A generation of people who said no to God.
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| English: John the Baptist baptizing Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Jesus finishes His teaching on Elijah and John the Baptist with the enigmatic statement, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15). This saying presupposes the biblical view of human depravity, revealing that human beings
need more than ears to hear — to receive, understand, and act upon — divine revelation. It is not as if those who oppose Christ’s message cannot hear spoken syllables and sounds with their ears. Instead, the hurdle that prevents sinful humanity from receiving and embracing the Lord’s message is a moral one. Apart from God’s sovereign grace, His enemies do not want to believe His promises or follow His agenda (Ex. 7:13; Matt. 23:37–39; Rom. 1:18–32).
Christ makes this point forcefully in today’s passage, assessing the hearts of
His contemporaries using a back-and-forth exchange between two different
groups of children. Some kids complain that the other group does not dance to
the tune of a flute; the other group complains that their dirge does not make
the first crowd of children lament (Matt. 11:16–17). The kids represent those
set against the Father. On the one hand, they did not join in when John came
in the wilderness living an austere life and exhorting Israel to repentance
(3:4–6). Yet this same group does not rejoice when Jesus preaches about the
inauguration of God’s kingdom (4:17; 9:32–34). In other words, there is
nothing that the Lord’s messengers can do to make those who hate Him happy.
Whether the message is joyful or sad, the Father’s opponents will find an
excuse to deny it (11:18–19). Their hearts are hardened, and their failure to
embrace the Almighty’s word to their generation is the fault of neither Jesus
nor John.
As one commentator has noted, many of those living during the ministry of
Jesus are like children who pout and whine when others will not play their
game. They are hypocrites who will always find a reason to complain when God’s
Word offends their ears. Without seeing the inconsistencies of their view,
they reject both lamentation and celebration. But in attributing sin to John
and Jesus and not themselves, they show themselves to be fools. For the
miraculous works of Jesus show that the unbeliever’s estimation is patently
false (11:19b).
Matthew Henry asks, “If people will neither be awakened by the greatest
things, nor allured by the sweetest things, nor startled by the most terrible
things, nor be made aware by the plainest of things; if they will listen to
the voice neither of Scripture, nor reason, nor experience, nor providence,
nor conscience, nor interest, what more can be done?” There are none so blind
as those who will not see. Are you like those who refuse to heed our Lord’s
call? Author RC Sproul
