Like Children Sitting in the Marketplace - Luke 7:32

Luke the beloved physician wrote how the Lord Jesus asked, “Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?”, and in chapter seven and verse thirty-two of his book Luke shared how Jesus says men are, “like unto children sitting in the marketplace” where we read:

They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and you have not wept.

The verse reads, “They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and you have not danced;” Luke began with the words, “They are like unto children” or “the people of Jesus' current generation are similar and in likeness to young boys and girls” “sitting in the marketplace” which means “who are seated, fixed and established in the assembly of people where public debating, buying, selling and all kinds of business are transacted”, “and calling one to another” or “and addressing and summoning each other”, “and saying” which means “and uttering, declaring and proclaiming”, “we have piped unto you” or “we have played the flute or pipe toward each other”, “and you have not danced” which means “and the children they summoned in the place of business did not move in the motion of a dance”. Luke shared how Jesus likened the current “generation” to small children who were in the assembly place for business who beckoned their friend to “dance” at their “flute” music”, but they did not “dance”.

The verse goes on to say, “we have mourned to you, and you have not wept.” Luke continued with the words, “we have mourned to you” which means “the children summoned the other children and bewailed, lamented and deplored them with dirges or wailing”, “and you have not wept” or “and the other children did not mourn or bewail as a sign of pain and grief”. Luke shared how Jesus shared the other extreme where “children” in the “assembly” of “business” would “lament” or “bewail” as in suffering grief, and yet, the other “children” would not “lament” with them.

When we think through Luke's words in this verse, we see how Jesus presented two extreme attempts by the “children” in the marketplace to respond to them. They summoned the other children with joyful music, and they would not “dance”, and they summoned them with “lament filled wails”, and the other children would not “mourn” with them. In other words, there was no satisfying them. Whichever attempt the children made, the other children would not respond accordingly. This is the way of a hard hearted person, and regardless of the attempt to have them understand the “gospel” of Jesus in a way of “joy” or in a way of “sorrow”, they still do not participate. Jesus will have more to say to these unbelieving religious leaders in the next few verses, but for now, let all who read these words examine their own hearts and determine whether they are like unto the “children in the marketplace” who can never be satisfied.

Next time Luke shares how Jesus says, “For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".