Playing the Right Tune

"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 7:32-35

Transcript

Finding the Right Tune

Maybe you’ve heard the expression, “I just can’t win.” It means that no matter how hard you try, or no matter what you do, things don’t work out.

·         The kids aren't happy if they don't have the same fancy gadgets as their friends, and my wife's not happy if I buy the things for them—I just can't win!

·         First he criticizes me for spending too much time at home, then he criticizes me for being away too often with my friends. I just can't win.

·         If I call my mom after 8 PM, she's annoyed, and if I go the whole day without calling her at all, she's annoyed. I just can't win.

Jesus has a far more elegant way of saying the same thing: “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.” But make no mistake: what he’s saying is basically “you just can’t win” with some people.

The Pharisees rejected God’s Purpose for themselves

Luke is pretty pointed in his criticism of the religious leaders of Jesus’ time: “The Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by [John].” What was John’s Baptism? A baptism of repentance into the forgiveness of sins. In other words, to be forgiven, one first had to recognize what one needed to be forgiven of. That the Pharisees and lawyers could not do. 

They followed the Law. They observed the rituals. They were descendants of Abraham. For what did they need to apologize? For what did they need to be sorry? They could not accept that they, too, needed a Savior – not to save them from others, but so that they themselves could be saved!

No matter what God tried with them, he couldn’t win.

He sent John, an ascetic’s ascetic. He wore camel’s hair and ate locusts and wild honey. He preached to the whole people the Word of God. He fit the bill perfectly of Elijah who was to come. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Recognize that your minds are not God’s mind, and you will is not God’s will. Admit and proclaim your guilt and let the Lord your God wash it away. He played the dirge. But the Pharisees would not grieve.

Then Jesus begins his ministry. A ministry of joy, of miracles, of wonder. The deaf can hear! The blind can see! The demons are silenced and cast out! The lame can walk! The dead are raised! Good news is echoing once more from one end of Israel to the other. He played the flute – but the Pharisees sat against the wall, arms crossed, unwilling to dance.

Many continue to reject God’s Purpose for themselves

The same is true of the great majority of our fellow human beings today. They are so confident in their own goodness and righteousness – that THEY ALONE are JUST – that neither waltz nor requiem will move them. 

ILLUS: The challenge for pastors, missionaries and evangelists is the temptation of finding the right melody that will work with everyone. Just the right amount of John the Baptist, and mixed with the right amount of Jesus -and the people will flock to the font. Just the right amount of dirge and the right amount of dancehall and we can save the world. If it didn’t work for John or Jesus, why do we think it will work for us? Don’t you think that if there was some magic set of words that always brought people to repentance Jesus would have used them himself?

The reality is that there is no magic tune. But there is music. And we’ve been asked to play it, just like John did, and just like Jesus did. We are now the children in the marketplace calling to one another. Some will dance and mourn. Some will not.

All the People – even the Tax Collectors – declared God Just

Certainly “all the people – and the tax collectors too” heard the tune and got the message. They freely recognized that something had to change, and that something was them. They were thrilled to hear the voice at the Jordan announcing that they, too, could be forgiven. 

“And all the people, after they heard, and the publicans justified God by being baptized with the baptism of John.” That’s what Luke records. It is by their repentance and their baptisms by John that the people demonstrate how God declares people righteous. These are the children who have heard the Lord’s dirge and grieved their sin, who have heard about the dance of baptism and have joined in. These are wisdom’s children, showing God’s justice to the Pharisees and lawyers. 

It's true that no matter what John and Jesus did, the Pharisees would not dance or mourn. But the tax collectors and people did. So sometimes, you do win!

We can also Declare God Just in Christ

Our own trust in God’s promises in Jesus are our declaration of God’s justice. We freely acknowledge the depth of the depravity in our own hearts, and our need to be set free. We freely acknowledge that only Christ can unlock these chains that weighs us down. We freely acknowledge that if we are dancing to Jesus’ tune, then all praise to God who has done such marvelous works in us. 

We call in the marketplace to each other about the condition or our hearts and the world. Many do not listen. BUT MANY DO! Many come to the font and declare God’s justice there. It’s true that you can’t ALWAYS win. But it’s not true that the Lord is never victorious!

Conclusion

Abraham Lincoln is famous for saying many wise things. But these were some of his wisest words, appropriate for today: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”

In other words, you can’t ALWAYS lose. It’s not true that you “just can’t win.” What Jesus says is that you can’t win ALL the time with ALL the people. Especially with the self-righteous, those who consider themselves “religiously healthy,” who have no need of God’s justice because they are their own justice, thank you very much. 

John the Baptist may have come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and people may say, ‘He has a demon.’ Jesus may have come eating and drinking, and people will call him a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by all her children.

God’s justice is declared to the world in and for you.

Amen.