Reformation: Gospel, Matthew 11:12-19                                  

Matthew 11:12-19

If you have ever spent any amount of time around young children, you will understand that “getting their way” is a stock of childish behavior. No, I am not claiming that every child falls prey to it, but rather that the seeds have been sown by our original parents that bring self into the fray of life at the very earliest stages of human interaction. “That’s mine.” “I don’t want to watch that show, I want to watch …” “You’re not doing it right.” Now, that last one pops up in our gospel text this week as Jesus responds to criticism coming at both him and his forerunner.

Jesus says, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.” He then explains, “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at Him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” (11:17-19a).

I wrote out the text because it is important and clear. In matters of the gospel and all its implications, those who stand in the place of scoffers are never satisfied. It’s clear the message itself gets under the skin. But even the practices surrounding its reception (namely Christian freedom), always get the best of those who know nothing of it and want others to be trapped as they are. Misery loves company in spiritual things as well as in things we can touch and see.

Jesus finishes this way: “Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds” (v. 19b) In the vernacular we could say, “The truth will out.” The teaching of Jesus is always enough for the mind and heart receptive to it. Nothing else is required. Certainly not the childish whims of those who are never satisfied. And to not be satisfied with the gospel is to throw a tantrum, God looking on.