Damned if you do...

Luke 7:31-35

To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?  They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, 

"We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge, and you did not weep."

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.'  The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'  Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.

...............

The healings of the centurion's servant and the widow's son are amazing stories in and of themselves. But Luke also uses them to introduce John's question about who this Jesus really is. Likewise, the concluding account of the immoral woman interrupting the pharisee party is a bookend example of Jesus as the "friend of sinners," a title he  took from the pharisees' misplaced accusations.

In the center of this action is the cryptic little saying quoted above, where I will now turn my attention - "we played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep." What does this mean?

Jesus uses this phrase as a way to define the generation of people before him, but this could just as easily refer to our modern era and the elemental nature of our fallen humanity. Jesus goes on to rephrase and clarify his own words - "For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.'; The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'; Yet wisdom is justified by all her children."

In other words, you hate and condemn those who live for God, whether they are ascetics like John, or free to enjoy food and drink like Jesus was during his ministry. The Pharisees were so blinded by their judgmentalism that they could condemn two men of opposite offenses without batting an eye. They were so fixed on the external trappings of religiosity that they could not see the glorious fruit of God's wisdom staring them in the face.

How do we see this happening today? In our culture of tolerance we do not always see clear examples of overt judgment like this. What we do experience on a regular basis are the silent accusations of our Enemy howling against us in often contradictory ways. In the church, we imagine our dear brothers and sisters condemning us for being either too strict or too lenient as parents. In the world, we imagine our non-believing friends either offended by our God-talk or perhaps condemning us in an imaginary hell because we did not say or do enough to bring them to Jesus. In our own minds, we are "damned if you do, or damned if you don't."

These are the illogical accusations we face from day to day. But it is the simple truth of the gospel that can quickly set us free from these earthly fears. Romans 8 tells us: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." If we truly believe this, then we know we have been forever declared "not guilty" by the only Judge who will ever really matter. He is our hope and confidence now. In him we can stand assured. Our faith will be proved genuine, not by the petty judgments of our Enemy, but rather by the Son who took our judgment upon Himself: a wisdom that is truly justified by her children.