in the market place, and crying one to another, and saying, We haue piped vnto you, and ye haue not daunced: we haue mourned to you, and ye haue not wept.
For Iohn Baptist came, neither eating bread, nor drinking wine: and ye say, He hath the deuil.
The Sonne of man is come, and eateth and drinketh: and ye say, Beholde, a man which is a glutton, and a drinker of wine, a friend of Publicanes and sinners:
But wisdome is iustified of all her children.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (33)
- Proverbs 8:32-36 (v35) “Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, for blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise. Don’t refuse it. Blessed is…
- Matthew 11:19 (v35) The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’…
- Hosea 14:9 (v35) Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the…
- 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 (v35) Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are…
- Proverbs 17:16 (vv32, 35) Why is there money in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, since he has no understanding?
Show all 31 cross-references
- Luke 1:15 (v33) For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even…
- Matthew 11:16-19 (vv31–32) “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call to their companions and say, ‘We…
- Luke 15:2 (v34) The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”
- Luke 7:36 (v34) One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at the table.
- Jeremiah 5:3-5 (v32) O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused…
- Matthew 9:11 (v34) When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
- Mark 1:6 (v33) John was clothed with camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey.
- Luke 7:29 (v35) When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they declared God to be just, having been baptized with John’s baptism.
- Luke 14:1 (v34) When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him.
- Luke 19:7 (v34) When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.”
- John 12:2 (v34) So they made him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.
- Isaiah 28:9-13 (v32) Whom will he teach knowledge? To whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts? For it…
- Jeremiah 16:8-10 (v33) “You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink.” For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold,…
- Lamentations 2:13 (v31) What shall I testify to you? What shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin…
- Matthew 3:4 (v33) Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
- Luke 5:29 (v34) Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them.
- Luke 11:37 (v34) Now as he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him. He went in, and sat at the table.
- John 2:2 (v34) Jesus also was invited, with his disciples, to the wedding.
- John 8:48 (v33) Then the Jews answered him, “Don’t we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?”
- John 8:52 (v33) Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word, he…
- John 10:20 (v33) Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him?”
- Acts 2:13 (v33) Others, mocking, said, “They are filled with new wine.”
- Isaiah 29:11-12 (v32) All vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is educated, saying, “Read this,…
- Zechariah 8:5 (v32) The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.”
- Matthew 10:25 (v33) It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house…
- Mark 4:30 (v31) He said, “How will we liken God’s Kingdom? Or with what parable will we illustrate it?
31 distinct cross-references across this passage (33 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v31 What way soever God followeth in offering us the…
What way soever God followeth in offering us the Gospel, the most part of men procure offences unto themselves: yet notwithstanding some Church is gathered together.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv31, 33, 35 31 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I…
31 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?
Ver. 31. See Mat 11:16-17, &c.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v31 See Poole on "Mat 11:16" and following verses to…
See Poole on "Mat 11:16" and following verses to Mat 11:19, where we have this smart reflection upon the scribes and Pharisees, and the generality of the Jews. They were neither pleased full nor fasting, but censorious of the different manner of living of John and Christ. John showed a more austere and severe humour, and lived like a recluse: you had nothing else to say; you said he had a devil. I have chosen not a less innocent, but a more free converse with men of all sorts, and eat and drink as other men; of me you say that I am a wine bibber, a glutton, a friend of publicans and sinners. Such was their perverseness, that proceeded from their enmity to the doctrine of John and Christ.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v31 Our blessed Saviour in these words describes the perverse…
Our blessed Saviour in these words describes the perverse humor of the Pharisees, whom nothing could allure to the embracing of the gospel, neither John’s ministry nor Christ’s.
This our Saviour sets forth two ways, allegorically and properly: by way of allegory he compares them to sullen children, whom nothing would please, neither mirth nor mourning; if their fellows piped before them, they would not dance; if they sang mournful songs to them they would not lament: that is, the Pharisees were of such a censorious and capricious humor, that God himself could not please them, although he used variety of means and methods in order to that end.
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Next our Lord plainly interprets this allegory, by telling them that John came to them neither eating nor drinking, that is, not so freely and plentifully as other men, being a very austere and mortified man, both in his diet and habit; all which was designed by God to bring the Pharisees to repentance and amendment of life.
But, instead of this, they censure him for having a devil, because he delighted in solitude, and was not so free in conversation as some men, according to the ancient observation, "That he that delighteth in solitude, is either an angel or a devil," either a wild beast or a god.
John being thus rejected, Christ himself comes to them, who being of a free and familiar conversation, not shunning the society of the worst of men, no, not of the Pharisees themselves, but complying with their customs, and accompanying them innocently at their feasts. Yet the freedom of our Saviour’s conversation displeased them as much as John’s reservedness of temper; for they cry, Behold a man gluttonous, a friend of publicans and sinners; Christ’s affability towards sinners they account an approbation of their sins; and his sociable disposition, looseness and luxury.
Learn hence, that the faithful and zealous ministers of Christ, let their temper and converse be what it will, cannot please the enemies of religion, and the haters of the power of godliness; neither John’s austerity, nor Christ’s familiarity, could gain upon the Pharisees. It is the duty of the ministers of God, in the course of their ministry, to seek to please all men for their good: but after all our endeavors to please all, if we strenuously oppose the errors and vices of the times, we shall please but very few. But if God and conscience be of the number of those few, we are safe and happy.
Observe, 2. That it has been the old policy of the devil, that he might hinder the success of the gospel, to fill the minds of persons with an invincible prejudice against the ministers and dispensers of the gospel. Here the Pharisees are prejudiced unreasonably both against John and against Christ, that the success of both their ministries must be frustrated and disappointed.
Observe, 3. That after all the scandalous reproaches cast upon the Christian religion, and the ministers and professors of it, such as are Wisdom’s children, wise and good men, will justify religion, that is, approve it in their judgments, honor it in their discourses, and adorn it in their lives: Wisdom is justified of all her children.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv31–35 The son of man is come eating and drinking,....…
The son of man is come eating and drinking,.... That is, eating bread and drinking wine, as other people do; and shuns no man's company, goes to a wedding, dines with a Pharisee, and eats with publicans and sinners, and carries it freely and courteously to all men:
and ye say, behold a gluttonous man and a wine bibber; an epicurian, a drunkard, a mere sot, one that gives up himself to sensual pleasures:
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a friend of publicans and sinners; a good fellow, a boon companion, that sits with them, and encourages them in their revellings and drunkenness: such an ill use did the Jews make of our Lord's free, harmless, and innocent conversation with men; and in such a horrid manner did they traduce and vilify him, who was holy in his nature, harmless in his life, separate from sinners, knew no sin, nor ever committed any.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv32, 34 They are like children sitting in the market place…
They are like children sitting in the market place - So froward and perverse, that no contrivance can be found to please them. It is plain our Lord means, that they were like the children complained of, not like those that made the complaint.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv31, 32, 35 Verse 31. And the Lord said] Almost every MS.…
Verse 31. And the Lord said] Almost every MS. of authority and importance, with most of the versions, omit these words. As the Evangelistaria (the books which contained those portions of the Gospels which were read in the Churches) began at this verse, the words were probably at first used by them, to introduce the following parable. There is the fullest proof that they never made a part of Luke's text. Every critic rejects them. Bengel and Griesbach leave them out of the text.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v32 Speaking one to another: (Greek: prosphonousin allelois) they seem…
Speaking one to another: (Greek: prosphonousin allelois) they seem to have been alternate choirs of youths, answering each other in the above words. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v31 the Lord said, &c.--As cross, capricious children, invited by…
the Lord said, &c.--As cross, capricious children, invited by their playmates to join them in their amusements, will play with them neither at weddings nor funerals (juvenile imitations of the joyous and mournful scenes of life), so that generation rejected both John and his Master: the one because he was too unsocial--more like a demoniac than a rational man; the other, because He was too much the reverse, given to animal indulgences, and consorting with the lowest classes of society. But the children of Wisdom recognize and honor her, whether in the austere garb of the Baptist or in the more attractive style of his Master, whether in the Law or in the Gospel, whether in rags or in royalty, for "the full soul loatheth an honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet" (Pro 27:7).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv31–35 31. And the Lord said] These words are almost…
