“To what shall I compare the people of this generation and to what are they like?
Prelims: Jesus heals the Centurion’s slave and raises the son of the 
Widow of Nain. Saint John the Baptist’s (JTB) disciples come to ask Jesus if He is the Messiah.
This question come from Our Lord’s testimony about the importance of St. JTB, and his role in God’s plan for salvation. The question emanates from the skepticism of the Scholars and Pharisees who rejected God’s plan for salvation. After this discourse, as if to challenge or tempt Our Lord, Simon the Pharisee then invites Jesus to his house for dinner! Jesus accepts the challenge and demonstrates His compassion for the woman who anoints His feet, forgiving her of her sins and shocking Simon and his guests.
The Question Quoted in Context:
“I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” All the people who listened, including the tax collectors, and who were baptized with the baptism of John, acknowledged the righteousness of God; but the Pharisees and scholars of the law, who were not baptized by him, rejected the plan of God for themselves.
St. John the Baptist
Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare the people of this generation, what are they like?
They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.
‘We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’
For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’
The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said,
‘Look, He is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
But wisdom is vindicated by her children.”
The Question: “To what shall I compare the people of this generation and to what are they like?”
The Answer: They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. ‘We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’
Discussion Points: Our Lord looks at the skepticism of the Scholars and Pharisees and poses this question as a means of warning them of their tendency to set traps. The Pharisees not only do not accept God’s plan of John’s baptism, but seek to frustrate God’s purpose as revealed by John and then fulfilled in Jesus’ healings as related previously in Luke 7.
Jesus confronts this silent rebuke by anticipating the word traps the Pharisees will set for Him: the Pharisees will do whatever they can to besmirch the reputation of St. John the Baptist and Our Lord. They call St. John demonic, though he led the life of a desert aesthetic. They call Jesus a soft drunkard because he keeps company with the less desirable members of the community: eating and drinking with them. They want John to be more like Jesus and Jesus more like John. There is no pleasing them. No manifestation of God’s work is satisfactory enough for them. Jesus is saying that “I can see that you are going to call JTB a nut and Me a drunk, since I hang out with bad people. So let me put a question to you first. No matter what I do, you are not going to be satisfied: I won’t dance to your tune or enter into your intellectual and emotional manipulations.
Then Jesus points out that “this generation” is like children in the marketplace calling out songs and dances to each other. They call out for God to act, and then when God does act, through John and Jesus – in tragedy and triumph- they will not acknowledge God’s presence among them. Think of how David responds to God by dancing before the Ark of the Covenant, or by lamenting his sins through the Psalms. The Pharisees, as leaders of the people should have raised their souls and lifted their bodies both in joy and sorrow at the manifestation of God’s goodness, following the example of faith by the Centurion and the example of recognizing the God’s power in raising the widow’s son.
Today, when Jesus asks us; “what shall I compare the people of this generation and to what are they like?” I think of the presence of God in His people, the Church. Am I doing what Jesus asks me, like St. John to do to fulfill God’s plan of salvation? Or am I more like the Pharisees, nit-picking through various manifestations of holiness? Am I more like King David, who sings and dances in God’s presence since sometimes words just don’t cut it? Or am I more like Pharaoh, who ignores God’s miracles and hardens his heart toward God’s people.
How will you answer when Jesus asks you this question?
One final thought: God uses us to fulfill His plan of salvation, for ourselves, our family, our community. We can obey His teachings and pass this on to our children by words and example. We can love our spouses. We can step up our prayer life. In our community, there are many needs we can fill. And in our community, those organizations who ask for help need not be religious. We can imitate Christ (or St. JTB) by eating and drinking with publicans and tax collectors. Some of Him will rub off on those folks. They will look at us and say, “Wow, this Christian is at peace, easy going, accepting of me, not uptight and out-of-sight when I need help.”
Thanks for reading and praying with me. Be imitators of Christ!
