Commentary - Luke 7:31-35

Bird's-eye view

In this short but potent parable, Jesus diagnoses the spiritual condition of His contemporaries, specifically the religious leadership. He exposes their petulant, childish refusal to respond to God's overtures, regardless of the form they take. God sent them two diametrically opposed messengers, John the Baptist and the Son of Man, and they rejected both for contradictory reasons. John was an ascetic, and they called him a demoniac. Jesus was convivial, and they called Him a glutton and drunkard. The problem was not with the messengers or their methods; the problem was with the hard-hearted audience. They were like spoiled children in the marketplace who refuse to play any game, whether it's a wedding or a funeral. They simply did not want to play God's game. The passage concludes with a profound aphorism: true wisdom is not judged by the fickle opinions of the crowd, but is vindicated and proven true by the lives of her children, those who receive God's messengers in faith.

This is a crucial moment in Luke's gospel. Jesus has just commended John the Baptist as the greatest of those born of women, yet He notes that the Pharisees and lawyers have rejected John's baptism, thereby rejecting God's purpose for them. This parable, then, is the divine explanation for that rejection. It is a timeless exposure of the kind of religious critic who is determined to find fault, no matter what. If you are determined to be offended, you will always find an offense. The heart of the issue is a stubborn refusal to repent and believe, a refusal that dresses itself up in pious-sounding complaints.

Outline

Context In Luke

This passage sits within a larger section of Luke's gospel that highlights the authority of Jesus and the varied responses to Him. In chapter 7, we have seen Jesus heal a centurion's servant from a distance, raise a widow's son from the dead, and then receive messengers from the imprisoned John the Baptist. Jesus' response to John's disciples is to point to His messianic works. After they leave, Jesus teaches the crowd about John's monumental significance as the prophetic forerunner, while also noting the failure of the religious establishment to receive him (Luke 7:29-30). Our text, the parable of the children in the marketplace, flows directly from this observation. It is Jesus' commentary on the spiritual state of "this generation." It serves as a bridge to the next scene, where a sinful woman anoints Jesus' feet at the home of a Pharisee, providing a living illustration of what it looks like to be a "child of wisdom" in contrast to the Pharisee's critical spirit.

Key Issues

The Unwinnable Game

The Lord here is addressing a spirit that is, sadly, all too common. It is the spirit of the perpetual critic, the man who has already made up his mind and is now just shopping for reasons. The game is rigged from the start. "This generation," and particularly its leadership, had decided that they were not going to submit to the authority of God, and so it did not matter how God approached them. He could come with the severity of the law or the gladness of the gospel, and they would find a reason to reject both. They were like a man who complains that his soup is too hot, and when you bring him cold soup, he complains that it is too cold. The problem is not the soup; the problem is the man's heart.

Jesus exposes this by showing that their criticisms were not only invalid, they were contradictory. They were playing an unwinnable game. If you play the funeral dirge, they won't weep. If you play the wedding song, they won't dance. They are determined to sit on the sidelines with their arms crossed, feeling superior in their refusal to join in. This is the posture of pride, and it is a deadly spiritual condition because it insulates a man from ever having to receive anything from God.

Verse by Verse Commentary

31 “To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like?

Jesus begins with a rhetorical question, a common teaching device for a rabbi. He is inviting His hearers to consider a fitting analogy for the people He is addressing. The phrase "this generation" is significant. It refers to His contemporaries in first-century Israel, the generation that witnessed the culmination of redemptive history in the ministries of John and Jesus. This was the most privileged generation in history, and as Jesus will make clear elsewhere, it was also the most accountable. He is about to put His finger on the central spiritual disease of that generation.

32 They are like children, sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, who say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.’

The marketplace was the center of public life, the place where children would play. Jesus paints a picture of a group of children who want to play make-believe games, one of a wedding ("we played the flute") and one of a funeral ("we sang a dirge"). But their playmates are sullen and refuse to participate. No matter what game is proposed, the answer is no. The application is clear: the children initiating the games represent God's messengers, and the stubborn children on the sidelines are the religious leaders. God had sent two very different "songs," and they refused to respond to either. They would not dance at the wedding feast of the gospel, nor would they mourn at the funeral dirge of repentance.

33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’

Here is the first piece of evidence. John came in the spirit of Elijah, an ascetic. He lived in the wilderness, ate locusts and wild honey, and preached a blistering message of repentance. His lifestyle was severe, a living embodiment of the funeral dirge he preached. He ate no bread and drank no wine, the staples of normal, settled life. And how did the establishment respond? They could not fault his righteousness, so they attacked his sanity and his spiritual allegiance. They dismissed him as a madman, demon-possessed. His severity was too severe for them.

34 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!’

Then God changed the tune. The Son of Man, Jesus Himself, came doing the opposite. He came eating and drinking. He attended feasts, He turned water into wine at a wedding, He fellowshipped with all sorts of people. His was the music of the wedding flute, announcing the arrival of the Messianic banquet. So, did they dance? No. They used His freedom as a weapon against Him. They took His gracious association with sinners and twisted it into an accusation. He was too convivial, too worldly. They called Him a glutton and a winebibber, a man of loose morals. John was too strict, Jesus was too lax. You see the game? There is no way to win with such people.

35 Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

This is the conclusion of the matter, a magnificent proverb. The world may level its contradictory and foolish accusations, but it does not get the final say. Wisdom, which here refers to the divine wisdom of God in His plan of salvation, is ultimately proven right. And how is it proven right? By "all her children." The children of wisdom are those who hear the music, whether flute or dirge, and respond appropriately. They are the tax collectors and sinners who repented at John's preaching, and they are the disciples and forgiven prostitutes who feast with Jesus. Their changed lives are the proof that God's plan, in both its severe and its gracious aspects, is wise and true. The world judges by outward appearance and carnal standards; God's wisdom is vindicated in the fruit of transformed hearts. The Pharisees thought they were the judges of wisdom, but Jesus says that wisdom is the judge, and she has her own children who testify on her behalf.

Application

We must not read this passage and simply thank God that we are not like those stubborn first-century Pharisees. The spirit of the sullen child in the marketplace is a constant temptation for us all. It is the temptation to approach God on our own terms. We want a God who conforms to our expectations, our temperament, our political party, our cultural sensibilities.

Some want a God who is only a God of wrath and judgment, a perpetual funeral dirge. They are uncomfortable with grace, celebration, and freedom. Others want a God who is only a God of affirmation and feasting, a perpetual wedding dance. They are uncomfortable with calls to repentance, self-denial, and holiness. The God of the Bible plays both kinds of music, because both are needed. The law drives us to Christ, and the gospel makes us dance.

The application for us is to become "children of wisdom." A child of wisdom is someone who is willing to be taught by God, someone who submits to the entirety of Scripture. When the Bible calls us to mourn over our sin, we must cry. When the Bible calls us to rejoice in our salvation, we must dance. We do not get to tell the DJ what to play. Our job is to listen to the music that God is playing in His Word and respond with faith and obedience. True wisdom is not found in our clever critiques of God's methods, but in the simple, childlike faith that receives His Son, whether He comes with the austerity of John or the open-armed welcome of a friend to sinners.