Response to the Messiah: Criticism & Indifference (Matthew 11:16-24)
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/// Cornerstone Church Creed
The Bible is the Word of God.
The truth of the Bible will change my life.
Lord open my heart and awaken my mind and give me grace to respond.
Change me for your glory and my joy. Amen.
Open your Bibles to Matthew 11, as we are Moving Through Matthew. Matthew 11.
This morning I want to remind you of the last verse from where we last left off. After Jesus had stood up for John the Baptist in front of the crowd and proclaimed that he was the greatest man ever born of woman, he says...
15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
In others words, you have heard the truth, now what are you going to do with it. The very message of the gospel is a call to make a decision. The Jewish people that had come across the path of John the Baptist and Jesus, listening to their words, hearing their messages, and even seeing Jesus perform miracles…all of these things should bring a reaction. And the same is true for us today. Those who hear the truth of the gospel, have a responsibility to do something with it, and their are only a two choices to make: believe it and receive it, or walk away from it.
So when Jesus uses these word…He who has ears to hear, let him hear… he is saying you have no excuse…you have heard, now what are you going to do with what you hear?
In the first 10 Chapters of Matthews gospel, he show us evidence of Who Jesus is. From him genealogy to being pointed out as the one who was to come, the Messiah, He showed the first person that would stand up and say that he was the Messiah (John the Baptist). Matthew then showed his power over Satan in the wilderness, even his teaching on how we should live as those who want to love for God through the Sermon on the Mount.
Starting in Chapter 8 Matthew then shows that he IS God my his power to heal so many people. He had SO MANY miracles, many that are not here in the Scriptures. John said in his gospel...
25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
Matthew then moves into Chapter 10, where we spent many weeks, we saw the sending out of the 12, and Jesus words to his disciples that persecution would come. He said...
Matthew 10:22 (ESV)
22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
So with all of these things in our minds, Matthew brings us to a realization that because by doing all these things people will respond to the Messiah in different ways. Two weeks again we looked at the first response: Doubt. Doubt in the heart of the person that came to announce the coming of the Messiah. But we saw how the doubt of John was satisfied and removed.
But there are more responses to the Messiah in Chapters 11 & 12. But for today, lets looks at two of them:
Criticism and Indifference
Two big words: Criticism and Indifference.
Criticism talks about what men do, but indifference talks about what men do not do.
Criticism talks about what men do…but indifference talks about what men do not do.
So lets get right to our text today… Matthew 11, starting in verse 16.
English Standard Version Chapter 11
16 “But to what shall I compare this generation?
Lets stop right here. Now whenever I preach or teach, sometimes I like to bring a story or something that happened to help illustrate what I am am saying. Sometimes these are called word pictures. For you the listeners, these word pictures or illustrations help you to understand the point I am trying to make. Even going back to the times of Jesus walking on the earth, this was a common way for speakers and teachers to help their listeners to understand. Jesus used the word compare…but to what shall I compare this generation.”
So Jesus is asking how can I sum up how this generation us asking me? And he then speaks a parable. Now a parable is a story that that is told so that Jesus can make a point, and its is easier to understand for those listening.
16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, 17 “ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
What does little children playing games have to do with with a response to the Messiah?
In that culture, there was an agora. Now an agora is the greek word for marketplace. And just like your market here at Ahoe, on the days of market people would open shops, and barrows, and sell all kinds of things. And so many people would come around and buy things. Sometimes the parents would bring their children and so the children would run all over the market and then they would gather to play games. They would play several games but sometimes they would playa game called Wedding and a game called Burial.
Why would they play a game called Wedding and a game called Burial? Because weddings and burials were big social events in the life of the Jewish people. When there was a wedding, the bride and groom, and all of the family would walk through the streets singing and dancing and playing music. It was a joyous time and everyone in the town welcomed them and cheered for them. And when there was a burial, they would also walk through the streets, lifting the dead body over their heads. But the was no joy, or dancing, or happy faces. It was very dark and grim.
Both the wedding and the burials were part of the social life of the town. This was on display for the children to see, so when these children would play in the marketplace, o might say, lets place wedding. So maybe a little girl would play the part of the bride, someone would grab a small whistle to play, and they would dance around and play wedding.
