Readings:
Sermon:
I have two little girls who are constantly playing games together – they play ‘mummy and baby’, or one of them pretends to be a dog and the other the owner. The imagination of children is wonderful, and it is hugely shaped by what they see and observe in the big wide world around them. In our reading, Jesus, brimming with frustration, compares his generation to children playing games 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.”’ (Matt 11:17) Jesus is frustrated by the shallowness of their response to John the Baptist’s ministry, like children playing, pretending and as if this was some kind of jest. And the real issue Jesus is addressing, is that unless his generation really grabs hold of what is unfolding around them, the gospel of salvation that begins with repentance, will only ever be superficial and flaky, it will make no impression to those who are hearing but not listening. It will be like children playing and bickering in the streets.
The lectionary isn’t very good at including the tough verses, it usually misses out the verses that talk about judgment! But in the emitted verses 20-24, Jesus turns quite starkly to the sorrow and destruction that awaits those who do not respond to the message of John, which is ‘to repent of their sins and turn to God’ (11:20).
While the games of children might be trivial and insignificant compared to the politics, philosophy, and power of the grown-up world, Jesus also praises his Father, for ‘hiding the truth of the gospel from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing it to the childlike.’ (11:25). What are we to make of this?! On one hand Jesus is frustrated by the childish response of his generation, but then says the gospel has been revealed to those who are childlike. Here we encounter the tension between childlikeness and childishness – innocence verses immaturity. The salvation of God in Christ requires us to be childlike, but it is inconceivable and far off if we remain juvenile in our response.
So, there are two things here. Firstly, we are to approach God in childlike humility, recognising that ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble’. Through John the Baptist’s message, which is the entry point to the gospel of Jesus, God expects us to abandon ‘project self’, to turn away from life as we know it, and turn to him in our sinfulness, our weakness, our naivety, and our sorrow. Secondly, as we read in 1 Peter, ‘…like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation.’ We cannot respond to the gospel in immaturity and childishness. The response Jesus demands is one of urgency and sincerity anticipating that we will, ‘grow into a full experience of salvation’. We are not children playing around in the public square, this is not merely a matter of pretence.
My daughters often snap out of play mode, they come to me when they are hungry, thirsty, hurting, confused, and they come to me for intimacy. Jesus wraps up this section of teaching with these most famous and beautiful words, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’ (Matt. 11:28-29) None of this is possible apart from Jesus. He alone is the way, the truth, and the life. Only be cleaving to Jesus and can we encounter the grace of God, experience the grace of God, and make sense of life. He is the perfect model of childlikeness and what it looks like to be whole and mature.
As you listen to this, I pray that the Holy Spirit our Counsellor and Comforter – even now – is ministering to you. I pray that the Holy Spirit will enable you to shed the pride, the self-sufficiency, the façade, the lukewarm religiosity that we are all prone to. I pray also that the Holy Spirit will lead you into a new season of maturity, devotion, holiness, prayer, and obedience to his word. And within all this, I pray for refreshment for you, as you accept the gentle and beautiful invitation of Jesus to come to him in childlikeness, and as you take his yoke upon you in all seriousness and maturity.
Amen.