Listening to the right tune

In Matthew 11:16-19, Jesus challenges us to consider whether our hearts are truly open to God’s voice, even when He speaks in unexpected ways.

May we learn to listen to the right tune, responding with faith and obedience rather than resistance. 

Transcript

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Welcome, brothers and sisters, and peace be with you. May the words on my lips and the meditations in our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen. I remember being about ten years old when a group of us would gather in the street after school. There weren't smartphones or video games to keep us indoors, so the street became our playground. One afternoon someone suggested we play weddings. One of the girls pretended to be the bride. Another found some flowers, and someone else began humming a wedding march. But three boys refused to join in. That's boring they complained. So another friend suggested we play funerals instead. We'd seen enough processions to know how solemn they were. Someone bowed their head dramatically. Another pretended to carry a coffin. But the same three boys folded their arms. No, they said, We're not doing that either. Whatever game was suggested, they rejected it. It wasn't that they preferred one game over another. They simply didn't want to join in at all. Looking back, I realize it wasn't the games they disliked. It was that they had already decided that they wouldn't be pleased, no matter what was offered. Today when I read the gospel Matthew eleven, sixteen to nineteen, I think of those three boyhood friends. Jesus says we played the flute for you, and you did not dance. We wailed and you did not mourn. Some people simply refused to respond. Jesus is speaking about the generation around him. They had witnessed something extraordinary. God had sent two remarkable messengers. First, Ken John the Baptist, living in the wilderness, wearing rough clothing, eating simply, preaching repentance, and calling people to prepare their hearts for God's coming kingdom. He was austere, disciplined and uncompromising. Yet many dismissed him. He's too strange, they said. He has a demon. Then came Jesus. Unlike John, Jesus attended weddings. He shared meals with tax collectors and sinners. He accepted invitations into people's homes. Children ran to him, he brought healing, joy and hope. Yet they dismissed him too. Look, they said, a glutton and a drunkard. John was criticized for fasting. Jesus was criticized for feasting. It wasn't their lifestyles that people objected to. It was the message they didn't want to hear. How easy it is for us to imagine that we would have welcomed Jesus had we lived then. But this gospel gently asks whether sometimes we too behave in the same way. How often do we resist God? Because He comes to us in unexpected ways. Sometimes God speaks through joyful celebration. Other times He speaks through sorrow. Sometimes through success, sometimes through disappointment, sometimes through health, sometimes through sickness, sometimes through a wise elder, sometimes through a child, and sometimes through silence itself. Yet if we have already decided how God should speak, we may miss how he actually does speak. One of the great dangers of the Christian life is becoming spiritually selective. We welcome the parts of God's word that comfort us. We quietly ignore the parts that challenge us. We love hearing about forgiveness. We're less enthusiastic about repentance. We rejoice that God is loving. We are slower to remember that his love also calls us to holiness. The people listening to Jesus wanted a Messiah on their own terms. They wanted God to fit their expectations. Jesus refused, and in that refusal is the challenge from Jesus to rise above our expectations of what we think God should be, and to do and to live a life that God showed us when He gave us His Son. There's another amazing lesson for us here. Jesus finishes with an intriguing sentence Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. If I may, I would like to suggest that this means the truth is revealed by its fruit. Time eventually showed who John really was. Time revealed who Jesus truly is. The critics have long been forgotten. John is remembered as the prophet who prepared the way. Jesus is worshipped as the risen Lord. Arguments come and go. The fruit remains. That is true in our own lives as well. People may misunderstand us, they may criticize our faith, they may question our motives, but over time a life marked by love, patience, kindness, humility and faithfulness becomes its own testimony. So today's gospel leaves us with a gentle question. When God plays the music of joy, do we dance? When he calls us to repentance, do we listen? When he challenges us, do we come do we become defensive? Or do we remain open to whatever tune God is playing? The Christian life is not about insisting that God follows our script. It is about learning to recognize his voice, whether it comes through the wilderness with John or around the dinner table with Jesus. May we never become like those three childhood friends of mine who refused every invitation. Instead may our hearts remain open, responsive and eager to follow wherever Christ leads. For wisdom is indeed proved right, not merely by our words, but by the fruits of our lives that have been transformed by the grace of God Itengo Oteatua Tematua Tetama Metewa Ruatapu Amina.