My 2016 Lenten Journey--Day 36

March 16, 2016 ~ Day 36

My 2016 Lenten Journey: Exploring the Gospels to discover what following Jesus and becoming more like him would look like? ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32 NRSV).

Matthew 11:7-19 ~ “To what shall I compare this generation?”

Strains from the opening tenor aria in Handel’s “Messiah” come to mind:

“The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness:

‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord!

Make straight in the desert a highway for our God!’”

Had there been any residue of doubt concerning Jesus’ self-awareness as Messiah—at least as far as Matthew is concerned—that doubt is removed in this passage. John is the messenger of Malachi 3:1. He is “the Elijah who is to come” (Malachi 4:5). And Jesus leaves no doubt as the esteem in which he holds John.

But then Jesus shifts his attention to those toward whom he has been addressing his “good news of the kingdom”:

“But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,

¹⁷‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
    we wailed, and you did not mourn.’

¹⁸For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; ¹⁹the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

“We played ‘wedding’ and you wouldn’t dance; we played funeral and you wouldn’t cry.” What does it take? John was an aesthete and you called him weird. I involve myself in life, and you call a drunk and a glutton. What is it that you really are expecting?

We have rigid fundamentalists, and we have amoral liberals (sic). But nobody seems to have a clue.

Has anything changed? And yet, the closing comment of this text is, “Wisdom is known by its deeds.” A tree is known by its fruit. What's so confusing about that?

What fruit does my life bear? Paul offers a list of the fruits that are born of the Spirit. I don’t think Paul’s list is exhaustive, but it includes, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

As I endeavor to follow Jesus and become more like him, what are the fruits by which I am known?

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9 NRSV)

‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32 NRSV).

That's the way it looks through the flawed glass that is my world view.

Together in the Walk,

Jim