31. And the Lord said] These words are almost certainly spurious, being omitted by all the best uncials.
Whereunto then shall I liken] Our Lord seems more than once to have used this formula to arrest attention for His parables. Mar_4:30.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv31, 33 (31-35) Whereunto then shall I liken . . .—See…
(31-35) Whereunto then shall I liken . . .—See Notes on Mat_11:16-19. Some of the better MSS. omit the introductory words, “and the Lord said.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv31, 33, 34, 35 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken…
And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? The Master evidently paused a moment here. He sought for some homely, popular simile which would drive home to the listeners" hearts his sad and solemn judgment of the conduct of the ruling Jews of this time. The generation he was then addressing had been singularly blessed with two great Divine messages the one delivered by that eminent servant of God, John, about whom he had been speaking in such glowing, earnest terms; the other message was his own. He chose for his purpose one of those everyday scenes from the people"s life, a scene which they had witnessed often, and in which, no doubt, in past days many of the by-standers themselves had taken a part one of those child-games which the little ones in his day were wont to play in the summer evenings, and in which, likely enough, he in his boyish years had often shared in, as he played in the little market-place of Nazareth. He likened the wayward men of that generation to a group of children of the people in some open space of the city, now playing at rejoicings, such as take place at wedding festivities, now at wailings , which in Eastern countries accompany funerals; that is to say, the little group would divide itself into two companies, and one would say to the other, "Come, now we will play at a wedding; here are the pipers and the singers, do you come and dance and make merry;" but the others would not. Then the little company of would-be merrymakers would beat their breasts and cry with pretended sorrow; but the others still declined to join in the game of mourning would not play "at a funeral," just as they refused to join in the game of "rejoicing at a wedding." To such a band of imperious little ones, who were angry if the others did not at once comply with their demands, Jesus compared the wayward and evil generation in which he and John lived. Had they not found bitter fault with John because he had declined to have anything to do with their wicked self-indulgent feasting and luxury? How often had Pharisee and scribe railed with bitter railings against Jesus because he would have nothing to do with their false and hypocritical fastings, with their pretended shrinking from what they deemed unclean and unworthy of them! Dr. Morrison puts it rightly, and forcibly: "They were dissatisfied with John, and would have nothing to do with him." If we are to have reformers, commend us to such as come near us, and visit our houses, and sit at our tables, and are sociable like ourselves." They pretended, on the other hand, to scorn Jesus, who, while making so lofty a profession, yet went about eating and drinking in people"s houses, and even in the homes of publicans and sinners. "He should have gone into the desert and lived an abstemious life .... Commend us to ascetic men for our reformers. The line of interpretation which seems to us simpler and fitted to the framework of the little parable is in the main thus adopted by Meyer, Dr. W. Bleek, Bishop Wordsworth, and Dean Plumptre. "You men of this generation," writes Bishop Wordsworth, "are like a troop of wayward children, who go on with their own game, at one time gay, at another grave, and give heed to no one else, and expect that every one should conform to them. You were angry with John because he would not dance to your piping, and with me because 1 will not weep to your dirge; John censured your licentiousness, I rebuke your hypocrisy; you vilify both, and reject the good counsel of God, who has devised a variety of means for your salvation.
Vers. 31-34. Christian abstinence and participation.
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These "children sitting in the market-place" very well illustrate the perverse and contradictory of all generations. Many are they, here and everywhere, who will neither dance at the wedding nor mourn at the funeral, who will work neither along one line nor yet along its opposite, to whom all ways are objectionable because their own spirit is out of tune with everything. But the special folly which these children are brought forward to condemn is that of objecting to John because he was abstemious, and to Jesus because he participated in the good gifts of God. The right course to take is not that of objecting to both, but rather that of accepting and honouring both. We shall find, if we care to look for it
I CHRISTIAN ABSTEMIOUSNESS. John came "neither eating nor drinking." He acted, no doubt, under Divine direction in so doing. But John was not our exemplar. We are not called to follow John, but Christ; and Christ came eating and drinking. Is abstinence, then, a Christian course? It is so; it is justified by the language of our Lord and by that of his apostles. He said that there were some celibates "for the kingdom of heaven"s sake". (Mat_19:12) And he urged upon men that they should pluck out their right eye, or cut off their right hand, rather than perish in iniquity. (Mat_5:29, Mat_5:30) His apostle wrote that men should neither eat meat nor drink wine, if by so doing they put a stumbling-block in the way of another. (Rom_14:21) And it is certain that we are acting in a strictly and, indeed, an emphatically Christian spirit when we:
1. Abstain because indulgence would be perilous to ourselves. This may relate to food or drink, or to any kind of amusement or occupation, to anything of any kind in which we find ourselves under a strong temptation to excess if we once begin.
2. Abstain because our abstinence will make the path of virtue or piety more accessible to others. Anything we can do, any privation we may accept, any habit we may form, by which we help men upwards and Godwards, must be an essentially and radically Christian thing.
II CHRISTIAN PARTICIPATION. "The Son of man came eating and drinking." He was no ascetic; he was present at the festivity; he accepted the invitation to the rich man"s board; he did not choose the coarser garment because it was coarser, or the severer lodging because it was severer; he did not habitually and conscientiously decline the gifts of God in nature. He knew how to decline them when occasion called for it, (see Luk_6:12 Luk_9:58) but he did not do so regularly and as a sacred duty. Surely it was well for the world that he acted thus; for, had he sanctioned asceticism, we should have been continually oscillating, or everywhere divided, between an unamiable severity on the one hand and a degrading self-indulgence on the other hand. The wise and the true course is that of a Christian participation; this is a partaking of the gifts of God and of the sweets and enjoyments of earth, which is:
1. Sanctified by devout gratitude; by a continual and wholesome mindfulness that every good gilt is from above, and calls for a grateful and reverent spirit.
