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(16) ”But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, (17) and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ (18) “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ (19) “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
(20) Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. (21) “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. (22) ”Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. (23) ”And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. (24) ”Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”
(25) At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. (26) ”Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. (27) ”All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. (28) ”Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. (29) ”Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. (30) ”For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Matthew 11:16-19
(16) ”But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, (17) and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ (18) “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ (19) “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
“Wisdom is vindicated by her deeds”
Who were these children to whom Jesus was comparing his generation? They were not children in school, they were not children helping their parents, they were not children constructively engaged. No, they were children of leisure or unsupervised with nothing to do except harass the passer-by’s in the market place. Nothing kept the attention of these young ones. Without direction or parameters they fed on each other disengaged from anything meaningful or constructive.
When is a generation like that? When it is more prone to entertainment than engagement. In Matthew 10:40-42, Jesus gave us the role of the church and the roles of her members. There was no room in the church for spectators or commentators. You were either out in the streets seeking the lost or back in the church practicing radical hospitality.
Look at the generation that Jesus describes, they are not amused with drama, they are not amused with comedy. They have become a generation of cynical critics instead of engaged participants. Doesn’t that remind you of Haggai’s generation as well?
Haggai 1:2-11
(2) ”Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt.’”
(3) Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, (4) ”Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?”
(5) Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways!
(6) ”You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.”
(7) Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways! (8) ”Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the LORD.
(9) ”You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away Why?” declares the LORD of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. (10) ”Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. (11) ”I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”
The people of Haggai’s generation focused on self-interests and abandoned God, the result was God called a drought upon their lives (not just their land). Jesus’ generation became spectators and commentators, the result was they were blind to the Messiah when he was present in their midst.
What about our generation?
We live in an “Entertain-Me” society creating two major issues:
1. We constantly want to be entertained—but not engaged.
2. We are losing the ability to think critically. Although we might pride ourselves upon the amount of trivia we can retain, we are unable to process and think critically about that information. We are distracted by information—not processing it.
Everyone from pastors to little-league coaches feels the pressure of people who come to worship services or games not to critique instead to cheer. They come to be entertained and not to be more engaged. They expect the church to meet their needs or the coach to favor their child. It places an impossible burden on leadership.
In short, to be a great leader, one must have great supporters. Undoubtedly leaders need to show the respect and insight worth of leadership, but they must receive the emotional and physical support of followers as well (again review the study from Matthew 10:40-42). We cannot be a congregation of critics and expect phenomenal leadership from the pulpit. We cannot be a nation of observers and expect the best political leaders in office. Remember the timeless adage: “We get out of it what we put into it.”
The next time we complain about leadership while sitting on the sidelines, we need to turn the roving fingers back upon ourselves. We get the leadership we deserve. How involved am I in supporting my leader’s life? Do I critique his/her sermons or pray during them? Do I go out of my way to encourage and build up my leader’s emotionally and physically? Do I have the right to speak honestly with them because I have build up a relationship of trust? Or, am I like the followers of Moses challenging him at every step, the people of Haggai experiencing drought because nothing is good enough for me, the generation Jesus spoke to who were never satisfied--dance or dirge?
“Wisdom Is Vindicated By Her Deeds”
Let’s look at three words in this sentence before we review the whole statement.
Wisdom [sophia]
This word has an interesting heritage. It comes from a root word, phronimos, which means thoughtful and intelligent but also discreet and practical. In Hebrew wisdom was personified as a woman.
Proverbs 4:5-9
(5) Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. (6) ”Do not forsake her, and she will guard you; Love her, and she will watch over you.
(7) ”The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding. (8) ”Prize her, and she will exalt you; She will honor you if you embrace her. 9”She will place on your head a garland of grace; She will present you with a crown of beauty.”
The Hebrew word for wisdom, chokmah, not only means wise and skillful, even witty. Chokmah also comes from a root word, chakam, which means to “teach wisdom” and to “deal with others wisely.”
The Hebrew had a relationship with wisdom. Remember, their term for knowledge “to know [yada],” was also the deepest form of intimacy between spouses. This wasn’t head knowledge, this was heart knowledge. Wisdom, as Nicodemus later found out, was not the facts you kept in your head but the love you offered from your heart.
You courted wisdom, cared for her, made a home for her. In like manner, the wisdom of which Jesus speaks was living and applicable. It wasn’t how much you could retain in your head but how much you could reveal in your deeds.
