Men of this generation
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Wicked Generation
Wicked Generation
When you think of wicked, what do you think of?
Do you think that Php2:15 is for today too?
15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,
But you can go back further (Gen6:5)
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Now, you maybe asking what does this have to do with our passage this morning? It’s OK, hold on sometimes wickedness may not look like what we think is evil, but something just as bad, being judgmental, prideful, arrogant as we will see in our passage.
Yet should look back what we have seen recently.
Great exampled faith was demonstrated by a Centurion (Lk7:1-10)
Jesus showed great compassion by raising a widow of Nain’s only son (Lk7:11-17)
John’s disciples were told to report back to John all they had seen and heard (Lk7:18-23)
Jesus taught that there was no great prophet than John (Lk7:24-28)
(Transition) - That brings us to our passage today.
Our Passage
Our Passage
29 When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God’s justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John. 30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by John.
31 “To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? 32 “They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’
33 “For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ 34 “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
35 “Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” 36 Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.
37 And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, 38 and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.
39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”
What do you see, what do you notice in this passage?
What did “all the people and tax collectors acknowledge” from what Jesus said (v.29)?
They acknowledged God’s justice having been baptized in baptism of John. - What was the purpose of John’s baptism? (see Lk3:3) -repentance of sins
What did the Pharisees and lawyers do (v.30)?
Rejected God’s purpose by not being baptized by John.
What does Jesus compare the men of this generation to (v.31-32)?
Children sitting in the market calling to others (expand)
What was John called, and what was Jesus called (vv.33-34)?
John- has a demon
Jesus - gluttonous man, a drunkard, friend of tax collectors
Upon invitation, where did Jesus go and dine (v.35-36)?
The house of a Pharisee
What facts do you learn about the woman who cried, kissed and anointed Jesus feet (vv.37-38)?
She was a woman from the city; a sinner.
She learned Jesus was there and went there bringing an alabaster vial of perfume.
She wiped his feet with her hair
Who did the Pharisee who invited him speak to (v.39)
He said it to himself.
(Transition) so, there you go with the passage, now we will break the passage into two as we look at it now.
Rejecting
Rejecting
John was in prison as you know, He was there for being bold for God and speaking against Herod (Mt13:3-5)
Have everyone turn there Mt14:3-5
3 For when Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. 4 For John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded John as a prophet.
We already know John was the forerunner to Jesus and was filled with the Spirit even before birth (Lk1:41)
John never shirked from opposition (Lk3:7-8
7 So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.
The men of this generation were trying to justify themselves by their ancestry, their heritage and that comes into play in our passage this morning hense why I brought this up.
You can see in this passage it was the common people who believed and were baptized. They agreed with God’s word, God’s justice
4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.
The religious leaders tried to justify themselves
15 And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.
“The wisdom of the Lord’s way is not seen intellectually nor argued logically, it is seen in the transformation of people practically.” (New Testament Bible Commentary; Courson)
Jesus in His illustration (vv.31-35) He is in short saying that nothing pleased the Jewish leaders, a stern message from John, or a gracious message from Jesus, they were going to find something to criticize.
People who try to avoid the truth about themselves always find something to criticize others about in trying to justify themselves.
This generation of people were choosy in the message and the messenger
Due to the lifestyle of John, the ascetic lifestyle they concluded that John was mad and demon possessed. He was not like them and challenged them and their authority.
When it came to Jesus they claimed a glutton, winebibber and friend of tax collector. Part of that was true, he was a friend of tax collectors and sinners, but again, He challenged their authority too so they rejected it.
Whereas they criticized John but he led many to baptism of repentance and to look for the coming of the Messiah
Whereas they criticized Jesus he taught the spirit of the law, worked, loved and died like no one ever has - (Spurgeon)
(Transition) Yet, speaking like this of all pharisee’s would be wrong, for there were some that wanted to know more about this Jesus the Nazarene and that is where we come to now.
What manner of woman. . .
What manner of woman. . .
36 A Pharisee invited Jesus to have dinner with him, and Jesus went to his house and sat down to eat. 37 In that town was a woman who lived a sinful life. She heard that Jesus was eating in the Pharisee’s house, so she brought an alabaster jar full of perfume
38 and stood behind Jesus, by his feet, crying and wetting his feet with her tears. Then she dried his feet with her hair, kissed them, and poured the perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee saw this, he said to himself, “If this man really were a prophet, he would know who this woman is who is touching him; he would know what kind of sinful life she lives!”
An inquisitive Pharisee invited Jesus to supper (v.36).
This does show that not all Pharisee’s were closed off to Jesus and his messages. Here is one who invited him into his home.
Can you think of another Pharisee who was inquisitive too? (Hint: Look at Jn3).
A sinful woman, woman of the city, immoral woman comes into the house (v.37)
It is not Mary of Bethany (Jn21:1-8); nor Mary Magdalene (Lk8:2); but a known sinner who came with a repentant heart; a forgiven heart, to give to her Savior.
She weeps, washes, anoints His feet(v.38)
“This Mary did not have the openness to anoint Jesus head, she had the brokenness to anoint and cry at His Feet.” (Lloyd Ogilvie)
Most commentators indicate that this woman was previously forgiven and came in pure humility to Jesus, how could she not be at His feet. She knew she “was” a sinner, who is now forgiven.
She was able to see her own sin her own struggles and the solution was in Christ. Whereas the Pharisee will pass judgment on her, did not see his own sin, can we be guilty of this too?
Speaking to himself the Pharisee passes judgment on Jesus and the woman (v.39)
Imagine this scene, this scent.
Known sinful, immoral woman weeps, lets down her hair (would be deemed very immodest to be kept for her husband only) anointed his feet and wiped them with her hair.
Can you imagine everyone smelling this fragrance, looking to see where it came from, seeing the scene unfolding before them, this emotional woman, everyone is quiet until Jesus breaks the silence, so come back next week for what Jesus has to say.