2. Controlled by a wise moderation; so that nothing is indulged in which is in the smallest degree excessive; so that no injury of any kind is done to the spiritual nature.
3. Beautified by benevolence; the participation by ourselves being very closely and constantly accompanied by the remembrance of the wants of others. "Eat the fat and drink the sweet," but be careful to "send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv31, 35 Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this…
Luk_7:31-34
Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation
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The Baptist and Christ
In the metaphor of the reed shaking in the wind, we traced that close observation of nature which enabled Christ to interpret so much of human life to man.
In the similitude He uses here we trace His close observation of the ordinary aspects of human life, and the use which He made of them to interpret to men His own thoughts, and the times in which He lived. Every one knows from pictures, from descriptions, the general appearance of the market-place of an Eastern town. One may image the quiet figure of Christ moving through the throng, enjoying its humours, with now a gentle smile, and now an inexplicable sadness on His face, as if all things spoke to Him of far-off analogies. One sight He often saw--the children at play in the unoccupied spaces and corners of the markets. They had their games in and out among the serious doing of the place, and one of these games is often spoken of in Eastern tales. It is the acting of childish dramas which the children themselves invent. Often three or four exhibit their little talents for the rest, while now and then a bearded man or a veiled woman loiter by to watch the sport. Sometimes the invented story is sportive, sometimes sorrowful, and the acting of them is good or bad, according to the sympathy given to the children. One such scene, at least, remained vividly in His mind (and He uses it with astonishing force), when the little band of actors, having tried to win the favour of their comrades with tiny tragedy, and then with tiny comedy, failed in their hopes, and said, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. In this slight scene Christ saw a picture of the religious state of Palestine. There was no moral depth in that society, no vital strength to carry out in a life the wavering feelings of repentance. At first they tried the Baptist, but they soon had enough of that resolute teaching. They turned away with indignation, and said, He hath a devil. They were mourned unto, and they had not lamented. All the same, they could not get rid of the religious impulse in their hearts. It seemed that Christ required no ascetic life, that He did not wish them to separate themselves from the world. This is the teacher for us, they said, and they sought Him out and followed Him. We will dance to His piping, was their thought, and possess a religion. But the result was a still more complete failure.
1. The religion of the Baptist had been too hard for them because of its stern morality. It demanded outward purity. We shall be better off with Christ, they thought. And they found themselves worse off than before. It was bad enough to hear that the whole of the outward life had to be reformed; it was ten times worse to hear that the inward life had to be reformed.
2. The religion of the Baptist had been too hard for them because of its demand for self-sacrifice. And lo! Christ was ten times more severe on this point than John. They turned away in wrath, but the little grain of conscience that still remained made them bitter. To relieve their conscience, they turned to abuse and vilify Him who had shown them a vision they could not bear. If they could put Him in the wrong, they might put themselves in the right. Behold, then, a gluttonous man, &c. They were piped unto, and they had not danced. There is much the same sort of thing among men now.
3. Another class of men turned from the Baptist to look at the religion of Christ--the religious leaders of the day, the Pharisees. These drifted out to John in the wilderness; the wave of religious excitement had sent its tide even into their land-locked harbours; one wonders what took these models of piety to John. He could not understand it; his astonishment was frank enough. Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? When they found that John did not pay them snore attention than the rest, when they saw that he talked with the publican as he did with them, they turned back, saying, He hath a devil. So the hypocrites among them thought they would hear what Christ had to say. He might do them more honour. He might recognize their proud position as leaders of religion. But alas! they were disappointed. I suppose no sharper or more indignant language was ever used by man against other men than the words with which Christ denounced them. As to the other class of Pharisees who were pious bigots, they found in Christ all that they had disliked in John multiplied tenfold. He would have nothing to do with them unless they came to Him and humbly confessed themselves sinners. Not among their ranks, but among unlearned fishermen and villagers He chose His special followers. He dined with the publicans; even at one of their houses He admitted the sinful woman to salvation. It was snore than could be borne. This was music no man could dance to. There are men of this sort at this time among us. (Stowford A. Brooke, M. A.)
Children at play
(To children.) The children of two thousand years ago were very like the children of to-day, even in their sports. Then, as now, when a number of children came together, and especially when they came together out of doors, they found it impossible to sit still or stand still. Whatever the game at which they played, there was pretty sure to be some mimicry in it, some quaint imitation or comic burlesque of what they had seen their elders do. Now it happened one day that the Lord Jesus, as He passed through the streets and bazaars of a Galilean town, came on a number of children who were thus employed. They played first at a wedding, and then at a funeral. And we cannot wonder that they chose these two ceremonies for imitation. For a Jewish wedding was then, as to this day an Eastern wedding is, a very gay spectacle, sure to seize the fancy of children. The bridegroom and the young men who accompanied him were tricked out in their best and brightest robes; and they went in public procession, with music and with perfumes floating in the air, to fetch the bride to her new home. For many days after the wedding open house was kept. There was much mirth and feasting. The friends of the wedded pair went, with trains of their kinsfolk and servants, to carry them their presents, or to pay calls of ceremony and congratulation. The whole town was alive with music and dancing and feasting; and in the streets gay companies were continually passing to and fro. That was thought a very poor marriage, the festivities of which were not kept up for at least a week. So, again, a Jewish funeral must have been a very striking and dramatic spectacle to children. The body was carried by on an open bier, so that all could see it. And not only did the kinsfolk and friends of the dead man follow him to the grave with the most extravagant expressions of grief; but they were foolish enough to hire professional mourners, who tore their hair, and beat their breasts, and raised a keen cry or wail. Now children who saw these sad processions constantly going about the streets could not fail to be impressed by the dramatic features of the scene, and were likely enough to imitate and burlesque it in their play. That was what the children whom Jesus watched had been doing. First they had said, Lets play at marrying! And then the more forward and lively children of the company began to march, and to move their fingers up and down as if they were stopping and unstopping the holes of a flute. One of them, no doubt, was chosen to personate the bridegroom, and others to stand for the sons of the bridechamber, i.e., the young men who accompanied him; and off they started, as though to fetch the bride home, expecting that the rest of the children would follow, dancing and shouting, and pretending to carry torches. But those who should have filled this part declined to fill it. They were sulky, and would not play at this game. And so the cheerful children had to say to the sulky ones, Why, whats the matter? We fluted to you, and you did not dance. Then they thought they would try another game. Perhaps the first was too lively. And so they say, Lets play at burying I And off they go like bearers of the bier, or like the hired mourners, walking with folded hands and downcast heads, but every now and then flinging up their heads, and howling, Oh, so dreadfully. But their companions wont play. This game does not suit them either. For, again, the first place is not assigned to them. And so, the livelier, the merry, good-tempered children have to turn upon them again, and say, Whatever is the matter with you to-day? We wailed, and ye did not beat your breasts. Now if these children had known that Jesus was watching them; if, moreover, they had known how kind and good He was, do you think that any of them would have turned sulky and refused to play? It will do much to make you and those about you happy if you will learn to play in the right spirit. But this is not the only or the best lesson which Christ has made these children teach us. He told the men who were listening to Him that they were like those children in their treatment of John the Baptist and Himself. The fault, He said, is in you, not in the Baptist or the Son of Man. We are to show the very opposite spirit. Instead of hating the truth, and refusing to listen to it, wherever or however God speaks to us, we are to love the truth, and to welcome it, whatever the form or the tone it takes. Put yourselves to this test: Am I really trying to do Gods will and to love it, as Jesus did? Whether I work or play, do I try to show the kindly, unselfish, cheerful temper which He approves? (S. Cox, D. D.)
