CHILDREN SITTING IN THE MARKETS

As we commented in yesterday’s reading, we are prone to be creatures of extremes, swinging from one extreme to another. The picture of today’s passage has a similar message.

It would appear that the Lord had observed the children playing in the streets. Their games could be either joyful or sad. If joyful, then the emphasis was upon music and dancing - an energetic display. If sad, playing out the funeral proces­sion, the need was for others to become the mourners and lament. However, the children did not attract the followers they expected. They had done their best to provide the music but without effect, ‘ye have not danced’, v. 17. Whether in a fit of pique, or as a consequence of boredom, the children had sat out the activities and not joined in.

The ministry of John the Baptist had been quite an austere one. He had refrained from many of the things that Jews would take for granted and, in a similar way to the vow of the Nazarite, he had been an ascetic. The conclusion of his fellow Jews was that he was demon possessed. His extreme behav­iour, denying himself in so many ways, did not endear itself to his fellows.

The ministry of the Lord stood in contrast to that of John. The Lord did not apply any dietary rules and regulations to His followers. He ate normally. He companied with a wide variety of people from all walks of life. He was not ‘class con­scious’! What, then, was the assessment of the Jews in respect of the Lord’s life? ‘Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners’, v. 19. Even someone that the rulers judged as being at the opposite extreme from John was rejected out of hand.

We should not be surprised if we meet the same unpredict­able and perverse behaviour from the people around us. In reality, their rejection of our behaviour is so often a rejection of the message that we carry. If our lives are in keeping with the word of God, we can rejoice that, ‘Though unbelieving men might slander Him, He is vindicated in His works and in the lives of His followers’, William McDonald.