Old Testament Reading: Proverbs 1

“The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, ‘Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse’— my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: ‘How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices. For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.’” (Proverbs 1, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Luke 7:31-35

“To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.” (Luke 7:31–35, ESV)

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Please excuse any typos and misspellings within this manuscript. It has been published online for the benefit of the saints of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church but without the benefit of proofreading.

Introduction

When I sat down to write the sermon that I preached last Sunday, my original intention was to go further in Luke and to cover the passage we are considering today. That would have worked just fine. Really, Luke 7:18-35 is a unit. This pericope (passage) is all about John the Baptist. Firstly, the disciples of John are sent to Jesus to ask him if he is the one who is to come. Secondly, Jesus answers them in deed and word and sends them back to John. Thirdly, Jesus testifies to the crowd concerning John’s greatness. And finally, in the passage we have open before us today, Jesus offers an analysis of the people of his generation as it pertains to their rejection or acceptance of John and of himself. 

Clearly, this passage that we are considering today (Luke 7:31-35) goes together with the previous one (Luke 7:24-34). Consider these three links, by way of introduction:

Notice, firstly, that Jesus is speaking to the same crowd that was mentioned in verse 24: “When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?’”, etc. What is said in verses 31-35 is a continuation of that speech – Jesus is speaking to the same audience. 

Secondly, Jesus is still talking about John the Baptist. He is addressing the varied responses to John and to himself from amongst the people. As Luke 7:30 says, many “rejected the purpose [or plan] of God for [or in] themselves, not having been baptized by [John].” This was particularly true of the religious elite. Most of the lawyers (experts in the law of Moses) and the Pharisees rejected John and Jesus, whereas (ironically) many of the lowly within society (yes, even tax collectors and sinners) received the testimony of John, the baptism of John, and therefore, Jesus. So, the theme remains the same. This passage is about the people’s perception of and reaction to John and to Jesus. Some received them. Some rejected them. Here we have Jesus’ analysis as to why. 

The third link between this passage and the previous one is found in the word “just” or “justified”. And this is a connection that I really want you to see, for I think it will help us to properly interpret and apply the text that is before us today. 

In the previous sermon, we considered the words of Jesus found in Luke 7:28. He spoke to the crowds saying, “I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” And then in verse 29, we find this parenthetical remark from Luke: “When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John…” (Luke 7:28–29, ESV). To “declare God just” is to declare him to be right. In other words, these people who “declared God just” agreed with what Jesus said about John. They agreed that John was a prophet from God and that he declared truths and wisdom from God. They agreed that God’s plan of redemption through faith in the Messiah – the plan that John and Jesus spoke of – was good and right, and so they declared God just. You see, it was the common people – yes, even many tax collectors – who “declared God just” when they heard Jesus speak so highly and approvingly of John the Baptist. Why? Because they were the ones who had “been baptized with the baptism of John.” And this is contrasted with the response of the Pharisees and the lawyers. They did not declare God just, instead “the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose [or plan] of God for [or within] themselves, not having been baptized by [John]” (Luke 7:30, ESV). And I want you to notice that the word “just” or “justified” appears again in the passage we are considering today (it is the same root word in the Greek). After comparing those who reject John and Jesus to children playing in the marketplace, Christ says, “Yet wisdom is justified by all her children” (Luke 7:35, ESV). In other words, those who have received true wisdom from above will recognize and approve of true wisdom when they see it, but those who are fools will always find some reason to reject it. 

So then, this passage goes with the previous one – I could have covered these verses in last Sunday’s sermon. But the more I thought about this passage, the more I realized that it deserves a sermon of its own.  

What we have here in the passage that is before us today is Jesus’ analysis of the people of his generation. In verse 31 Jesus asks, “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?” 

The question that was left hanging by the parenthetical remark of Luke found in 7:30 was, why did so many from amongst the religious elite reject John the Baptist and, therefore, Jesus? Shouldn’t it have been the scribes and Pharisees – these experts in the law of Moses – who received John and Jesus? Stated in another way, shouldn’t we be concerned that it was the religious elite and highly educated ones who rejected John and Jesus whereas the common people – the uneducated and sinful people – were the ones who received them? 

So you can see why Jesus needed to address this issue, can’t you? I’m sure that many, especially from amongst the elite of society (Roman and Jewish), looked down upon John and Jesus with great contempt. Look at these men. Look at how lowly, poor, sinful, and ignorant their followers are. Look at John! Everyone thought he would amount to something, but he is in prison now. What has come of him? We know that they scoffed at Jesus like this when he hung on the cross. Luke 23:35 tells us, “And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!’ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’” (Luke 23:35–37, ESV). Many scoffed at Jesus as he hung on the cross. I’m sure that men and women scoffed at him all the days of his life for the humble and lowly way in which he lived, not to mention the lowliness of his followers. 