On the impossibility of pleasing everybody
Explain the phrases, children; market -place; piped unto you; mourned unto you. Learn--
I. THE GOSPEL IS SENT ONLY TO SINNERS.
II. IT IS RIGHT TO USE VARIOUS MEANS TO BRING MEN UNDER THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL. Look at the difference between the ministry of Jesus and that of John.
III. IN THE USE OF THESE MEANS IT WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE EVERYBODY, John was a recluse, and they said he had a devil. Jesus came eating and drinking, and they said, Behold a gluttonous man, &c.
IV. ALL TRUE PREACHERS OF THE GOSPEL MAY EXPECT OPPOSITION.
V. NEVERTHELESS, WE MUST NOT CEASE DECLARING THE TRUTH. (A. F,Barfield.)
Transition periods
This little picture of childrens plays, which Jesus gives us, is an illustration of the illogical objections made against the truth, and shows us many things.
1. It shows us how uniform are the tendencies of human nature in all ages and times. Jesus, passing through the market of Nazareth, or Cana, saw the children playing their games, just as children play them now. The little Syrian boys and girls belonging to the great Semitic race, living eighteen hundred years ago, amid Asiatic customs and scenery, were just such little children as you and I saw playing on the common yesterday. They played games, imitating the customs of grown people; just as little children now play soldiers, play horse and driver, so they then played weddings and funerals.
2. It shows us Christs habit of taking illustrations from everyday life. In His teachings there is nothing conventional, nothing formal. No fact in Gods world is to Him common or unclean.
3. It also shows how much easier it is for good men, though differing in ideas, tastes, and methods, to agree in a mutual respect and sympathy, than for self-willed men to form any permanent union. No two were more unlike than Jesus and John; but they had a common aim. It was to do Gods will; to make the world better. So they had a mutual respect for each other. There was a real union between them. John made the turning-point from the law to the gospel; his was the transition period, within sight of the gospel, yet with the terror of the law behind it. Such a transition period has continued in the Church down to our time. Perhaps the majority of Christians are now living, not under the dominion of law, nor yet in the kingdom of heaven, but in the dispensation of John the Baptist. But halfway convictions are not very satisfactory, and the remedy for this evil is to put both the law and the gospel in their right place. We cannot dispense with either, but we wish to distinguish between their sphere and their work. (James Freeman Clarke.)
Fickleness and folly in dealing with religion and its professors and teachers
I. THE CONTRARIETY BETWEEN THE CONDUCT OF CHRIST AND THAT OF JOHN, AS DESCRIBED IN THE TEXT, WAS RENDERED NECESSARY BY THE DIFFERING STANDPOINTS AND MISSIONS OF EACH. These descriptions--neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and eating and drinking--are particular features, put for general character and conduct. Johns abstemiousness and austerity befitted him as the last prophet of the Old Dispensation. Christ had come to establish a new order of things, to substitute for the bondage of the law the liberty of the gospel, to insist on inward purity as of in finitely greater importance than outward observance. Specifically his eating and drinking meant--
1. His oneness with humanity.
2. The sacredness of common life and occupations.
3. That the natural appetites are to be reasonably and legitimately satisfied, not trampled upon.
4. That religion has its social side.
5. That it is possible to be in the world while not of it.
II. THE PEOPLE, WITH THEIR LEADERS, NOT RECOGNIZING THAT THIS DIVERGENCE WAS FITTING AND NECESSARY, MISJUDGED BOTH CHRIST AND JOHN. The really austere life of John was a reproach to the pretended austerity of the Pharisees, whilst the immaculate purity of Him who could yet suffer His feet to be washed by the tears of the woman who was a sinner rebuked alike their uncharitableness and their hypocrisy. Hence, not being willing to repent at the call of John, or to humble themselves at the command of Christ, they must, to be consistent in their hypocrisy, condemn alike Christ and John-pronounce them to be either immoral in life, or endued with power from below. But the point in which they most pointedly warn us not to copy their example is here--that they formed their judgments upon grounds so insufficient. Learn the danger of hasty judgments--
1. As regards the person judged.
2. Others, who might be benefited by him.
3. Ourselves. Prejudices hide the truth.
III. THE TEXT SHOWS HOW EASY IT WAS FOR THE MEN OF CHRISTS DAY, AS IT IS FOR US, TO FIND AN EXCUSE WHEN ONE IS WANTED. HOW did the Pharisees, feeling conscious that they were wrong, excuse themselves the trouble of putting themselves right? They adopted the plan which is said sometimes to be resorted to by legal pleaders: If you have a weak case, blacken your opponents counsel. How true a picture of the way in which men generally treat unpalatable truth! Note some of the flimsy grounds on which many reject Christianity, or refuse to make a Christian profession, e.g., difficulties in the Bible; inconsistency in professing Christians. (J. R. Bailey.)
The sanctity of the common life
1. Poverty the common lot.
2. The happy endurance of poverty rare. The secret of its trust.
3. Besides these sweet virtues of resignation, trust and contentment, there is another which seems to me to become rarer and rarer--cheerfulness. Our age is not only perplexed but sad. There is not enough of enthusiasm and unselfishness left among us for hearty and wholesome laughter. (Archdeacon Farrar.)
The use of the world
Christian self-sacrifice is not asceticism. The idea of the essential badness of pleasure has been very commonly held and advocated by the propounders of ethical and religious systems. Even Plato says that every pleasure enjoyed is as a nail fastening the soul more securely in its dungeon; every pleasure given up a nail withdrawn, and hastens on the period of its release. Like many other views which find no warranty in the Christianity of Christ, it has had a considerable influence upon the Christianity of Christendom. The pillar saints, e.g. If pleasure were essentially sinful, Stylites was the wisest of men. This not the kind of self-denial which Christ requires from us. Serious and earnest as He was, no one can say that He was a harsh or gloomy ascetic. Think of Him at the marriage-festival. Think of His friendly visits to the family at Bethany.
Think of Him at the great feast in Levis house. Think of His final interview with the disciples on the shore of Tiberias, when He accosted them with the words, Children, have ye any meat? and then, leading the way to a fire, with fish laid thereon and bread, said to them, come and dine. Christ never bids us give up anything that is good, unless it would keep us from something that is better. The Son of man came eating and drinking. Ay, the very Man of Sorrows refused to join in the irrational worship of pain. (A. W. Momerie, M. A. , D. D.)
