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"But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying:
'We played the flute for you,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 winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is justified by her children."
And you did not dance;
We mourned to you,
And you did not lament.'
Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent:
"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you."
- Matthew 11:16-24
In yesterday's reading, we were told that as John the Baptist's disciples departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: 'Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.' Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
"But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying: 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; We mourned to you, and you did not lament.' 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 winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is justified by her children." Jesus compares the Jewish leadership to children playing a popular game in the marketplaces. In this game, children would divide into two groups: one side, miming musicians, would either appear to play a flute for dancing music or sing a dirge. The other group would have to properly respond with dancing or lamenting. He likens them to children in the first group complaining and chiding the others for the opposite response to the one expected. The leadership branded John as too ascetic, and label Christ as one who is too liberal in joy and mercy. Jesus gives us a very important understanding when He tells us that wisdom is justified by her children: both He and John, although seemingly radically different in their ministries and conduct, serve wisdom -- the work of God in the world.
Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you." Just as the works of both John the Baptist and Jesus justify holy wisdom, so those who witness Christ's mighty works and reject His ministry are rejecting the call to turn to God. My study bible says that it is a far greater sin to have seen Christ's works and rejected Him than never to have known Him at all.
A repeated theme that is in some way "hidden" in the Gospels is here: it is that of what we might call gratitude. That is, the failure of people to realize the good that has come to them, the gifts of life and spiritual treasure. I call it a hidden problem, because it's not frequently overtly stated by Christ, except perhaps most strikingly in the story of the ten lepers who were healed in Luke's Gospel. But in a real sense, the whole story of Jesus' ministry is about gratitude: with the Incarnation, we are given the greatest gift possible. Everything in His ministry is a gift to humankind, and to the whole world. As we are frequently reminded, His life is a gift for the life of the world. Jesus does mighty works in the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, but where are those with faith? He chides the failure to repent: that is, to turn back to God, to take this ministry -- God's self-emptying in the life of Jesus Christ -- for what it truly is, a sign of that which is much greater coming into the world, a Kingdom given to us. He warns that it will be taken to others who will grasp this gift and realize its tremendous worth: those in Tyre and Sidon, Gentile cities, who would respond like the Gentiles of Nineveh to the preaching of Jonah, whose king covered himself in sackcloth and sat in ashes in repentance of evil that had been done. The humility expressed in repentance is a mirror of recognition of the greatness of the gift of life given by God, a true appreciation of life and of the spiritual reality that is on offer. This is a hard message for us in modern times. Where does gratitude come into play for so much that we take for granted? How can it be easy to value the spiritual gifts of joy and the nurturing of spirit and soul when we so often feel entitled to so much that others don't have or have never had in the history of the world that has come before? We are worse off if we fail to understand or grasp the spiritual side of life at all. What can a Kingdom mean to those who feel that material life is all there is? The failure to grasp the meaning and value of what is on offer in Christ is a failure to grasp the fullness of life, a failure to encounter meaning and substance. It is to miss God, to lose humanity and the fullness of what it is to be a person -- to know the capacity for God-likeness, the blessings of the Beatitudes, the exchange of life for the ways in which the world may offer us loss and death and "failure." Jesus' mighty works are signs of the Kingdom, that fullness that there is to all our notions of life, that which is offered in exchange for loss, for that which measures us according to a very limited measure of success, a fullness of meaning to suffering and sacrifice where we see only loss and hardship. We live in relationship to something, to Someone, much greater than ourselves who offers us all that is His. But we have to turn and recognize that relatedness to realize it. Gratitude becomes something of great substance in this understanding; it becomes a key to the fullness of life and of living. Or we miss that abundance of life entirely. There will be all kinds of reasons to reject holiness. But wisdom is justified by her children. Above is pictured an icon of St. Sophia (which literally means "Holy Wisdom" in the Greek), with her children Faith, Hope, and Love (or Charity, in the language of the King James Bible). The famous church (now a museum) Hagia Sophia built in Constantinople (now Istanbul) was named for Holy Wisdom. But the icon of St. Sophia is meant as an icon of a saint martyred with her children and their actual names. However we may look at it, in all ways it's a fulfillment of Christ's words. "Holy Wisdom" is Logos, Christ Himself, for whom the church was named and dedicated. Jesus uses the feminine "her children" because in the original Greek, "sophia" (wisdom) is a feminine word.
