The Dirge and the Dance
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31 Jesus went on to say, “To what then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are theye like?32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:
“ ‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.’
33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say He has a demon.’
34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children.” -
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
3 A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry out.”
AndI said, “What shall I cry?”
“All peopleare like grass, and all theirfaithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”
9 You who bring good news to Zion,
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”
10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?
13 Who can fathom the Spirit[d] of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
14 Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?21 Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24 No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
25 “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
27 Why do you complain, Jacob?Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
The backdrop to Luke 7:31-35 is that John the Baptist was in prison for speaking against Herod’s recent marriage. Herod divorced his wife to marry his own brother’s wife, who was also his niece.
I hope to look at this short text using these three headings:
1. The Dirge and the Dance
2. The Passion and the passive
3. The Friend of Sinners
The Dirge and the Dance
We know that John (who aas a cousin of Jesus) had spent most of his adult life living on the edge of the desert, living like a wild man. His attire was camel skin clothes and leather belt, rather like some Old Testament prophets. He had become a public figure, speaking in the desert. Calling people to turn from following their own ways to following Jesus. He was called the Baptiser for baptising people in Jordan with the message “Repent (turn around) and be baptised.”
Jesus summed up John in this text by saying: ‘He sang a dirge and you didn’t cry.’ Jesus added, ‘I played a lively tune and you didn’t dance.’ In my minds eye, John the Baptist was more of Country & Western type of guy and Jesus, more Rock & Roll. In other words, cousin John’s tune was more of a dirge, he was a bit of a misery whereas, Jesus is one of the ‘lads,’ ‘friend of sinners.’
The point Jesus was not about the preference of Country & Western or Rock & Roll, but that God had called them to follow Jesus, to know Jesus through the sombreness of John the Baptist and the vibrancy of Jesus, but either way they still wouldn’t respond to God’s call. That’s as relevant today as 2000 years ago.
The Passion and the Passive
This is about Jesus being exasperated with the people of his day (and how much more today). In Luke 7:31 he says “To what can I compare the people of this generation” and he talks about a Market place scene - Kids calling out to each other “We played the flute and you didn’t dance...a dirge and you didn’t cry.”
It’s possible that this was a kids’ rhyme (the contents and tune are lost in time). It is about kids who neither dance or cry (they do nothing).
It is the lack of response that frustrates JC (playing flute implies a celebration (perhaps like the BigChurchFesttival) a festive occasion. The messiah has come, God in the flesh, God with us. Or they had the dirge of John Baptist saying repent, turn from your sins and believe in Jesus.
BUT that generation were numb to the reality of the kingdom. Later they were described as Lukewarm in Revelation 3. The church of Laodicea was neither Hot nor cold.
Jesus wants us to be passionate about our faith, passionate about Bible reading, passionate about prayer times, loving Jesus who gave himself us. When he was asked which was the Greatest Commandment he replied - “Love the Lord with all your heart, soul & strength…” Hear the passion in his answer.
Allow me to ask an awkward question: Do you show passion like that, or in the words of Pink Floyd, are you ‘Comfortably Numb?’
The Friend of Sinners
Notice the charge against Jesus in this passage, he was “a glutton and a drunk, a friend of Tax collectors and Sinners.” What a charge!
I wish more of us could be accused (not of drunkenness and gluttony) but of being a friend of sinners. Surely this is the way we can introduce our friend Jesus to our friends, relatives and neighbours.
How can we expect people to follow Jesus if we are not friends of sinners? You may not like me referring to your friends as ‘sinners’ but we are all sinners, some of us have been ‘saved by grace’ some have not responded to Christ’s invitation - as yet. Often Church draws us away from the people Jesus wants us to be eating and drinking with. Another Awkward question - who are the sinners you are eating and drinking with? It doesn’t have to be in a pub. It can be an invitation to a coffee morning, an invitation to a Sunday morning service, a walk or something else. The more we mix, the more sinners will be influenced by the song our lives play out (whether you are a C&W fan or R&R - a dirge or a dance. Jesus’ challenge to us is to be passionate about our faith, and for the music of our life to reach out to our friends for Christ.
Cover Photo Jason Swain Photography https://jasonswain.co.uk/