The Son of man
This title is in the New Testament significantly enough used, with one exception [Stephen], by Christ alone. It emphasizes the humanity of Him who bears it, but a humanity that accomplishes a Divine work, creates and controls a society which is so finely human because so entirely a realization of the thought or mind of God as to man. Schleiermacher rightly said: Christ would not have adopted this title had He not been conscious of a complete participation in human nature. But His use of it would have been meaningless had He not had a right to it which other men could not possess. The Son of man is the bond between earth and heaven, belongs in an equal degree to both; He is the medium through which God reaches man and man reaches God. The title, so often and so emphatically used, enables us to see what Christ conceived Himself to be, and where He believed Himself to stand; He affirmed that He possessed our common human nature.
But He also affirmed His pre-eminence--
The Son of man.
Other persons had been, or were, sons of individual men, members of particular nations or families; but Jesus, as the Son of man, was no mans son, but the child of humanity; belonged to no age, but to all ages; to no family or people, but to mankind. He is, as the Divine idea realized, universal and everlasting, an individual who is, in a sense, humanity. (A. M. Fairbairn, D. D.)
Divine friendship
In the Bible Christ is presented to us in many aspects--as a Judge, a Saviour, a Counsellor; as Brother, Prophet, Priest, and King. In this passage He stands forth in the light and garb of a Friend. I do not intend to analyse friendship, and enumerate its elements. I will only suggest one or two of the more prominent.
I. CONSTANCY.
II. IMPARTIALITY. Not a friend only to the good.
III. SYMPATHY.
IV. THE SPIRIT OF HELPFULNESS. Christ was the friend of those who were morally all wrong. It is to those whose lives have been a failure, whose natures, spiritually considered, are all in ruins, that Jesus comes in the spirit of friendly assistance. (W. H. H. Murray.)
Sinners wilful and perverse
I. THE COMPANIONS OF THESE PERVERSE CHILDREN EMPLOYED VARIOUS MEANS TO CONQUER THEIR OBSTINACY AND PERSUADE THEM TO JOIN IN THEIR AMUSEMENTS. SO God has employed a great variety of means to persuade sinners to embrace the gospel. He has sent judgments to subdue, and mercies to melt them; arguments to convince, and motives to persuade them; threatenings to terrify, and invitations to allure them. In different parts of His Word He has exhibited Divine truth in every possible variety of form. In one place it is presented plainly to the mind in the form of doctrines; in another, it is couched under the veil of some instructive and striking parable; in a third, it is presented to us in a garb of types and shadows; in a fourth, it is illustrated by the most beautiful figures; and, in a fifth, exemplified in some well-drawn character, or interesting portion of history. Corresponding to these various means, and to the different modes of instruction adopted in His Word, are the various gifts and qualifications, with which He furnishes those who are sent as His ambassadors to men. As He knows the different tastes and dispositions of men, and the modes of address best adapted to convince and persuade them, He endues His messengers with a great diversity of gifts, so that by one or another of them, every class of hearers may be gratified.
II. Notwithstanding the different means employed with these perverse children, THEY WOULD NOT BE PREVAILED UPON TO COMPLY WITH THE WISHES OF THEIR COMPANIONS. We have piped unto you, say they, but ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, but ye have not lamented. Precisely similar is the conduct of impenitent sinners.
III. THE REASON WHY THESE PERVERSE CHILDREN COULD NOT BE PERSUADED TO COMPLY WITH THE WISHES OF THEIR COMPANION WAS, THAT THEY WERE OUT OF HUMOUR, OR FOR SOME OTHER REASON FELT INDISPOSED TO GRATIFY THEM. Similar is the reason, why sinners will not be persuaded to embrace the Gospel, by all the means which God employs for this purpose. They do not come to Christ for life, because they will not. (E. Payson, D. D.)
The success of the gospel
I. OBSERVE GODS GRACIOUS DEALING WITH MAN. He useth all kind of means, sendeth men of several natures, austere John, and meek Christ. He turns Himself into all shapes to gain wretched man unto Him.
II. OBSERVE THE ORDER GOD USETH; FIRST JOHN, THEN CHRIST. John prepares the way, throwing down hills: O ye generation of vipers Mat_3:7). Oh, say they, this man is too harsh, I think he hath a devil. Then Christ comes with blessed: Blessed are the poor, blessed are you that weep, &e. (Mat_5:3, seq.). So He sent the law first, then the gospel; first He threatens, then promises.
III. OBSERVE THAT THE MANNER OF THEIR TEACHING IS DOUBLE, BY DOCTRINE AND LIFE, AND THESE AGREE, wherein observe it is good that life and doctrine should suit; for Johns life was austere and retired, his doctrine was also tending to beat down the proud conceits of man. Christ came to all, conversed with all meekly and lovingly; and the reason of Gods making use of men of severe dispositions is because of the different natures of men, whereof some can better relish one nature than another. Some love the hot and fiery nature, others delight in the meek spirit; and though there be diversity of gifts, yet they come from the same Spirit. Even as the diverse smells of flowers comes from the same influence, and the diverse sounds in the organs comes from the same breath, so doth the Spirit diffuse itself diversely, as it meets with diverse natures. Yet all tendeth to the perfecting of one work. And the papists shall never be able to prove their foolish austere vows of a solitary life, &c., to be preferred before communication and society, unless they will prove John better than Christ. And again, this should teach us to moderate our censures of the diverse natures and carriage of men, as knowing that God in wisdom hath appointed it for excellent use, and that all agree in the building up of the spiritual temple of the Church.
IV. OBSERVE THAT WHERE GRACE DOTH NOT OVERPOWER NATURE, NO MEANS WILL PREVAIL OVER THE OBDURATE NATURE OF MAN. Neither John nor Christ could work anything upon these Pharisees.
V. In the next place, observe, from the calumniation of the scribes, THAT REBELLION AND OPPOSITION AGAINST GOODNESS IS NEVER WITHOUT SHOW
OF REASON; and men they will never go to hell, but they have reason for it. Austere John hath a devil; sociable Christ is a wine-bibber. And the reason is, the pride of man, that will not be thought so foolish as to speak, or do anything without reason, and therefore when it is wanting they will feign one.
VI. For use therefore of this doctrine, LET US ACCOUNT IT NO STRANGE MATTER IF WE BE TRADUCED, DISGRACED, AND SCANDALISED, for it was Christs and Johns lot. Great slanders must be maintained from great men, such as them that sit in Mosess chair, the Pharisees and Scribes.
VII. LET US TAKE HEED WE TAKE NOT A THING IN THE WRONG SENSE AND OF VAIN PREJUDICE. Men are witty to lay stumbling-blocks in their own way to heaven. This preacher is too strict, that too mild; this too plain, that too poor. But wisdom is justified of all her children (verse 35).
I. From the connection of these words with the former, by this word but, we may observe, THAT IT IS THE LOT OF GODS TRUTH TO HAVE DIVERSE ENTERTAINMENTS IN THIS WORLD. Some will be children of wisdom, and justify it; others, as the Pharisees, will scandalise it. This is wisdom; and called so here by way of emphasis, showing it is the only excellent wisdom, which will further appear in these respects.
