The Lord had borne testimony to John the Baptist now in prison. Then He shows how that generation had rejected John’s ministry, because he was in his ministry as one separate from the nation. “Whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.”
John’s ministry had called them to repentance and sorrow, but they had no heart for it. Then the Lord Jesus came and His birth was announced with “good tidings of great joy,” but they did not want His ministry either, though it was accompanied with power and great blessing. He had sought out the most wretched among them to show them the kindness and love of God, and He was accused of falling into their evil ways. Such is man naturally. He dislikes God. But “wisdom is justified of her children,” the Lord adds. They had rejected the voice of heavenly wisdom, and the wisdom which they professed to have was but the wisdom of this world.
Warning
“Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not: woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida!” They had witnessed His works of power and grace and yet had not repented on account of it. “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.” Those great cities of the past, because of their wickedness, had been overthrown by the judgment of God. They had rejected the testimony of God in creation, but the Jews, in rejecting the works and testimony of Jesus, were far more responsible to God. Capernaum had been exalted to heaven through the mighty acts of power and blessing performed there, yet it would be brought down to hell. For if those same mighty works had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. It will be more tolerable for those of old in that final day of judgment than for those who rejected the Messiah spoken of by Moses and the prophets.
After pronouncing these solemn woes on those who rejected Him, the Lord turns and addresses His Father. “I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” He gives Him His broadest title, as “Lord of heaven and earth.” He was now no longer simply the God of Israel. Those who thought that they were wise and prudent had rejected both the ministry of John and that of the Lord Himself. Therefore He will be revealed as “the Father” to whoever comes.
“All things are delivered unto Me of My Father.” Men might refuse Him the throne of Israel and all His earthly honors; He might be despised and rejected, yet He stands in all the conscious dignity of His heavenly Person as the eternal Son of the Father.
Further Meditation
1. What testimonies did the Jews reject?
2. What amazing thing did the Lord do when He was rejected?
3. For an excellent, if “deep,” treatment of this time of transition consider reading in Synopsis of the Books of the Bible by J. N. Darby.