Then maybe after awhile they would get tired of playing wedding and someone might suggest to play burial. And they would act out what they had seen and what their parents is when the body of the dead person came down the street.
And as they were playing they would see other children and say come, play with us. But some children didn’t want play. So maybe the children who say, ok, we will change from wedding to burial, just come and play with us. But they refused, maybe even sitting back and making fun of what they were doing, criticizing them.
There will always be people who criticize. Maybe you know someone always criticized the Bible, saying that is not true. They maybe say there is no God. Some people will always criticize.
No matter the circumstance they will always have something to criticize. And here is the application, look at verse 18..
English Standard Version Chapter 11
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
First they criticized John. They criticized him for coming like one who is part of a burial. In his life, he was dull, not part of the social people of the town . He lived far off in the wilderness, he dressed like a mad man, he even ate things that were not easy to eat. John came as a burial, a mad man. And they called him a demon.
But that is not the way they first saw him, in Johns gospel Jesus said:
35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
They’re rejoicing changed to criticism. They would label him a demon, which is one of the worst things you can call a person.
But they criticized Jesus as well.
Matthew 11:19 (ESV)
19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”
They criticized John because he kept to himself, then the criticized Jesus because he was to social. He was always among the people, he went into houses for a meal, he went to weddings, the temple, the synagogue, up and down the road, along the sea with the fisherman. And they criticized him for being to social.
They called him a glutton and a drunkard. The definition of a glutton is someone who sits around and continuously eats, never stops. And a drunkard, or winebibber as the KJV says is someone who is constantly taking wine, over and over again. Glutton and drunkard, we see nothing like that from our Lord in the scriptures.
So why would they say that? Because some people will criticize everything and everyone, even the Messiah who was standing right in front of them.
A man named William Barclay once said: “The plain fact is that when people do not want to listen to the truth, they will easily enough find an excuse for not listening.”
“This generation” the people that were face to face with Jesus when he walked the earth did not want to listen to the truth, so what did they do, they criticized him. They criticized John first, then the Messiah. They were not wanting to seek the truth, they just wanted to criticize.
At the end of verse 19, Jesus looks at their criticism and says this...
English Standard Version Chapter 11
Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”
The ESV says that wisdom is justified by her deeds, the KJV says that wisdom s justified of her children. But I really like the way that the NLT translates it...
Matthew 11:19 (NLT)
19 The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ But wisdom is shown to be right by its results.”
What Jesus is saying to “this generation” is that you sit back and you criticize. You say that the way that John is acting, the way he is living, different than you, so he is a demon. And the way you are looking at me, eating with the sinners, out among the people, living life with them, and you say I am a glutton and a drunkard. But he looks at them as says, WHAT ARE THE RESULTS? Are people being healed? And people far from God coming near? Are they hearts being opened the this being the Messiah?
In John Chapter 9 Jesus healed a blind man. And when the Pharisees told him that a sinner couldn't have performed this miracle, this is what he said....
English Standard Version Chapter 9
25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
Wisdom is justified by their deeds. Jesus is saying...you have seen…you have heard… but yet you still criticize.
In your life, you will come across people just like “this generation” that Jesus is speaking of. They will find any reason to criticize your faith and what you know that is true. How do you explain what you believe? You can point to the Bible, thats good, but you can also point to your own life.
You know that he is the Messiah because you know the work he has done in you. Once you were blind, but now you see!
But I encourage you to do what the writer of Hebrews instructs:
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
So the response of this generation towards the Messiah was criticism. But there is another response I want to show you this morning, and that is indifference. Remember I said that criticism is what man does, but indifference is what man does NOT do.
Now in verses 16-19, Jesus calls these criticizers out. His words are true but they are not harsh.
Now I want you to see something, I drew a line in my Bible between verses 19 & 20. Why? Because I see a change here in his conversation. When Jesus was speaking to those who criticized John and himself, he rebuked them, but it was a gentle rebuke. But now as he moves to verse 20, his rebuke is strong, and I know this because of one word:
Woe.
