To what shall I compare this generation?
Jesus was already calling to mind comparisons by his use of the phrase 'this generation'. Among other things it called to the "evil generation" of the Exodus who were denied entering or even seeing the promised land (see Deuteronomy 1:35). That generation was given many favors by God but seemed to be impossible to please. They were given miraculous food from heaven and yet said, "we loathe this worthless food" (see Numbers 21:5). They couldn't even recognize the gift that was making their journey possible because they were too busy remembering "the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic" that they used to eat in Egypt (see Numbers 11:5). They said, ironically, that those foods cost them nothing even though they cost them the necessity of living their entire lives as slaves. The food that truly cost them nothing and was leading to their freedom just didn't have the same nostalgic appeal.
It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance,
we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’
Similarly, the generation to which Jesus came seemed impossible to please. Neither the intense ascetic holiness of John, nor the generous table fellowship of Jesus was of interest to them. Both seemed dangerous to business as usual. What if John was right and repentance was truly necessary, even of to the extreme degree that he demonstrated? What if Jesus was truly the bridegroom of Israel and yet welcoming the outcasts, the tax collectors and sinners into his company?
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said,
‘He is possessed by a demon.’
The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said,
‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
The Church too receives similar criticism. In an age like our preoccupied with lust and pornography the Church is criticized as repressed and prudish. But to other ages that erred in the other direction the Church was blamed for condoning gluttony and drunkenness. This fact that God's plans are attacked from both ends is often a sign that they are in fact God's plans since his ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts (see Isaiah 55:8).
If we are honest we will admit that we too are difficult to please. We have been given gifts that are almost unfathomable by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been made sons and daughters of God, destined to be partakers of the divine nature, filled even now with the gifts and fruits of his Holy Spirit. And yet we too sometimes grumble about the circumstances in which we find ourselves. We have not yet learned with Paul to be content in all circumstances (see Philippians 4:11) or to in all things give thanks (see First Thessalonians 5:18). Our enthusiasm is neither for the mournful song of fasting nor the song of the flute that calls us to higher joy than the world can offer. We are often guilty of a nostalgia for sin, just as the desert generation of Israel was guilty.
But wisdom is vindicated by her works.
It is nevertheless possible to tune our souls to resonate with the divine music and to leave step with tedious and lifeless music with which the enemy tries to fill the world and our souls. To do so we must allow ourselves to look and see wisdom at work, realizing as we do, that this wisdom of Jesus is actually the only thing that does work. Nothing else can lead to true fulfillment. There will otherwise always be a mismatch between desire and results. But this music that Jesus plays can lead us finally to the true joy of the wedding feast to which he desires that we all come at last.
If you would hearken to my commandments,
your prosperity would be like a river,
and your vindication like the waves of the sea;
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