My quiet time this morning took me into Matthew chapter 11 and I wanted to share a thought with you from it this morning. Let's start with the scripture:
NLT Matthew 11:13 For before John came, all the teachings of the Scriptures looked forward to this present time. 14 And if you are willing to accept what I say, he is Elijah, the one the prophets said would come. 15 Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand! 16 "How shall I describe this generation? These people are like a group of children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends, 17 'We played wedding songs, and you weren't happy, so we played funeral songs, but you weren't sad.' 18 For John the Baptist didn't drink wine and he often fasted, and you say, 'He's demon possessed.' 19 And I, the Son of Man, feast and drink, and you say, 'He's a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of the worst sort of sinners!' But wisdom is shown to be right by what results from it."
Historically I have always found great comfort in this pericope of scripture as a recovered alcoholic because it gives me a window into the life that was Jesus' and how He would have been likely to have hung out with someone just like me. When you feel beat up and tore down by life, to have a place to go and read that the Son of God would be right there with you in your brokenness is both comforting and ultimately healing.
Something struck me a little differently this morning as I read the end of the 19th verse, "wisdom is shown to be right by what results from it." Jesus has just finished describing this generation as one that is never satisfied, the won't be happy at a wedding or sad at a funeral, they wouldn't accept John as the Elijah rather calling him demon possessed and they wouldn't accept Jesus rather calling Him a drunkard and glutton for behaving in the exact opposite way of John. They will only accept what they want and nothing else.
They have so narrowly defined what they are looking for that they are missing the complete big picture of what God is doing in the world. This is an important message for us today as we look around at a changing world and a changing church. We must be careful not to look for only our narrowly defined view of what God is doing, rather we must look for the evidence of the working of God in even unexpected places. "Wisdom is revealed in the results," is how Jesus put it; "God is revealed in self-sacrificing love," is how we might put it today. When we find that kind of love, even if it is in the most unexpected of places we can be sure that God is at work. Don't define the presence of God at work based on a person's behavior, define His presence by the love that comes out of that behavior. Let's keep our eyes wide and our definitions of God's work broad as we look for His transforming presence in the world and the church.
Your wide-eyed brother in Christ,
Faron
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