So the question is, why did the elite, the well-educated, and those considered wise according to the world’s standards reject John and Jesus? The answer our passage for today gives is, though they appeared to be wise, their wisdom was worldly – truly they were fools. And why did so many poor, uneducated, and lowly sinners follow John and Jesus? The answer our passage gives is, though they appeared to be foolish according to the world’s standards, truly they were wise. By God’s grace, they had received and submitted to God’s wisdom from above.  “Yet wisdom is justified by all her children”, Jesus says. In other words, those who are truly wise – those who are born of the wisdom from above– will agree with and approve of true wisdom when they see it. John the Baptist preached God’s wisdom. Jesus is the Wisdom (or Word) of God incarnate. All who receive these are truly wise (they are the children of wisdom). All who reject John and Jesus are fools, for in rejecting these they reject the very wisdom of God. 

We will return to this saying,  “Yet wisdom is justified by all her children”, and to the theme of true wisdom at the end of this sermon. For now, let us walk through our text together. It consists of three parts. Firstly, we find a comparison. Secondly, we find Jesus’ explanation of the comparison. Thirdly, Jesus gets to the crux of the issue with the statement:  “Yet wisdom is justified by all her children”.

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The Comparison: Children Playing In The Marketplace Refusing To Be Pleased

In verse 31 Christ asks, “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?” He is about to analyze the people of his day and explain why they live as they do, and he will do so by way of comparison. 

The comparison is found in verse 32: “They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,  ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’” (Luke 7:32, ESV)

I think it is important for us to first picture the scene that Jesus has painted and to make note of each part.

Firstly, notice that Jesus compares the people of his generation to children. And, by the way, it will become clear that he is thinking of those who have rejected John and him. He compares the unbelieving ones – the scribes and Pharisees in particular –  to children. Already you can see that this is going to be a scathing critique. 

Children are wonderful. They are precious. They are to be honored and cherished. Indeed, there is nothing wrong with being a child. It is good for children to be children. Children should not be expected to think and act like adults. They must be nourished and given time to grow physically, mentally, and spiritually. They must be given time to grow in wisdom. Even Jesus had to grow like this. Remember, Luke tells us that when Jesus was a young person he “increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52, ESV). It is good for children to be children. But children are to mature into adulthood with the passing of time. I’m sure you’d agree that it is not good for an adult to be compared with a child. When an adult is compared to a child it indicates that the adult has failed to mature. It indicates that the adult has failed to obtain true wisdom. Jesus compared the people of his generation to children.

Notice another thing about the picture that Jesus paints. Secondly, he portrays these children as being separated from their mother and father. I want to be careful to not make too much of this detail, but I do find it interesting. At the conclusion of this text, Jesus will describe those who have received John and him – those who have “declared God just” – as being the children of Mother Wisdom. But these children who are playing in the marketplace are portrayed as being motherless as if they were orphans, separated from Mother Wisdom. 

Thirdly, notice that Jesus portrays these children as sitting in the marketplace. I’ll elaborate more on what I think the significance of this is in just a moment. For now, I simply want to make the observation that Jesus describes these children as sitting in the marketplace. They are sitting idly, they are not working diligently. And they are situated in the marketplace. Jesus could have placed them anywhere in his simile. He could have situated the children in the home, in a school, or in the temple. But these locations would have given the impression that the children were pursuing higher things – wisdom from the family, knowledge from the school, or communion with God at the temple. No, Jesus paints a picture for us of children sitting idly in the marketplace, for these children are worldly.  They are concerned only with the world, the things of this world, and honor in the world.     

Fourthly, as the children sit in the marketplace they play. They wish only to be entertained and pleased by those who pass by. And if they are not pleased, they ridicule, complain, and scoff at those who have failed to meet their expectations. They call out to one another in the marketplace, saying, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep” (Luke 7:32, ESV). In other words, we wanted you to dance when we played the happy, joyous song. Why didn’t you dance? And we wanted you to cry when we played you the sad, mournful song. Why didn’t you cry? You’ve let us down. And those children who listened to the happy music and sad song were moved by neither.

Fifthly, Jesus portrays these children as being never pleased. They constantly find fault. They constantly find a reason to complain. You’ve probably met children like this – they are impossible to console. With discipline, a child ought to grow out of this. But there is little hope for these self-centered, orphan children who spend all of their time playing in the marketplace and seeking to be pleased by the things of this world.

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Jesus Explanation Of The Comparison: The Children Represent Those Who Refused To Be Please By The Wisdom Of John And Jesus

Well, I hope the picture that Jesus painted is clear in your mind. “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?”, he asked. “They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep’” (Luke 7:31–32, ESV). The real question is, what does this mean? Who do these children represent and what do their actions symbolize?