When Jesus uses this word, he is seeing Judgement coming on whoever he is speaking.
Look at verse 20:
20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.
So now Jesus, still speaking of “this Generation,” turns his attention to some of the cities where he personally visited and did miracles. But look what Jesus says about the way they recieved him. Where they glad? Did they declare that this is the Messiah??!! No...
they did not repent. (20)
They saw the miracles, maybe even heard him teach, but Jesus says that didn’t criticize me, they just didn’t care…indifference…doing nothing. And he talks about these cities and uses that word...
Matthew 11:21 (ESV)
21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
In other words he is saying destruction to you Chorazin. Destruction to you Bethsaidiaw.
Now these cities Chorazin and Bethsaida were in the region where Jesus grew up and where he did all of his ministry while on earth. They knew Jesus well. He lived in that area until he was 30, then he came back preaching and teaching in the temple, and doing so many miracles. In fact in John’s gospel he writes, that not all of the miracles are recorded in the Scriptures, because if they were there would not be enough book in the world to hold them. They had to know that he was who he claimed he was…but they didn’t care. Right there if front of their eyes and what did they do..nothing. They were indifferent.
So Jesus speaks about Chorazin and Bethsaida and says....
Matthew 11:21 (ESV)
21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
So he looks at Chorazin and Bethsaida and say all these mighty works that I did in your city, if I would have done them in Tyre or Sidon they would have repented.
So who are Tyre & Sidon? Lets expand our map of the region
Tyre & Sidon were two cities that were located on the Mediterranean coast near the water. Now both of these cities were town with ports that recieved boats from other parts of the world. The people that worked on these boats were sailors. SO this was a port city. And port cities were often cities where there was a lot of bad people doing very bad things. In fact they worship the false god Baal in these cities. So Tyre and Sidon had a bad reputation.
So Jesus looks at Chorazin and Bethsaida and said that if the the things I did in your city were done in Tyre or Sidon, they would had repented long ago. They would have seen their sin, my miracles, and heard my teaching and their hearts would have turned to me. But you....WOE to you, you didn’t care…you were indifferent.
Then Jesus mentions one more city...
23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Capernaum was the home base of Jesus’ ministry. And yet, how hid they see him? They didn’t care. Not that they said no, he is not the Messiah, they just didn’t care. They were indifferent. And Jesus says that if Sodom would have had the chance to see the works he performed, the city would have never been destroyed? Why? Because they would have believed and repented.
But instead, Jesus said because you were indifferent, you will be brought down to hell.
Then Jesus says one last thing in verse 24:
24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”
What did Capernaum do? Did they riot against Jesus? No. Did they try to stone him and run him out of town? No. So what did they do? It’s what they didn’t do. They had the Messiah right in front of them and they didn't care. They were indifferent. It didn’t change them. Maybe they thought that because this great prophet or Messiah was in their area, that they would be considered righteous. Just him being from the city would lift them up before God and they would be counted righteous. But what does Jesus say… you will go down to hell, and when you are judged, the people of Sodom will have it easier than you. Why? because they were indifferent. They just didn’t care.
Jesus said earlier in verse 15,
15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
You have all heard the gospel. You all know that Jesus came to this earth to give his own life in replacement of your sinful life. The blood he shared covers the sins of the entire world. You have heard he died. You have heard that three days later he rose again. And you have heard that right now he is sitting at he right hand of the Father waiting for you…either in your death, or when God sends his back to bring about his restoration of the world. You have heard all of these things, over and over again.
But this morning I ask, What have you done with what you have heard? Because when you hear the truth of the gospel you can do 1 of 3 things.
1. You can accept it as truth, and allow it to change your life.
2. You can be critical and say it’s not true, there is no God. Or maybe as some people say here, it the White mans religion. There is no God or Jesus.
3. You can be indifferent. You just don’t care. He have heard it so many times, and you have walked out of here and haven’t even thought about it again until someone mentions it again.
But, here is the thing, because you have heard the truth, you are responsible for the truth in your own life.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
To suppress the truth means that evidence has been presented but you just ignore it. But when you that, there will come a time when you can’t turn back.
_Prayer_