Matthew 11 NLT
“To what can I compare this generation? It is like children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends, ‘We played wedding songs, and you didn’t dance, so we played funeral songs, and you didn’t mourn.’ For John didn’t spend his time eating and drinking, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ But wisdom is shown to be right by its results.” (16-19)
When I was a kid we used to say, “You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all the time.” This was Jesus’ point in His dialogue on John the Baptist. It is like the people could not be happy. John was a wild man, who lived in the wilderness, ate bugs, and called even the most affluent a “brood of vipers.” John did not worry about what people thought and he was that hard-nosed, hellfire and brimstone preacher that sets many people on edge. Jesus could cut you with His tongue too, but He didn’t reside in the lonely places and wait for the people to come to Him. Instead, He went directly to the people in love—to all the people, even those that the religious thought were “untouchable.” His point was that “you people can’t be happy… either someone is too religious for you (like John) or not religious enough (like Me).
Yet, Jesus says, “Wisdom is shown right by its results” (or vindicated by her children). In short, the “proof is in the pudding.” That generation was much like this generation; impossible to please. No matter what your position on a topic, there will be someone who will argue with you, and quite frankly many like to argue just for argument’s sake. They are like children in the marketplace who have childish reactions to serious things and their childishness precludes them from being taken seriously. Jesus’ point is that “no matter what one does the crowd will not be pleased, so it is best to focus on pleasing God.” Both Jesus and John are shown to be “right” by the results of their teaching and their ministry. Our job is not to satisfy all complaints. Our job, instead, is to satisfy an audience of one (God) and let Him bring the results and let Him deal with the pushback from the “children” in the public square.
