Commentary - Matthew 11:16-19

Bird's-eye view

In this sharp and insightful parable, Jesus diagnoses the spiritual condition of His contemporaries, whom He refers to as "this generation." Having just defended the ministry of John the Baptist, He now turns to address the fundamental problem of the unbelieving heart. The core issue is not a lack of evidence or a flaw in the messengers, but rather a stubborn, childish refusal to be pleased with God's overtures, no matter the form they take. God sent an austere, ascetic prophet in John, and they rejected him. God then sent His own Son, who entered fully into the social fabric of life, and they rejected Him too. The problem was not the music; the problem was that they did not want to dance at all. This passage is a masterful exposure of the carnal mind's intractable opposition to God. It will always find a reason, any reason, to take offense. The passage concludes with a profound statement on the nature of true wisdom: it is not a matter of popular opinion or critical acclaim, but is ultimately vindicated and proven true by its results, its "deeds" or "children."

Jesus is putting His finger on the moving goalposts of a rebellious heart. When confronted with God's truth, the unregenerate man is like a spoiled child in the marketplace who refuses to play any game that is suggested. If you play a wedding song, he won't dance. If you play a funeral dirge, he won't mourn. The issue is his defiant will. This is a permanent warning against a critical spirit that is determined to find fault with God's methods and messengers. Ultimately, the truth of God's wisdom in sending both John and Jesus is not established by a popular vote from the sullen children in the marketplace, but by the glorious results it produces in the lives of those who receive it.

Outline

Context In Matthew

This passage comes immediately after Jesus's high praise for John the Baptist, whom He calls the greatest man born of women (Matt 11:11). However, Jesus also notes that John's ministry caused some to be offended (Matt 11:6). This theme of offense and rejection now broadens from John specifically to the general response of that generation to God's saving work. Jesus is explaining why both He and John have been met with such opposition from the religious establishment and the populace at large. This section serves as a crucial bridge. It looks back at the ministry of John and forward to the woes Jesus will pronounce on the unrepentant cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum (Matt 11:20-24). The childish stubbornness described here is the direct cause of the judgments pronounced there. It is the heart of a generation that is ripening for the catastrophic judgment that Jesus repeatedly states will come upon them within their own lifetimes.

Key Issues

The Cantankerous Children

The central image Jesus uses here is one that every person can immediately understand. We have all seen children at play, and we have all seen a child who, for whatever reason, has dug in his heels and decided he is not going to have fun, and no one else is going to have fun either. The other children try to start a game, "Let's play wedding!" They play a happy tune on their little pipes, but the sullen child just sits there with his arms crossed. "Fine," they say, "if you don't want to play wedding, let's play funeral." They begin to wail and sing a mournful song. But again, nothing. He refuses to participate.

This is precisely how Jesus describes "this generation," by which He means His contemporaries in first-century Israel. God, in His wisdom, had sent two very different kinds of messengers. He sent John the Baptist, a man of the wilderness, an ascetic who lived a life of severe self-denial. This was the funeral dirge. He called the nation to a stark and solemn repentance. Then God sent His Son, the Lord of the feast, who came eating and drinking, bringing the joy of the wedding feast of the kingdom. This was the flute music. But that generation refused both. They were determined to be offended, and so they took offense at the dirge and they took offense at the dance. The problem was not with the messengers or their methods; the problem was with the hard-hearted audience.

Verse by Verse Commentary

16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call out to the other children,

Jesus begins with a rhetorical question that sets up His parable. When He says this generation, He is speaking of the specific cohort of Jews then living, the ones who witnessed the ministries of both John and Himself. Throughout the gospels, this phrase is a technical term for those who would experience the judgment that culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The setting is the marketplace, the public square, the center of daily life. This is not a hidden or obscure problem; their spiritual condition is on full public display. The image is of a group of children trying to initiate a game with their peers, but meeting with a stubborn, unresponsive wall.

17 and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’

Here is the specific complaint. The children list two opposite approaches they tried. First, the music of celebration. A flute was used for weddings and festivals, times of joy. The appropriate response is to dance. But their audience refused. Second, the music of sorrow. A dirge was a lament for the dead, a song for a funeral. The appropriate response is to mourn, to beat the breast. But again, their audience refused. The indictment is clear: no matter what tune was played, they would not participate. Their refusal was not based on principle or preference, but on a prior commitment to not be pleased. This is the very picture of a carping, critical, and unteachable spirit.

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’

Jesus now applies the parable directly. The first messenger was John the Baptist. He embodied the dirge. He lived an ascetic life in the wilderness, eating locusts and wild honey, and drinking no wine. His was a ministry of stark, severe separation, calling for a radical repentance. How did "this generation" respond to this solemn call? They dismissed him as insane, demon-possessed. They could not attack his righteousness, so they attacked his sanity. His intensity was too much for them; his call to mourn over sin was an unwelcome intrusion into their comfortable self-righteousness. So they wrote him off as a lunatic, a man driven by a dark spiritual power.

19 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!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Then came the second messenger, the Son of Man Himself. He embodied the flute music, the wedding feast. He did not live as a hermit but as a man among men. He went to parties, attended feasts, and drank wine. He brought the good news of the kingdom, which is a message of profound joy. How did they respond to Him? They took His social freedom and twisted it into a slander. They called Him a glutton and a drunkard. They took His compassion for the lost and turned it into an accusation, contemptuously labeling Him a friend of tax collectors and sinners. They rejected the ascetic because he was too severe, and they rejected the sociable one because he was too lax. They were, in short, impossible to please.

The final clause is the magnificent conclusion to the whole matter. Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. Some manuscripts have "her children." The meaning is much the same. Wisdom, here personified as a woman, is God's divine plan in salvation. How is this plan proven to be wise? Not by winning a debate with the sullen children in the marketplace. Not by popular acclaim. God's wisdom is proven right by its results, by what it produces. The "deeds" or "children" of wisdom are the transformed lives of the tax collectors and sinners who actually listened to the music. While the critics sat on the sidelines composing their clever insults, the outcasts were repenting at the dirge of John and dancing to the flute of Jesus. The proof of the gospel is the fruit of the gospel, the very people who are saved by it.

Application

This passage is a bucket of cold water for any Christian who thinks the key to evangelism is finding just the right method, the perfect tone, or the most culturally relevant approach. The problem is not in our methods, but in the sinful hearts of men. The unregenerate heart is endlessly creative in its ability to find fault with God. If the preacher is too fiery, he is arrogant. If he is too gentle, he is compromised. If the church's worship is too traditional, it is dead. If it is too contemporary, it is shallow. If you preach too much on sin, you are a legalist. If you preach too much on grace, you are an antinomian.

The lesson here is that we are not called to please the marketplace. We are called to play the music God has given us, which is the whole counsel of His Word. We must play the dirge of the law, which shows men their sin and calls them to repentance. And we must play the flute of the gospel, which announces the joyous feast of forgiveness in Christ. Some will refuse to mourn and refuse to dance. They will call us names. They will slander our motives. So be it. We are not to be discouraged by this, for we were told it would happen.

Our confidence is not in our performance, but in the power of God's wisdom. Wisdom will be vindicated by her children. Our job is to be faithful messengers, and God's job is to create the children of wisdom. He does this by His sovereign Spirit, opening deaf ears to hear the music and giving crippled legs the strength to dance. The proof that we have the right message is not that the world applauds, but that God, by His grace, raises up sinners from the dead and brings them into the joy of the wedding feast.