In my latest book, “ReImagining Education; How We Teach, What We Teach, and the Systems in Which We Teach,” I say that the highest form of education teaches students not just topics. Isn’t that the kind of teacher all of us wish to find for our children? One who will commit to their learning--not just flunk them if they “don’t get it?” One who doesn’t say, “That kid lacks motivation,” but instead says, “How do I motivate that kid?”
That was Jesus’ concept of wisdom. It was taught, courted, practical and “vindicated by her deeds.”
Vindicated [dikaioo]
Here is an astounding word, it means to “be set free,” as in a prisoner who was arrested and then found innocent. It is also the word that Christ often uses for forgiveness.
Matthew 6:13-15
(13) ”And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.] (14) ”For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (15) ”But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”
This is the freedom of forgiveness. To the extent that we forgive others we are given freedom. Forgiving leads to forgiveness just as seeking a relationship with Wisdom (personified) leads to action. That relationship (with Wisdom) resulted in “discrete and practical deeds” that would speak for themselves.
Jesus is confronting the silence of the religious leaders who had remained silent while Herod imprisoned John. He says this about them:
Matthew 11:12
“From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.”
Rather than calling them “wise,” Jesus refers to them as violent. Violent in their deceit and ignorant in their childish—not childlike—behavior. Violence is not merely perpetrated by those who carry weapons; it is those who set policies and those who sit idle that contribute to injustice. In essence, Jesus is saying that their deceit will come to light just as wisdom will be vindicated (liberated) by deeds of justice and compassion. Time reveals intent illuminating both ignorance and wisdom alike.
Deeds [teknon]
This word actually means “children,” as in “Wisdom is vindicated by her “children” or “offspring.” Who were the “children” of the people Jesus was confronting on that day? The Sanhedrin was filled with corruption, the poor were locked out of worship and the ill and crippled were despised and ostracized. You can judge the strength of any society by how it treats its most vulnerable members.
In our time, we speak a great deal about expanding democracy. However, voting is not the indication of a healthy governing system. The vitality of a democracy is revealed in how it protects those who are not in power. These are the “children” of our time, the underrepresented, the misrepresented and the invisible. How do they fare in our city, nation, world?
Who are the children of a church? My son and I walked by a church near our house that just added a multimillion-dollar “Discipleship Center.” As we walked by my son said, “Dad, exactly how many of those disciples do you think will be ‘sent’ into the city? They really should call it a ‘Membership Center.’”
I think he had an important point. In Matthew 10:40-42, Jesus pointedly tells us that the children of the church are the “least little one,” to whom we give a cup of cold water. Radical Hospitality—that’s the role of a church. How would Jesus measure the vitality of a church? The amount of cold water it gives to those who are thirsting. The radical hospitality it shows to the “least little one.”
Matthew 11:20-24
(20) Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. (21) “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. (22) ”Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. (23) ”And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. (24) ”Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”
He began to denounce the cities
Listen to the judgment of Tyre and Sidon by the prophet Joel:
Joel 3:1-8
(1) “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, (2) I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land.
(3) “They have also cast lots for My people, traded a boy for a harlot and sold a girl for wine that they may drink.
(4) “Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense on your head. (5) “Since you have taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious treasures to your temples, (6) and sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory, (7) behold, I am going to arouse them from the place where you have sold them, and return your recompense on your head. (8) “Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation,” for the LORD has spoken.
Why condemn a city and not just the individual perpetrators? Because the indecencies were sanctioned by the government and tolerated by the people. When political leaders allow injustice and the people turn a blind eye to it (or don’t “lift a finger” to help) there is no check on licentiousness. You see God does not differentiate between the act of sin and indifference towards it. What kind of parents would be if we turned a blind eye towards a child’s destructive behavior? What kind of society are we if we turn a blind eye towards injustice?
When Jesus denounces an entire region the same principal applies.
It doesn’t get much more frightening than being denounced [oneidezo] by the Messiah. These cities had seen the miracles of Jesus and had failed to “repent [metanoeo].” Metanoeo strictly translates into “higher knowing,” but the Hebrew roots would not imply head knowledge, it would mean “heart knowledge.” A greater intimacy as in “because of my relationship with Jesus I have a new intimacy with God and his people.
