Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Message: Here we have the third of six modes of Christ’s speech in Matthew 11, which is critical but not condemning; perhaps we can call it “Sorrowful Rebuke,” when Christ points out the flaws of human nature. The song that Jesus references is apparently an ancient nursery rhyme, but it is lost except for Christ’s partial quote of it here. It describes the frustration or annoyance of people trying to amuse others with music, when nothing they do pleases the audience. Delilah cutting Samson’s hair Delilah cutting Samson’s hair John was an asetic, practicing severe self-discipline and abstention from many or all forms of indulgence, much in the Hebrew tradition of the Nazirite. (If you are not familiar with the term, Nazirites were Jews who took vows for a specified span of time, under a formal set of rules. They could not shave or cut their hair, drink alcohol, or touch corpses. Usually the vow ended with a ritual at the Temple, although there were permanent Nazirites, such as Samson.) John, though, exceeded the requirements of a Nazirite, for he also abstained from food and soft clothing: “John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.” (Matt. 3:4) We also know, from Luke, that an angel instructed Zechariah that his son (John) must abstain from wine for his entire life: “He will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.” (Luke 1:14) Yet, despite his fervor and self-denial, the Jews criticized him, saying he was possessed by a demon; today, we would say such a person was insane. He would be called a “homeless person” and referred for psychiatric treatment. On the other hand (like the children who played the flute), Christ is a friend to all kinds of people, eats, and drinks wine. Yet the Jews are still critical, calling him a drunkard and a glutton because he does not fast like John. In modern slang, “He can’t win for losing.” People who don’t want to do something, or don’t want to like someone, will find something to criticize; we have all seen it, we have probably all done it. If someone doesn’t want to go to the gym, they might say “it smells bad” or “my back hurts,” even though their real motivation is that they are feeling lazy. It’s similar to rationalization: inventing a false or partial rational reason for avoiding something, to explain an emotional state that the person, for some reason, does not want to verbalize. People didn’t like Jesus and John because they did not want to do what was right. They did not want to face the truth of what John and Jesus were telling them. And so, they invented criticisms. We see it frequently today. Very often, an atheist or agnostic will state that they don’t believe in God, because in reality they do not want to admit that something they enjoy is immoral; and so they invent criticisms. “I don’t want to go to church because they are all hypocrites” might be hiding a very different and more real reason, such as “I don’t want to stop having sex with people I meet in bars.”