1. It doth arise from a higher beginning than all other wisdom whatever; for it comes from Gods goodness and mercy.
2. The matter. It is a deep mystery. Christ, God-man; His nature, offices, and benefits.
3. It is more powerful than all other wisdom; for it transforms us. It makes us wise, and changes us from wicked, and makes us good.
4. It is better than the law, which was a killing letter. This gives life.
5. Furthermore, this wisdom is everlasting, and it is ancientest: intended before the world was. It is also inviolable. God will change the course of nature for His Churchs sake; and sooner will He break covenant with the day and night than this covenant, which shall be for ever (Psa_19:9).
6. The end of it is to bring us home to God (1Jn_1:3).
1. From the doctrine we may observe, therefore, that those that follow the best rule, which is Gods Word, and intend the best end, which is their own salvation, these are the most wise.
2. And, in the second place, let this persuade us to attend upon wisdom, be we who we will be, a publican, an extortioner, a persecuting Saul.
3. In the next place, observe the children of wisdom do justify it; that is, they receive it, approve it, defend it, maintain it. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)
On profaneness to disparage religious characters
I. I design, in the first place, TO EXPLAIN THIS PASSAGE.
II. HOW SHALL WE APPLY TO OUR EDIFICATION THE LESSONS WHICH THIS PORTION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE CONVEYS?
1. Let us consider it as a very unfavourable symptom of the state of our hearts, if we discover in ourselves a propensity to cavil at religion; and to impute blame to those persons, whether ministers of the gospel or individuals among the laity, who, by holiness of life and conversation, conspicuously demonstrate the power of faith.
2. If, through the influence of Divine grace, you have been brought to the love of religion, wonder not, nor be discouraged, when you hear the truths of the gospel slandered, or yourself made the theme of evil-speaking for their sake. Thus it always has been; and thus, until Christianity shall have established a more general dominion over the hearts of those who avow themselves her subjects, it always will be.
3. Justify wisdom, justify true religion, by manifesting yourselves to be her children.
4. If you thus justify wisdom, behold the hour approaches when before the assembled world wisdom shall justify you. (T. Gisborne.)
Children sitting in the market-place
I. THAT THE PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF PEACE AND RECONCILIATION TO SINNERS MAY FITLY BE COMPARED TO SWEET AND SOUL-RAVISHING MUSIC.
1. Music hath its distinct notes, and that makes it melodious; so ministers should preach distinctly, not confusedly, for that makes no music. If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare to the battle? (1Co_14:8.)
2. He that would make sweet music, must not harp too much upon one string, or have only one distinct note. So a preacher that would, make right gospel-music, must not always preach upon one particular gospel truth.
3. It is a curious art to attain to the clear knowledge of music, and to be very skilful, or play well upon an instrument. So it is a most blessed spiritual art to know how to preach the gospel with all true spiritual wisdom; for as music is a mystery, so is the gospel a great mystery.
4. Some musicians make sweeter music than others, though all may have some skill in it; so some ministers make more sweet gospel music than others.
5. Music elevates the hearts of some people wonderfully; so the doctrine of the gospel tends to raise, nay, to ravish, the hearts of gracious persons.
6. But though music is sweet to some, others love it not, but cry, Away with it, it makes our hearts sad.
II. THAT THOUGH THE MINISTERS OF CHRIST DO WHAT THEY CAN, OR STUDY WHAT WAYS AND METHODS THEY CAN, AND LIVE NEVER SO CIRCUMSPECTLY, YET THEIR PERSONS NOR THEIR MINISTRY SHALL BE ACCEPTED OF SOME PEEVISH AND FROWARD PEOPLE. (B. Keach.)
Criticism easy
Nearly everybody has heard the story of the painter of olden time who exposed his picture to the public criticism, and put a paintbrush handy, that anybody might paint out any particular feature he did not approve. Of course, the stupid man soon found that everybody had some fault to find, and his picture was totally obliterated. Just as it was with that artists picture, so it is with the life-work of the majority. Somebody will be pretty sure to take a crooked and distorted view of our characters and doings, however meritorious they may be. Some will do this wilfully and maliciously, others through misunderstanding.
Unfair objections are often prompted by selfishness
Many an objector to Christianity in our day, if he said out what he really thinks, would say, I disbelieve Christianity, because it does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil; it makes such serious demands, it sets up so high a standard, it implies that so much I say and do is a great mistake that I must away with it. I cannot do and be what it enjoins without doing violence to my inclinations, to my fixed habits of life and thought. This, before his conversion, was the ease with the great Augustine. Augustine tells us in his Confessions how completely he was enchained by his passions, and how, after he had become intellectually satisfied of the truth of the creed of the Christian Church, he was held back from conversion by the fear that he would have to give up so much to which he was attached. (Dr. Talmage.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v34
Luke
A GLUTTONOUS MAN AND A WINEBIBBER
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Luk 7:34.
Jesus Christ very seldom took any notice of the mists of calumny that drifted round Him. ‘When He was reviled He reviled not again.’ If ever He did allude to them it was for the sake of the people who were harming themselves by uttering them. So here, without the slightest trace of irritation, He quotes a malignant charge which was evidently in the popular mouth, and of which we should never have known if He had not repeated it; not with anger, but simply in order that He might point to the capricious inconsistency of finding fault with John and Himself on precisely opposite grounds. The former did not suit because he came neither eating nor drinking. Well, if His asceticism did not please, surely the geniality of a Christ who comes doing both will be hailed. But He is rejected like the other. What is the cause of this dislike that can look two different ways at once? Not the traits that it alleges, but something far deeper, a dislike to the heavenly wisdom of which John and Jesus were messengers. The children of wisdom would see that there was right in both courses; the children of folly would condemn them both. If the message is unwelcome, nothing that the messenger can say or do will be right.
The same kind of thing is common to-day. Never mind consistency, find fault with Christianity on all its sides, and with all its preachers, though you have to contradict yourself in doing so. Object to this man that he is too learned and doctrinal; to that one that he is too illiterate, and gives no food for thought; to this one that he is always thundering condemnation; to that one that he is always running over with love; to this one that he is perpetually harping upon duties; to that other one that he is up in the clouds, and forgets the tasks of daily life; to this one that he is sensational; to that one that he is dull; and so on, and so on. The generation that liked neither piping nor mourning has its representatives still.
But my business now is not with the inconsistency of the objectors to John and Jesus, but simply with this caricature which He quotes from them of some of His characteristics. It is a distorted refraction of the beam of light that comes from His face, through the muddy, thick medium of their prejudice. And if we can, I was going to say, pull it straight again, we shall see something of His glories. I take the two clauses of my text separately because they are closely connected with our design, and cover different ground.
I. I ask you to note, first, the enemies’ attestation to Christ’s genial participation in the joys and necessities of common life.