God had gave these people every chance. He loved them so much that he sent his own son to die for them. His son physically lived among them. He healed their sick, gave sight to their blind and even raised their dead, but they took him for granted. They wanted all the benefits of Son of God without the responsibilities of calling him “Lord.”
That becomes pretty personal to me. I think of all the times I am just like the citizens of Chorazin, Bethsaida and the Capernaum, the number of times I want Jesus to bless my life but not challenge my behavior. To receive God’s blessings and not change my thinking—not change my behavior [metanoeo]--that’s what Jesus denounces in this reading.
Matthew 11:25-30
(25) At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. (26) ”Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. (27) ”All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. (28) ”Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. (29) ”Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. (30) ”For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
“Revealed Them To Infants”
Ultimately we don’t come to Jesus through our heads, but through our hearts. This does not mean we give up our intelligence and turn a blind eye to the wonderful pursuits of science and mathematics. In truth, the more we know about “how” the world works, the more we should be amazed at “why” we came into being.
In my curriculum for young people “Significant Conversations About Faith,” I describe the relationship of science and religion in the following manner:
The other day, I purchased a wonderful new musical keyboard that I quickly learned was very complicated to operate. The Owner’s Manual is nearly 300 pages in length yet, despite all those pages, there’s not one sheet of music in the whole book. I can use the manual to turn the keyboard on and off, to sequence and record songs, and to play hundreds of instruments. However, if I’m going to play music I will still have to turn to the masters like Mozart, Chopin, and Santana.
Science and Scripture are much the same as my keyboard manual and a book of sheet music by the Masters. They compliment, not compete, with each other. Similar to my keyboard, one book focuses on how I can use the keyboard; the other gives me a beautiful reason to play. Science can help me understand how the universe works, but God—through Scripture—gives me a beautiful reason why it all exists in the first place.
We can ask too much of science and lose the core of it’s message; an unbiased viewpoint with which to study the universe. However, when we try to use science to explain the purpose of our existence, we create biases that undermine the very definition of science. Similarly, when we try to read the Bible as if it were a scientific document we risk losing the beauty of its intended purpose.
Still, the Bible does teach some significant “how-to’s.” For example, how to grow closer to God, how to live a meaningful and fulfilling life, and how to restore a broken people to dignity. Look to science when you want to explain how a body functions or how a plant could be fossilized. But turn to the Bible when you seek to know how-to pray, how-to love, and how-to foster peace in the world around you.
The real struggle today is not between science and religion; it is between spirituality and religion. The fastest growing religious affiliation is “indifference.” Simultaneously as denominationalism is plummeting, spirituality is on the rise. (For more information on this topic, see the study on “Religion and America,” from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a 2008 study of 35,000 Americans and their attitudes towards religion).
In my own work with young people around the world, I find a consistent trend in faith, a desire for the assets of spirituality but a rejection of the contentious aspects of religion. In particular, young people who have grown up during the last decade have seen religion as a divisive factor rather than a unifying one. They have seen it split national politics, cause the destruction of 9/11, employed as a justification of war and used to bash everything from homosexuality to immigration. They are less inclined to creeds and more amenable to the simple commonalities of most religious traditions: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
More dangerous than the disinterest of our young people towards denominationalism is the spirituality of our “Boomer Generation.” As with all other aspects of my generation, we are more interested in personal peace and affluence than communal restoration. I refer to it as “meo-theism,” we seek a theology that is pain-free, personal and prosperity-oriented (the three Gnostic Gospels of our age).
Some people have referred to our current theology as “Neural Buddhism.” We are learning scientific exercises that impact the centers of our brain resulting in metaphysical experiences of peace and joy. That’s all fine, but we misconstrue the fulcrum of religion to be personal peace. The focus of most world religions—especially Christianity—is never merely “what God does for me.” It is what God calls me to do for others.
Isn’t this indicative of what Christ confronted in his generation as well? Leaders turned religion into a tool of the aristocracy; theology turned inward and “headward,” until ritual became the focus and leading ritual became the sole proprietorship of the elite. They, in turn, used ritual to create a system of worship that taxed the poor and channeled vast sums of money (and authority) into the coffers of the Sanhedrin (the religious privileged of Jerusalem).
Religion became a tool for the upper-class to further oppress the poor.
Matthew 23:13-15
(13) “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. (14) [“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.] (15) “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
When religion becomes a head-game, it loses its relevance. In clergy retreats, I will tell pastors, “If it ain’t simple, it ain’t Jesus.” Our Lord made it radically simple when he said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another [John 13:34].”
