Simple Equations

Matthew 11:16-30


"To what can I compare this generation? It is like children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends, 'We played wedding songs and you didn't dance, so we played funeral songs, and you didn't mourn.'"


According to "this generation," here's how it's supposed to work: if we sing happy songs, you dance. If we sing sad songs, you mourn. It's a simple equation. We've got it all figured out.

The people to whom Jesus was speaking had a sense of what was right and proper. John the Baptist was suspect because he didn't spend his time eating and drinking, which you're supposed to do. Jesus was also suspect because not only did he drink and feast, he did it with tax collectors, which you're definitely not supposed to do. Both John the Baptist and Jesus stepped outside the lines of "how it's supposed to work," and in doing so, defied the expectations of the people.

Jesus had been preaching, teaching, and doing miracles in towns throughout the region, and the people responded, "Ho-hum." And we are perhaps a bit incredulous that anyone could have that response to Jesus. But Jesus indicates that these are people who think themselves to be very wise and clever. They've got it figured out. Why do they need this repentance Jesus brings? It doesn't fit in with what they know.

In contrast, Jesus says that had he preached in notoriously wicked cities, like Tyre or Sodom, the people would have repented en masse. What accounts for the difference between these people? It seems as if the wicked know their need, and gladly repent when forgiveness is offered. The rest are too sure of their own wisdom to accept the wisdom of Jesus; too certain of how it's supposed to work.

Too often we look to formulas and self-help manuals. Hoping to find the key to spiritual fulfillment, we reduce Jesus to mathematics. But to this generation -- to every generation -- Jesus offers this simple equation to those who know they need him (to me, perhaps the sweetest words Jesus ever spoke): "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."

Drew Clausen