Wednesday Bible Study: What Jesus asked, Part 9

 

Once again, I had to wait on the Lord to show me the key to this question.  And I found the key in the very last word of our passage:

Mat 11:16  But to what shall I compare to this generation? It is like little children sitting in the markets and calling to their playmates,
Mat 11:17  saying, We played the flute to you, and you did not dance! We mourned to you, but you did not wail!
Mat 11:18  For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a demon.
Mat 11:19  The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man who is a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners. But wisdom was justified by her children. 

You see, many translations put that last word as "deeds", which would be a more correct (by our standards) translation.  But "children" is how the KJV worded it, and that is the way it was finally brought to me, and I'll explain why before I get to the question.

Wisdom, personified, is found throughout the book of Proverbs, which I read a chapter of every morning.  To me, this is the Holy Spirit, and the key to my understanding of our passage came from my study there...

Pro 8:1  Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice?
Pro 8:2  On the heights beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand;
Pro 8:3  beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:
Pro 8:4  "To you, O men, I call, and my cry is to the children of man. 
Pro 8:5  O simple ones, learn prudence; O fools, learn sense.

When I looked at our passage every time before this, it always seemed a bit like it was written wrong; were the children calling to adults, other children, what was going on?  My first step in understanding was recognizing WHERE it was placed.  Before it was last week's passage- Jesus showing that He was Messiah through John being the prophesied forerunner. This passage was all about, "You SHOULD believe."  On the other side is another famous sermonette:

Mat 11:20  Then He began to upbraid the cities in which most of His mighty works were done, because they did not repent.
Mat 11:21  Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the powerful acts which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes!
Mat 11:22  But I say to you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.
Mat 11:23  And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to the heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which have been done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Mat 11:24  But I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.

Which is essentially, "You DON'T believe!"  In between it is WHY you don't believe.  And it makes sense in the light of Proverbs when you realize there are TWO sets of children.  The children of Wisdom- "Wisdom is justified by HER children"- are the ones saying,

We played the flute to you, and you did not dance! We mourned to you, but you did not wail! 

 

And then Jesus explains.  The children would play 'adulting' games, like ours do playing 'marriage' and 'doctor', for example.  And they would do their versions of the celebrations of a wedding, and they would simulate the wailing of a funeral.  John was represented by the "mourning" game.  But when the Children of Wisdom watched and emulated John, the Children of 'this generation' did not wail- they did not emulate him.  They saw the outside- the camel hair shirt, the locust eating- and called him a demon.

Likewise, Jesus comes on the scene- the Bridegroom, the very symbol of rejoicing, the salvation of man- and where the Children of Wisdom 'danced', the children of 'this generation' called Him a "glutton and winebibber"- if not a sinner, then a friend of them.

So Jesus has taught a simple lesson. First, there is ample examples of why to believe in Him and how to live it out.  He has given YOU everything you need.  Second, there are two kinds of people in this world- Children of Wisdom, and Children of this generation. Those of Wisdom watch and emulate; those of this generation pay everything given to them no mind.  And finally, those who lift themselves up, who refuse the mourning of repentance and the Morning of Jesus, they are looking down the barrel of disaster.  Jesus's lesson is the equivalent of Paul's warning:

Rom 1:19  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
Rom 1:20  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.