Child’s Play

Luke 7:31 And the Lord said, "To what then shall I liken the men of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying: 'We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not weep.' 33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' 35 But wisdom is justified by all her children."

Jesus was teaching and talking and ministering and walking through the region of Galilee. In the very recent past He had raised the son of a widow from the dead in front of two very large crowds: one crowd of those joyously following Jesus, and one crowd of those somberly grieving not only for the lost son, but also for the widow who now found herself alone in this world with no visible means of support. In the midst of all of that, Jesus reached in and touched the young man’s coffin and commanded him to “arise.” He did.

All those who saw were amazed and dumbstruck. The reports spread far and wide. The same news spread then is spread today by all those who have seen…all those who have seen Jesus. You see, at some point the number of witnesses to the power of Christ should come into play as being a deciding factor in whether Christianity is real or not. While there are many other proofs which can be offered, eye witness accounts of dead lives being raised are too many and too powerful to simply ignore.

To this day, Jesus is changing the “dead” into the “living.” To this day Jesus is turning drug addicts into pastors, and drunkards into missionaries. Somehow, at some point, that must be accounted for. There is a power present in true Christianity that converts the soul and changes the heart in ways which men simply cannot do. All of that is exemplified in Jesus raising this young man, the son of the widow of Nain, from the dead. (Luke 7:11-17)

But some who were watching and hearing of these things chose to place their focus on different things other than the dead being raised to life. Unfortunately, that is still true today.

Instead of paying close attention to Jesus’ miracles, the Pharisees and lawyers continued to reject the will of God for themselves. They spent their time evaluating the methodology of how Jesus did what He did rather than noting the results. And so, Jesus thought of their actions as exemplifying “children in the marketplace.” Saddest of all, (Luke 7:30,) they were rejecting the will of God for their lives. Their thoughts, like children, were only about what might please themselves – and since they were already “righteous,” there was no further need to examine what they needed most, and what God wanted them to have: salvation.
- Pastor Bill