To what will I compare this generation?

‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another,

“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;

we wailed, and you did not mourn.”

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the 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.’

Then he began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent. ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, on the day of judgement it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum,

will you be exalted to heaven?

No, you will be brought down to Hades.

For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that on the day of judgement it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you.’

- Matthew 11:16-24

In the previous reading, Jesus was praising John the Baptist, and assigning him the status of prophet - yet greater than all the prophets of the Old Testament, and fulfilling the role of Elijah in the prophecy of Malachi. Jesus continues today, disparaging those who cannot accept the spiritual reality they are witnessing in the events that reveal the spiritual presence of the kingdom that has come into the world, both through John's ministry and his own.

In verses 16-19, Jesus refers to an ancient game played among Jewish children. The children playing the game would divide into two groups: one group pretended to play musical instruments or to sing; the other group would respond appropriately by either dancing to the "music" or mourning to the "singing." Here Jesus is making an analogy to his own contemporaries and their leaders. He says they are like the children who demand a response from both he and John the Baptist, and who complain, as would children in the game, when neither respond as they demand. "We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn." On the one hand is John the Baptist, whose followers fast and abstain from wine; on the other is Jesus, whose followers eat and drink. Yet for both Jesus and John, the response is to condemn their behavior. 'For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the 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.’

There is such an important and poignant lesson here about spiritual reality and our perceptions. John the Baptist comes in the great tradition of the Old Testament prophets, and his behavior and piety are expressed in one way; Jesus brings "new wine" and "new wineskins" to the picture of spiritual teaching and expression. Yet both are honored as holy; and Jesus himself proclaims the greatness of John. We must have spiritual ears to hear and eyes to see so that our perceptions are proper. Yet, Jesus says, both John and himself are condemned by "this generation" that has failed to perceive, and condemns both John and Jesus for their "inappropriate" conduct.

Jesus then begins to express his own opinion of the people's response to the great acts of power, of the revelation of spiritual reality, the places where the kingdom has "broken in" (see Saturday's commentary), that have taken place in various cities of Galilee. He names both Chorazin and Bethsaida. Jesus compares the people of these cities to others where conversion and repentance have taken place in response to the ministry, to Tyre and Sidon. Most especially his remarks are directed at Capernaum, which is the home of his ministry - and also the home of many of his closest apostles. Capernaum is compared unfavorably to Sodom itself, a town noted in scripture for its condemnation by God. Because the events of power - of the revelation of the kingdom "breaking in" upon the reality of the current time - have been so much greater in Capernaum than anything that the people of Sodom had been exposed to, Capernaum's refusal of spiritual reality is more condemned. Even Sodom will receive a greater mercy.

It is important to understand what it is to refuse spiritual reality, to fail to perceive. The great acts of power to which Jesus refers are acts of the kingdom "breaking in" upon worldly reality; they are essentially acts of revelation. The presence of a great spiritual teacher, or acts of power or the Spirit breaking in upon our own "worldly" reality, confer a great responsibility. If we really take a good, hard look at this text, we are to understand that spiritual revelation carries with it a tremendous power - and those for whom it is given carry a great responsibility in their response to it. Is it accepted or rejected? There is no neutral ground in this text. Jesus' words make it clear that whatever we are exposed to, it gives us a responsibility in our response. I think we can understand this in the context of some disaster or crime: if we see someone in need of dire help, and turn away, most of us can imagine the responsibility put upon us by the knowledge that has come to us of a person in need whom we have a choice to help (even if it is simply to telephone for emergency services). But spiritual revelation - a most positive grace in unexpected encounter - also carries with it a responsibility for us in our response to it. Do we accept or reject? Do we wish to see or understand? Or do we condemn?

Jesus' words pose a great question to us now, 2,000 years later. We don't stand in the presence of Christ himself in the sense of his material incarnation in the world, and we don't know what it would have been like to be in his physical presence in the incarnate sense. But the Spirit lives in our world and is among us. We read words in scripture that tell of all this. Do we question with an open mind? Are we willing to develop the spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear that we need in order to perceive? This is a different order of reality than the day to day. And what Jesus is speaking of here is more than merely a moral or ethical choice. The "acts of power" he describes are the revelation of something beyond what we usually refer to as "worldly." They require of us the development of organs of spiritual sense within ourselves. Indeed, from the language here, one may conclude that they demand it. Do we think about developing "eyes to see and ears to hear" in this spiritual sense? How does that work in our lives?