‘The Son of man came eating and drinking.’ There is nothing that calumny, if it be malignant enough, cannot twist into an accusation; and out of glorious and significant facts, full of lessons and containing strong buttresses of the central truth of the Gospel, these people made this charge, ‘a winebibber and gluttonous.’ The facts were facts; the inferences were slanders.
Notice how precious, how demonstrative of the very central truth of Christianity, is that plain fact, ‘The Son of man came eating and drinking.’ Then that pillar of all our hope, the Incarnation of the word of God, stands irrefragable. Sitting at tables, hungering in the wilderness, faint by the well, begging a draught of water from a woman, and saying on His Cross ‘I thirst!’-He is the Incarnation of Deity, the manifestation of God in the flesh. Awe and mystery and reverence and hope and trust clasp that fact, in which prejudice and dislike could only find occasion for a calumny.
By eating and drinking He declared that ‘forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise took part in the same.’ If it is true that every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God,’ then it is true that no miracle in His life, nor any of the supernatural glories which we are accustomed to regard as evidences of His majesty, are more blessed, or more important as revelations of His nature, than the fact that ‘the Son of man came eating and drinking.’
But, still further, mark how the truth which gave colour to the slander attests that Jesus Christ presents to the world the highest type of manhood. The ideal for life is not the suppression, but the consecration, of material satisfactions and pleasures of appetite. And they are likest to the Master who, like the Master, come eating and drinking, and yet ever hold all appetites and desires rigidly under control, and subordinate them all to loftier purposes. John the Baptist could be an ascetic; the Pattern Man must not be.
The highest type of religion, as it is shown to us in His perfect life, includes the acceptance of all pure material blessings. Asceticism is second best; the religion that can take and keep secondary all outward and transitory sources of enjoyment, and can hallow common life, is loftier than all pale hermits and emaciated types of sanctity, who preserve their purity only by avoiding things which it were nobler to enjoy and to subdue.
There is nothing more striking about the Old Testament than the fact that its heroes and saints were kindly with their kind, and took part in common life, accepting, enjoying its blessings. They were warriors, statesmen, shepherds, vinedressers; ‘they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; they married and were given in marriage,’ and all the while they were the saints of God. That was a nobler type of religion than the one that came after it, into which Jesus Christ was born. When devotion cools it crusts; and the crust is superstition and formalism and punctilious attention to the proprieties of worship and casuistry, instead of joyful obedience to a law, and abstinence from, instead of sanctification of, earthly delights and supplies.
So, protesting against all that, and showing the more excellent way, and hallowing the way because He trod it, ‘the Son of man came eating and drinking.’ Hence-forward every table may be a communion table, and every meal may be a sacrament, eaten in obedience to His dying injunction: ‘This do in remembrance of Me.’ If we can feel that Christ sits with us at the feast, the feast will be pure and good. If it is of such a sort as that we dare not fancy Him keeping us company there, it is no place for us. Wherever Jesus Christ went the consecration of His presence lingers still; whatever Jesus Christ did His servants may do, if in the same spirit and in the same manner.
He hallowed infancy when He lay an infant in His mother’s arms; He hallowed childhood when, as a boy, He was obedient to His parents; He hallowed youth during all those years of quiet seclusion and unnoticed service in Nazareth; He hallowed every part of human life and experience by bearing it. Love is consecrated because He loved; tears are sacred because He wept; life is worship, or may be made so, because He passed through it; and death itself is ennobled and sanctified because He has died.
Only let us remember that, if we are to exercise this blessed hallowing of common things, of which He has set us the example, we must use them as He did; that is, in such sort as that our communion with God shall not be broken thereby, and that nothing in them shall darken the vision and clip the wings of the aspiring and heavenward-gazing spirit. Brethren! the tendency of this day-and one rejoices, in many respects, that it is so-is to revolt against the extreme of narrowness in the past that prescribed and proscribed a great many arbitrary and unnecessary abstinences and practices as the sign of a Christian profession. But whilst I would yield to no man in my joyful application of the principle that underlies that great fact that ‘He came eating and drinking,’ I do wish at this point to put in a caveat which perhaps may not be so welcome to some of you as the line of thought that I have been pursuing. It is this: it is an error to quote Christ’s example as a cover for luxury and excess, and grasping at material enjoyments which are not innocent in themselves, or are mixed up with much that is not innocent. There is many a table spread by so-called Christian people where Jesus Christ will not sit. Many a man darkens his spirit, enfeebles his best part, blinds himself to the things beyond, by reason of his taking the liberty, as he says, which Christianity, broadly and generously interpreted, gives, of participating in all outward delights. I have said that asceticism is not the highest, but it is sometimes necessary. It is better to enjoy and to subdue than to abstain and to suppress, but abstinence and suppression are often essential to faithfulness and noble living. If I find that my enjoyment of innocent things harms me, or is tending to stimulate cravings beyond my control; or if I find that abstinence from innocent things increases my power to help a brother, and to fight against a desolating sin; or if things good and innocent in themselves, and in some respects desirable and admirable, like the theatre, for instance, are irretrievably intertwisted with evil things, then Christ’s example is no plea for our sharing in such. It is better for us to cut off the offending hand, and so, though maimed, to enter into life, than to keep two hands and go into the darkness of death. Jesus Christ ‘came eating and drinking,’ and therefore the highest and the best thing is that Christian people should innocently, and with due control, and always keeping themselves in touch with God, enjoy all outward blessings, only subject to this law, ‘whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, to do all to the glory of God,’ and remembering this warning, ‘He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.’
II. Now, secondly, notice the enemies’ witness that Christ is the Friend of outcasts.
As I said about the other charge, so I say of this, the facts were facts, the inferences were errors. The slanderers saw, as nobody could help seeing, that there was a strange kind of mutual attraction between Jesus and publicans and sinners; that harlots as well as little children seemed to be drawn to Him; and that He obviously delighted in the company of those at whose presence, partly from pride, partly from national enmity, partly from heartless self-righteousness, Pharisaism gathered its dainty skirts around itself in abhorrence, lest a speck should fall upon their purity. That being the fact, low natures, who always misunderstand lofty ones, because they can only believe in motives as low as their own, said of Jesus, ‘Ah! you can tell what sort of a man He is by the company He keeps. He is the friend of publicans because He is a bad Jew; the friend of sinners because He likes their wicked ways.’
There was a mysterious sense of sympathy which drew Jesus Christ to these poor people and drew them to Him. It would have been a long while before any penitent woman would have come in and wept over the feet of Gamaliel and his like. It would have been a long while before any sinful men would have found their way, with tears and yet with trust, to these self-righteous hypocrites. But perfect purity somehow draws the impure, though assumed sanctity always repels them. And it is a sign, not that a man is bad, but that he is good in a Christlike fashion, if the outcasts that durst not come near your respectable people find themselves drawn to Him. Oh! if there were more of us liker Jesus Christ in our purity, there would be more of us who would deserve the calumny which is praise-’the friend of sinners.’
