Jesus Charges The People Of His Generation With Not Taking John's Or His Message Seriously, But Behaving Like Children At Play (11:16-19).
The sudden change of subject here is very vivid. He has been describing the great events towards which John's ministry has been built up, and has indicated their successful advancement, and now He examines the response of His generation towards them. They have rejected both John and Himself. In spite of what was at first the huge popularity both of John (Matthew 3:5; Matthew 3:7; Mark 1:5; Mark 1:9) and of Jesus (Matthew 4:23-25) and the general eager expectancy (Luke 3:15), the tide has begun to turn. Disillusionment has begun to set in. The first excitement is tapering off, although we must beware of too much gloom. And that situation is now depicted here. Note how in this the Gospels make quite clear the oneness between Jesus and John, although that having been done all the attention turns on Jesus.
The solemn declaration of Matthew 11:10, of which he could say ‘it is written' is replaced by a child's song sang at play. (Like Nero they are playing while Rome burns). The greatness of John is now treated with mockery. John is seen as being even worse than a blown reed in the desert, he is a demon among the thorns and thistles (Isaiah 34:13-14). Jesus is living the life of men in soft clothing in His life of ‘luxury'.
Jesus here charges the people with inconsistency. They are not satisfied, however prophets behave. On the one hand John is criticised for being an ascetic, and on the other hand He Himself is criticised for being a good-time boy and a friend of the unworthy. Not all, of course, criticised both. Some hurled one criticism and some another. It was mainly the Scribes and Pharisees who criticised Jesus for eating with public servants and sinners (Matthew 9:10-11), and interestingly all these parties are mentioned by Luke 7:30 in a similar context to this. Undoubtedly some more orthodox Jews also joined with them in their criticism. So here Jesus criticises the whole generation, apart from those who have responded to Him, for their careless attitude. This criticism of the whole generation also continues later in the section when He indicates their perilous situation (Matthew 12:39; Matthew 12:45) which He links with the activities of the powers of darkness.
Some have expressed surprise that Matthew introduces this criticism of the people so unexpectedly when such antagonism, especially by the people, has hardly been previously mentioned (Matthew 9:3; Matthew 9:24; Matthew 9:33; Matthew 11:6; Matthew 11:14) but that is only so if we ignore the clear indications in chapter 10 of towns rejecting them and even arranging for them to be brought before councils and synagogues. Once we accept that these words of Jesus in chapter 10 should be read as indicating that what was spoken of did actually then happen, which was often intended to be assumed when words were depicted as spoken in the Scriptures (see e.g. Exodus 17:3-7), the picture is very different. Note in this regard that Matthew certainly expects us to assume that the Apostles did go out, even though he does not tell us so. Why then should we not see him as expecting us to assume that the remainder also happened? In that case there is plenty of indication of persecution and poor treatment by the people.
Analysis.
a “But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call to their fellows and say (Matthew 11:16).
b “We piped to you, and you did not dance” (Matthew 11:17 a).
c “We wailed, and you did not mourn” (Matthew 11:17 b).
c “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon'.” (Matthew 11:18).
b “The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of public servants and sinners!' ” (Matthew 11:19 a)
a “And wisdom is justified by her works” (Matthew 11:19 b).
Note how in ‘a' they are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to each other, and in the parallel their behaviour is what might be expected from their type of ‘wisdom' (compare Matthew 11:25). In ‘b' they called on John (or Jesus) to dance, and in the parallel call Jesus a winebibber and glutton because He did partake in life's enjoyments. In ‘c' they call on Jesus (or John) to mourn, and in the parallel see John as a demon because of his asceticism and fasting.