"Fickleness in Christianity" Luke 7:28-35

Have you ever met someone that as Jesus put it in our previous study was "...a reed swayed in the wind". I remember having friends who's degree of friendship depended upon who else was around. In other words, they were always looking for somebody better with whom they could hang. I called them my nomad friends - "friends" that were never satisfied and always looking for the greener grass. The idea of never being satisfied is one that I do not understand. Do not get me wrong, I have subscribed to the American culture regarding materialism and I can understand when people want more or strive to attain more (right or wrong - I do understand that); but, I do not understand people that choose to always be glass half empty people.

The Scribes and Pharisees seemed to be never satisfied. In fact Jesus points this out to them in today's passage. In verses 31-34 Jesus likens the Pharisees to fickle children, saying: "To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.' For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners.'"

The Scribes and Pharisees chose to criticize John and his asceticism and then criticized Jesus for his openness. It reminds me of Supreme Court Justice who argues opposing legal arguments or talk out both sides of his mouth to support his political ideology. The scribes and Pharisees were experts at talking out of both sides of their mouths.

What I find encouraging is the final sentence in the passage (Verse 28): "But wisdom is proved right by all her children." We can rationalize or blow with the wind but Jesus tells us that the wisdom of God is not subject or frustrated by such justifications or fickleness. The Pharisees chose to ignore the truth regarding John and regarding Jesus. Jesus reiterates that wisdom is truly determined by the fruit that it produces. Wisdom is justified by the changes in the lives of those that believe and completely follow the Christ.