It was an attestation of His love, as I need not remind you. I suppose there is nothing more striking in the whole wonderful and unique picture of Jesus Christ drawn in the Gospels than the way in which two things, which we so often fancy to be contradictory, blend in the most beautiful harmony in Him-viz. infinite tenderness and absolute condemnation of transgression. To me the fact that these two characteristics are displayed in perfect harmony in the life of Jesus Christ as written in these Gospels, is no small argument for believing the historical veracity of the picture there drawn. For I do not know a harder thing for a dramatist, or a romancer, or a legend-monger to effect than to combine, in one picture-without making the combination monstrous-these two things, perfect purity and perfect love for the impure.
But, dear brethren, remember, that if we are to believe Jesus Christ’s own words, that strange love of His, which embraced in its pure clasp the outcasts, was not only the love of a perfect Man, but it was the love of God Himself. ‘He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.’ When we see Jesus Christ looking across the valley to the city, with tears in His sad and gentle eyes; and when we see harlots and sinners coming near Him with new hope, and a strange consciousness of a fascination which He wields; and when we see Him opening His heart to all the impure, just as He laid His clean hand on the leper’s ulcers, let us rejoice to believe that the Friend of publicans and sinners is God manifest in the flesh.
Then, still further, this wondrous, seeking love of His for all the outcasts is the sign to us of His boundless hopefulness concerning the most degraded.
The world talks of races too low to be elevated, of men too hardened to be softened. Jesus Christ walks through the hospitals of this world, and nowhere sees incurables. His hope is boundless, because, first of all, He sees the dormant possibilities that slumber in the most degraded; and because, still more, He knows that He bears in Himself a power that will cleanse the foulest and raise the most fallen. There are some metals that resist all attempts to volatilise them by the highest temperature producible in our furnaces. Carry them up into the sun and they will all pass into vapour. No man or woman who ever lived, or will live, is so absolutely besotted, and held by the chains of his or her sins, as that Jesus cannot set them free. His hope for outcasts is boundless, because He knows that every sin can be cleansed by His precious blood. Therefore, Christianity should know nothing of desperate cases. There should be no incurables in our estimate of the world, but our hope should be as boundless as the Master’s, who drew to Himself the publicans and sinners, and made them saints.
I need not remind you how this is the unique glory of Christ and of Christianity. Men have been asking the question whether Christianity is played out or not. What has been the motive power of all the great movements for the elevation of mankind that have occurred for the last nineteen centuries? What was it that struck the fetters of the slaves? What is it that sends men out amongst savage tribes? Has there ever been found a race of men so degraded that the message of Christ’s love could not find its way into their hearts? Did not Darwin subscribe to the Patagonian Mission-a mission which takes in hand perhaps the lowest types of humanity in the world-and did he not do it because his own eyes had taught him that in this strange superstition that we call the Gospel there is a power that, somehow or other, nothing else can wield? Brethren! if the Church begins to lose its care for, and its power of drawing, outcasts and sinners, it has begun to lose its hold on Christ. The sooner such a Church dies the better, and there will be few mourners at its funeral.
The Friend of publicans and sinners has set the example to all of us His followers. God be thanked that there are signs to-day that Christian people are more and more waking up to the consciousness of their obligations in regard to the outcasts in their own and other lands. Let them go to them, as Jesus Christ did, with no false flatteries, but with plain rebukes of sin, and yet with manifest outgoing of the heart, and they will find that the same thing which drew these poor creatures to the Master will draw others to the feeblest, faintest reflection of Him in His servants.
And, last of all, dear friends, let each think that Jesus Christ is my Friend, and your Friend, because He is the Friend of sinners, and we are sinners. If He did not love sinners there would be nobody for Him to love. The universality of sin, however various in its degrees and manifestations, makes more wonderful the universal sweep of His friendship.
How do I know that He is my Friend? ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,’ and when we were yet enemies He was our Friend, and died for us. How shall we requite that love? ‘Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you to do.’ All over the Eastern world to this day the name by which the Patriarch Abraham is known is the ‘Friend’ or the ‘Companion.’ Well for us, for time and for eternity, if, knowing that Jesus is our Friend, we yield ourselves, in faith and love, to become His friends!
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v34 sinners Sin.
sinners Sin.
(See Scofield "Rom 3:23")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v31 Parable of the children in the marketplace:
Parable of the children in the marketplace:
v. 31. And the Lord said, Whereunto, then, shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?
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v. 32 They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.
v. 33. For John the Baptist came, neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil.
v. 34. The Son of Man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!
v. 35. But wisdom is justified of all her children.
The Lord here scores the inconsistency of the Jewish people as a whole, and especially of their leaders, by comparing their actions to those of capricious, peevish children, whom no game will suit that their playmates propose. If these play on the flute, they refuse to dance to the tune; if they sing a mournful song to them, they refuse to simulate sorrow. In the language which Jesus spoke, there is a fine play on words in this passage, which brings out the emphasis of His thought very beautifully. Just as in the case of these children, no one can please the Jews, neither John nor Christ. John preached the baptism unto repentance and led a strict and austere life, and their verdict was: He is possessed of a demon; he is not in his right mind; why listen to him? When Jesus came, He introduced no such peculiarities, but lived and acted like other people, only with a kindly sympathy for all men. And this behavior they distorted into a frightful caricature; calling Him a glutton, a drunkard, a companion of publicans and sinners. Thus the Jews contradicted themselves to their own condemnation. But Jesus reminds them of a proverbial saying: Wisdom is justified of all her own children. There is no disagreement between this passage and that Mat 11:19. By a slight change in vocalization the Aramaic word used by Jesus may mean either "works" or "children. " Both renderings arc inspired and accepted by God. The personal, divine Wisdom, Christ, Pro 8:1-36, was obliged to justify Himself against the judicial verdict of those who should have been His children by faith, but who refused to accept Him. His work stood the test of God’s judgment in spite of their unbelief.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv31, 33 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus continues speaking to the people about John the Baptist.
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To what, then, can I compare ... they like?
Jesus uses these questions to introduce a comparison. They can be written as a statement. AT: "This is what I compare this generation to, and what they are like." (See: Rhetorical Question)
I compare ... What are they like
These are two ways of saying that this is a comparison. (See: Parallelism)
the people of this generation
The people living when Jesus spoke.
They are like
These words are the beginning of Jesus' comparison. Jesus is saying that the people are like children who are never satisfied with the way other children act. (See: Simile)
marketplace
a large, open-air area where people come to sell their goods
and you did not dance
"but you did not dance to the music"
and you did not cry
"but you did not cry with us"
translationWords
generation
flute
mourn
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv31, 33, 35 7:31-35 To what can I compare the people of…
7:31-35 To what can I compare the people of this generation? Jesus compares Israel to fickle children in the marketplace who play games of make-believe. They called John the Baptist to dance (a wedding game), but the solemn prophet refused, calling them instead to mourning and repentance for their sins. Then they called on Jesus to mourn (a funeral game), but he was the bridegroom who announced the joyful celebration banquet of the Kingdom of God, so it would not have been fitting for him to mourn (cp. Mark 2:19-20).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.