Monday, September 3, 2012

We Played the Flute and You Did Not Dance

Luke 7:31-35 (ESV)
"To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? [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.'
[33] For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' [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!' [35] Yet wisdom is justified by all her children."

This happens to be one of my favorite passages in all of scripture, it describes this generation. Some people are never happy, they won’t be happy. They can’t get no satisfaction, because they won’t be satisfied. The church is often like this even today, never satisfied with the gospel, never satisfied with the sacraments. People come and go, some complain there aren’t enough kids, some that there are too many kids. Some complain the service is too stayed, others that it is too up beat. There isn’t a youth group, the youth group takes up too much of the church’s resources. A pastor soon learns he isn’t going to please everyone. People will complain that his sermons are too long, others that they are too short, some that they are too studious, others that they aren’t studious enough. And the pastor probably isn’t much better about proclaiming his own tastes. We make church about everything except what it should be about, the Gospel and Sacraments. If the Gospel is being proclaimed in purity, and the sacraments administered in Christ’s institution, then realize, satis est, it is enough. Your kids will benefit from sitting through the boring service with or without other kids. You will benefit from being there with too many kids are not enough. All these other things are side issues. See something you can improve do it, and then realize it’s all part of being in a community, we have to forgive each other in the church too.
Someone will always find something to complain about, some reason not to listen to God’s word. This is also true. The Pharisees would not listen to John the Baptist. He was too strict, he had a demon they said. He was a bit weird and eccentric, it should have been their clue that he was a prophet of God, but I guess they didn’t read Ezekiel back then. He drove home the law, and it was too much for them. Jesus came proclaiming good news and that wasn’t right either. A happy medium that is what people want with the law, a happy medium, not too serious, not too easy. They want it just right enough that they can dupe themselves into thinking that they can earn their righteousness by it. God’s word doesn’t work that way. There is no happy medium, there is a double barrel shot gun, full bore law, that is the way it comes, John the Baptist style, and just when you think it is all done, the next barrel fires. Full barrel Gospel, your sins are forgiven.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

One can read the Bible passages or one can READ the Bible passages; sometimes we just read for the stories and sometimes we read for meaning of a few verses at a time.
I am glad that you are doing these insights as some I have missed in my readings or didn't understand fully. Thanks!
Sue J
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