The Children in the Marketplace

by Sakae Kubo

This is a book first posted on Grace Connection, the Magazine. There is no printed edition. All 30 chapters will appear on the Wheel in the following weeks.

Chapter 5

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

The Parable of the Children in the Marketplace

The occasion of this parable was the coming of messengers to Jesus from John the Baptist while he was a prisoner. John wanted confirmation that he was the Messiah. Jesus dispels his doubts, reconfirms his faith, and then goes on to extol John the Baptist as one who prepared the way of the Messiah.

Because the Jewish leaders did not acknowledge the prophetic message of either John or Jesus, he compares them to children in the marketplace calling to one another. "We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn." These children wanted everyone to dance to their tunes, but John the Baptist and Jesus refused. The Pharisees played the flute but John didn't dance. They wailed but Jesus didn't mourn. Therefore, both were criticized. "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon'; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'

Read more at Adventist Perspective.