Luke 7:31-34 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?… This little picture of children's plays, which Jesus gives us, is an illustration of the illogical objections made against the truth, and shows us many things. 1. It shows us how uniform are the tendencies of human nature in all ages and times. Jesus, passing through the market of Nazareth, or Cana, saw the children playing their games, just as children play them now. The little Syrian boys and girls belonging to the great Semitic race, living eighteen hundred years ago, amid Asiatic customs and scenery, were just such little children as you and I saw playing on the common yesterday. They played games, imitating the customs of grown people; just as little children now play soldiers, play horse and driver, so they then played weddings and funerals. 2. It shows us Christ's habit of taking illustrations from everyday life. In His teachings there is nothing conventional, nothing formal. No fact in God's world is to Him common or unclean. 3. It also shows how much easier it is for good men, though differing in ideas, tastes, and methods, to agree in a mutual respect and sympathy, than for self-willed men to form any permanent union. No two were more unlike than Jesus and John; but they had a common aim. It was to do God's will; to make the world better. So they had a mutual respect for each other. There was a real union between them. John made the turning-point from the law to the gospel; his was the transition period, within sight of the gospel, yet with the terror of the law behind it. Such a transition period has continued in the Church down to our time. Perhaps the majority of Christians are now living, not under the dominion of law, nor yet in the kingdom of heaven, but in the dispensation of John the Baptist. But half-way convictions are not very satisfactory, and the remedy for this evil is to put both the law and the gospel in their right place. We cannot dispense with either, but we wish to distinguish between their sphere and their work. (James Freeman Clarke.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?WEB: "To what then will I liken the people of this generation? What are they like? |
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