In verses 33-34, Jesus explains his simile, saying, “For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” (Luke 7:33–34, ESV).

So, who do the children represent? They represent those who rejected John the Baptist and Jesus. In particular, the children represent many of the scribes, lawyers, and Pharisees. And why did Jesus compare these to children? To say that they lacked wisdom. Though they thought themselves to be wise, and though many in the world considered them to be wise, they showed by their rejection of John and Jesus, that they were fools.

Now I ask, why did Jesus situate these children in the marketplace in his simile? Answer: To condemn the scribes and Pharisees for their worldliness. As I have said, he could have placed them anywhere. He could have situated them in the family room, a school, or in the temple, but placing them in those locations would have given the impression that they were pursuing and gaining true wisdom, to one degree or another – it would have signified that these men were devoted to good and honorable pursuits. Jesus situated the children in the marketplace to show that the scribes and Pharisees were worldly. They were living for the things of this world, the riches and pleasures of this world, and the honor of the world. If they possessed any wisdom, it was not the wisdom from above, but the wisdom of this world. 

When I began to study this text I had a suspicion that the location of the marketplace carried some symbolism – it’s a very specific detail.  And so I decided to do a little word study on the word “marketplace” to see if it would bring some clarity. How do the scriptures use the word marketplace? Better yet, does the word appear elsewhere in Luke, and if so, will that shed light on the significance of Jesus’ use of the word? Two verses in Luke seemed important to me. They confirmed my suspicions about the symbolism. In Luke 11:43 Jesus says, “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.” (Luke 11:43, ESV). And in Luke 20:46 Jesus warns the people, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts…” (Luke 20:46, ESV). Like our grocery stores, the marketplace was a place to buy and sell. But in those days, it was more than that. It was also a place for social interaction – a cultural hub of sorts. There, honor was shown to those of high standing in society, and the scribes and Pharisees loved to linger in that place to draw attention to themselves. It is no wonder that Jesus situated these children there in his simile. He critiques them for childishly and foolishly living for the world, the things of this world, and the honor that the world gives.

Now, there is nothing wrong with visiting the marketplace, is there? After all, to live in this world we need the things of this world. We need bread and meat, etc. And social interaction is needed and good. However, these children did not visit the marketplace to do business there. They sat in the marketplace. They lingered there. And they played there. And by children, I mean the prideful, unbelieving, unwise, and worldly scribes and Pharisees about whom Jesus spoke. 

Now what are we to make of the sad songs and the happy music these children played in the marketplace? What do they signify in Jesus’ simile? It seems that they signify the ministry of Jesus and John the Baptist respectively. 

The ministry of John the Baptist can be compared to a sad, mournful song. John lived an ascetic life of prayer and fasting. He wore rough clothes. He subsisted on locust and wild honey. He preached a message of repentance. “He said… to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire’” (Luke 3:7–9, ESV). John was the last of the Old Testament prophets. He came preaching law and gospel. But I think we could say that the stress was placed on the law. And how did these children – or those whom these children represent – respond to the mournful dirge of John the Baptist? They did not weep as they should have but were unmoved. This is what Jesus says in Luke 7:33. “For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’” (Luke 7:33, ESV). He’s too serious, too harsh, too extreme. 

The ministry of Jesus, on the other hand, can be compared to the happy song. No doubt, Jesus commands repentance too. But he was abundantly gracious and kind to sinners and those who were sick and weak and poor. He touched them. He healed them. He ate with them. This is what Jesus mentions in verse 34: “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” (Luke 7:34, ESV). So Jesus brought good news to the people. He brought a joyous message of hope and peace. The people should have been moved by the happy song that Jesus played. They should have danced. But they refused. If John the Baptist was too serious, harsh, and strict, Jesus was too loose in their estimation.

These children refused to be moved to tears by the mournful song of John the Baptist, and they refused to dance to the joyous tune played by Jesus. Instead of responding appropriately to the wisdom of John and Jesus, they wished to have John and Jesus respond to them. We will play the song, and you will dance for us. Or so they would have it be.     

The last question I have concerning the meaning of Jesus’ simile is what is the significance of the children being without mother or father in the marketplace? It must mean something. And I think the meaning becomes clear when we consider the words of Christ, “Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.” These children in the marketplace (and those they represented) were orphans. They were disconnected from Mother Wisdom. And their response to John and Jesus proved it. For John came preaching wisdom from above, and Jesus is the Wisdom and Word of God incarnate. And yet these scribes, lawyers, and Pharisees  “rejected the purpose [or plan] of God  [in] themselves.” 