You don’t give people a new command if you expect them to obey a thousand other commands. You would simply give them another command. In like manner, the best sermon a pastor could ever preach would be this: “See how I love others? Love like that.”
Jesus now turns to the heart of religion as the Son of God sees it.
”Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
The heart of religion, to Jesus, is to give rest to the overburdened [phortizo]. Overburdened refers to a beast of burden that is overloaded, staggering under the weight of oppression. Jesus came to give these people “rest [Anapauo]”—meaning to give repose, to exempt and refresh.
Karl Marx once said that religion is the “opiate of the masses.” How does this compare with the comfort Jesus offers? Marx’s view of religion offered the type of mindless drivel that tells people to “accept their circumstances” and your “situation in life.” Is this what Jesus was saying?
Not at all!
The central tenet of Jesus’ religion was to alleviate the staggering oppression of the poor. He did tritely say, “you are poor, accept your plight joyfully.” He came to be “good news to the poor.” He told the rich, young prince that perfection would be found in selling all you have, giving the money to the poor and then following Jesus [Matthew 19:16-26].
This is the Jesus who prompts Zaccheus—a leader of tax collectors to redistribute his income to those he had cheated and oppressed [Luke 19:1-10].
This isn’t “Ten Percent Tithing,” this is a radical redistribution of income. It is giving all you can to alleviate the suffering of the poor. Jesus wasn’t interested in the religion that Marx condemned either. Jesus wasn’t interest in acquiescing to grossly unjust systems that overburdened the poor. He wanted the poor to receive repose, exemption and to be refreshed.
”For My yoke is easy and My burden is light”
Jesus knew a thing our two about yokes. A carpenter in Christ’s day would not only work on houses, he would also work on “mechanics.” Wheels, carts and yokes. A yoke was one of the most important implements that a farmer possessed. Nothing was more expensive, yet more valuable, to a farmer than the ox that pulled a plow. An ill-fitted yoke would blister the ox’s shoulders and could even lead to a crippling infection.
The yoke of Jesus isn’t “easy” it is “well-fit [chrestos].” It is “easy on the shoulders.” Our Lord does not promise us an easy life—he offers a meaningful life. A life of self-focused “ease” that focuses on personal comfort is the shortest way to mental illness. That’s why self-help books don’t work; there is no help in self-focus. If you want to ruin a child, give them a life of ease.
We think of God as the ultimate parent and Jesus as the ultimate child. Does God give Jesus an easy life?
It is not “ease” that makes a child mature, it is meaning—purposeful direction. Do we come to Jesus to adjust our yoke or ease our burden? Burnout is due from people who think their burdens should be easier rather than actually working industriously in a passionate cause.
Turn to Jesus for a well-fit yoke, but a yoke nevertheless.
This reading has been filled with highs and lows. We have learned that Jesus rebukes those who treat religion as a debate and/or use it to complicate the lives of the poor. We have also learned that the focus of religion to Jesus is not to comfort ourselves—make our lives easy—but to comfort the poor by alleviating their suffering. That is our yoke. That is a well-fit burden. That is a meaningful life.
About the Author
Jerry Goebel is a community organizer who started ONEFamily Outreach in response to gang violence and youth alienation in a rural community in Southeastern Washington. Since that time, Jerry has worked with communities around the globe to break the systemic hold of poverty by enhancing the strengths of the poor.
A primary philosophy of ONEFamily Outreach is to teach; “poverty is a lack of healthy relationships.” And, a primary focus of ONEFamily Outreach has been to break down the barriers of poverty through creating “cultures of intentional courtesy.”
As well as having developed ongoing mentoring outreaches in his own community, Jerry travels extensively to work with church leaders, community governments, and educators.
Jerry has received five popular music awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, a Best Educational Video Award from the National Catholic Education Association, and a lifetime achievement award from the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry for living Gospel Values.
To contact or book Jerry for a presentation in your area write or call:
The New Testament Greek Lexicon based on Thayer’s and
Smith’s Bible Dictionary plus others; this is keyed to the large Kittel and the
“Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.” These files are public domain.
The Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon is Brown, Driver,
Briggs, Gesenius Lexicon; this is keyed to the “Theological Word Book of the Old
Testament.” These files are considered public domain.