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The Children At Play

The Children At Play

Matthew 11:16-19, Luke 7:31-35

 Jesus says we must be like little children to be part of God’s Kingdom. This means we are dependent and trusting, and have total faith in our Father God. If Father says something in his gospel truth, we believe and live it because we know him and trust him (II Tim 1:12).

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But children become adults, and can be self-focused and cynical. We adults concoct our own beliefs instead of believing every gospel word that comes from God (Matt 4:4). We impose our judgments, fantasies and expectancies on others. Jesus says he laid down his physical life for us on the cross. But he also laid down more: he laid down his judgments, criticisms and expectancies toward us. And, as God’s kids, we should do the same thing toward others.

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In this parable, Jesus begins to reveal his insight into the mind of man, and his thinking and reasoning, which are some of the basic problems with humanity: “To what shall I liken this generation?” – “What are they like?” (Matt 11:16, Luke 7:31). People are basically like children, but not necessarily of a good, positive ‘childlike heart’ that he elsewhere says it  takes to see the Kingdom of God.

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One group of children here has been trying to get another group of children to play with them and to do things their way. Today, we might say we want to get people to agree with us and believe what we believe. But there is often disagreement, even though they did all that they could to get the other group of children interested.

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It might be said that first they tried pretending to have a wedding (they played the flute), and next they tried pretending to have a funeral (they mourned). But not a thing worked to join them together.

Jesus says we will have obstinate, problematic, offensive people in the world. (Luke 17:1).

We must  deal with all types of people, even offensive, bad-tempered, narcissistic ones. This is just the way the world is, and it is not our job to try to change it, or get angry, or do anything else. It’s just our job to respond to it the best we can. “What happens to us is not half as important as how we respond to what happens to us.”

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We often love ourselves, and love money and are unforgiving and we don’t display self control (II Tim 3:2-4).

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It is not our job to satisfy immature people. We are told to fellowship in the gospel (Phil 1:5). This means that people we most often relate to should have some gospel understanding if we are to continue to grow in the gospel. We shouldn’t just be playing childish games, and arguing about dumb things, or fighting over opinions. But we should have child-like, open, receptive hearts.

Go to Parable Video 9: The Unfinished Tower
(The Unprepared Builder)