Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Proverbs 29-30
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Luke 7:31-35
Jesus: The people of this generation—what are they like? To what can they be compared? I’ll tell you: they’re like spoiled kids sitting in the marketplace playing games, calling out,
We played the pipes for you,
but you didn’t dance to our tune!
We cried like mourners,
but you didn’t cry with us!
You can’t win with this generation. John the Baptist comes along, fasting and abstaining from wine, and you say, “This guy is demon-possessed!” The Son of Man comes along, feasting and drinking wine, and you say, “This guy is a glutton and a drunk, a friend of scoundrels and tax collectors!” Well, wisdom’s true children know wisdom when they hear it.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
People are so fickle when it comes to hearing the truth. We find every excuse under the sun to figure out how to turn away from it and assume the truth doesn’t apply to us, don’t we? That’s what was happening to Jesus and His disciples in this scene.
The Pharisees and the religious leaders of His day didn’t like the crowds Jesus gathered around Him as He talked about the scriptures in the market places and on the hillsides. These discussions were supposed to be taking place in the temple and synagogues under their tutelage and with their interpretations. Not as some unknown carpenter thought the scriptures should be applied. Who did He think He was? But the crowds kept coming. They liked what they heard. They listened with great intensity because what Jesus said made sense and He had such authority in His voice. More so that any of the scribes and Pharisees and priests they heard, anyway.
So once again the Pharisees confront Jesus and try to calm Him down and get Him to stop preaching. They try to get Him to stop these proclamations He keeps making about who He thinks God is and what religions is supposed to be about. So Jesus upends their arguments once again. Did you like John and His message? No, he obeyed your commands too much. He took vows of poverty and ritual cleansing and fasting that you thought went too far. He made your rituals look like movie trailers compared to his practice of real righteousness and you didn’t accept him as authentic in his worship.
You said he needed to dress better, eat more, get around people and behave like they did. Don’t be such a hermit. Don’t spend so much time praying and fasting and preaching. People will think you’ve gone off the deep end on this righteousness stuff. You can’t look too holy or no one will like you. They’ll think you’re better than them or something. Or they’ll think you’re crazy. No one will believe your story if you look and act too much like John.
Then Jesus comes along. Jesus ate with the tax collectors and thieves and rabble of the cities because they needed to hear God’s message of forgiveness. They knew they were far from God and they couldn’t go into the temple and the synagogues because they weren’t accepted there. How were they to find God if they couldn’t get to the altar and hear His message? The religious leaders would have nothing to do with them because they were sinners. They were obviously lost and they were without help from the holy people. So they were without hope…until Jesus came along.
Jesus ate with them. Drank with them. Sang with them. And Jesus gave them a message of hope and forgiveness. One the Pharisees and religious leaders knew was contained in the pages of the scrolls they memorized, but they would never dirty their hands to share it with ‘those people’. But Jesus did. He shared the message God sent to the world. The message of atonement, forgiveness, cleansing from the guilt of sin. These sinners soaked up the message the Pharisees and religious leaders hoarded within the walls of their sanctuaries and refused to share outside the confines of their collective pious gathering.
Is it any wonder Jesus was welcomed by the crowd from the other side of the tracks so often? Is it any wonder He feasted with the tax collectors and prostitutes and obvious sinners? They longed to hear the message the priests refused to share outside the confines of their ‘club of the uber pious’. They needed to hear that they could be freed from the guilt that weighed heavily on their souls. They needed to hear they could be forgiven of the wrongs they committed and weren’t doomed forever with no way to make restitution to man or God. They needed to find a way back into God’s kingdom.
But they couldn’t find a way…until Jesus became their friend and shared the joy of knowing sins can be forgiven for the asking. The chains of sin can be broken for the asking. The slavery to Satan can be redeemed by the blood of the spotless One when we accept His atonement for our sins. We can be made free once again when we live for Him instead of living for ourselves. We can find freedom in Him.
But how will those who don’t darken the door of our churches and synagogues and temples knows that message unless we befriend them and tell them?
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.