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The Crux Of The Matter: Wisdom Will Be Proved Right By Her Children

But wisdom will be justified (declared right, or proved right) by her children. This is the crux of the matter. Notice just a few things about this saying. Wisdom is truth. To have wisdom is to know the truth and to live according to it. “Wisdom is justified by all her children”, Christ says. 

Notice a few things about this saying.

Firstly, notice that in this saying, wisdom is personified as a woman. This should remind us of the book of Proverbs wherein wisdom is personified as a woman. We read Proverbs 1 at the beginning of this sermon. Listen again to verse 20: “Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice…” Isn’t that interesting? Proverbs portrays wisdom as a woman calling out in the street and marketplace, that it is to say, in the world.  Do you think Jesus intended to remind us of Proverbs 1:20 when he spoke of these children playing in the marketplace? He must have. Continuing now in Proverbs 1:21: “At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks…” And what does she say? “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?” I will not re-read the entire Proverb. I think you are able to see that Jesus alluded to Proverbs 1:20ff when he compared the scribes and Pharisees to children sitting and playing in the marketplace. They were consumed with the world, the cares of the world, the pleasures and honor of the world. They did not hear the voice of Wisdom when she called out. And when did she call out to them? Through the preaching of John the Baptist and Christ.   But “Wisdom is justified by all her children.” In other words, the true children of Wisdom will hear her voice and declare her to be right and good and just. 

Secondly, notice that wisdom is not only personified as a woman by our Lord but as a mother who begets children. Brothers and sisters, there is something very profound here – something very insightful. Would you think with me for a moment about the nature of the relationship between a mother and a child? 

 A mother begets her children. Children do not beget their mother. Stated differently, a mother exists independently from her children and then she brings them into existence. Never does a child exist independently from their mother and bring her into existence. No, a mother gives birth to her children, nurses them, teaches them, and disciplines them to maturity. And so it is with the relationship between true wisdom and those who grow to be wise. Truly wise people are born from wisdom. They discover wisdom. They learn wisdom. They submit to wisdom. They are disciplined by wisdom. Wise people do not create wisdom. Wisdom creates them. Wisdom – truth – exists outside of them and they, by the grace of God (who alone is wise – 1 Timothy 1:17), come to see and to know wisdom.  Wisdom is not created by man, it can only be recognized, submitted unto, and received. 

You see, the scribes and the Pharisees who rejected John and Jesus failed to recognize the wisdom of God in the message they proclaimed. They “rejected the purpose of God [in] themselves…” the text says (Luke 7:30, ESV). But when many of the common people – yes even the tax collectors and sinners – heard the preaching of John and Jesus, they, buy God’s grace, heard the Wisdom of God, and they declared God just. 

All of this reminds me of what Paul says about true wisdom in 1 Corinthians 1:18 and following. “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:18–31, ESV).

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Reflections

The question I must ask you is this: are you a child of wisdom from above? Have you been born of her? Have you recognized her voice, declared her to be just and good and right, submitted to her teaching and to her discipline? Are you are true child of wisdom? Or are you one of those foolish children sitting idly in the marketplace, wasting your days being concerned only with the things of this world, seeking to be entertained and distracted by the pleasures of this world, seeking honor in this world, and attempting force others to conform to your ways and your wishes? This is how the world constantly lives. They are like the children in the marketplace.   

But those who are wise have, by the grace of God, lifted their eyes up from this earth to heaven. They have confessed God alone is wise. God is wisdom. He is the source of all wisdom. And to be wise one must first acknowledge and submit to him. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” (Proverbs 9:10, ESV)

This is where wisdom begins – with the fear of the Lord – but it does not end here. The one who is wise will also see that this God who is infinitely wise has spoken. He has revealed truth and wisdom through the world he has made, and much more clearly through his world. He has spoken through the prophets of old. He has spoken supremely through Christ Jesus, who is the Word of God incarnate. Paul, in the passage we have just read, refers to him as “wisdom from God”. And now we have the Scriptures. So then, those who are truly wise will not only fear the Lord. They will also hear God’s voice – the voice of Wisdom – in the Scriptures, and declare him to be just. Those who are wise “put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save [our] souls” (James 1:21, ESV).

The one who is wise will also recognize the wisdom of God’s plan of redemption through faith in Jesus the Messiah who lived, died, and rose again for sinners. As Paul says, “The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

The way to wisdom, friends, begins with the fear of the Lord, it continues through submission to God’s word, and it reaches its pinnacle at the cross of Christ where the eternal Word of God incarnate was crucified for us. 

Wisdom will be justified by her children. And this is why we are content to simply preach Christ crucified and risen. The world will consider the message of the cross to be folly. Never will they be satisfied. “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep”, they will say. But those born from above – those called inwardly and effectually by the grace of God – will hear the voice of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they will rejoice. “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:22–24, ESV).