Matthew 11.16-19

When I play a game, I like to play according to the rules. A game where people ignore the rules isn't even worth playing. If you are anything like me, it really frustrates you when people ignore such rules. I can think of playing dodgeball in middle school, and sometimes a player would come back in the game after they had gotten out, just because they felt like it. I would think, "What?! Dude, you can't just walk back into the game! That's not how the game works!"

Sometimes, we can begin to think of life as a game that operates according to a set of rules that we ourselves have created. We might even try to force God to play according to our rules. We don't want God to work in his own way because we want him to fit into the box that we have fabricated for him.

That's exactly what some people were doing with Jesus and John the Baptist, and in Matthew 11:16-19, Jesus shows that God is not bound by any rules that we make up. He has the sovereignty and freedom to act as he pleases, and it's our job to hop on board with what he is doing. Here's today's text:

16 "To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: 17 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.' 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, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and 'sinners.'' But wisdom is proved right by her actions."

Jesus says that the people of his day are like kids sitting around. They want to "play wedding" and have a joyful song and dance, but some kids don't go along with it. Then they want to "play funeral" and sing a mournful song, but again, others don't go along with it. The children get upset because other children don't play the game the way they think it should be played. They aren't playing by the rules.

The religious leaders that Jesus criticized would get upset because Jesus and John the Baptist weren't acting the way they thought they should. They had a certain idea about how God should work, but Jesus and John didn't fit their plan. So the religious leaders would criticize John for has asceticism (living out in the desert eating locusts and honey) and would also criticize Jesus for having dinner with sinful people. The bottom line, though, was that the religious leaders just needed something to complain about so that they could reject the message of both Jesus and John.

Do you ever try to put God in a box? Do you try to dictate the ways that he should work? Maybe you find yourself thinking, "No, I'm not going to share the gospel with that coworker. God wouldn't ask me to do that." Maybe you think, "I don't need to forgive that family member for what he did. God wouldn't ask me to do that." Or maybe you take the five-year plan that you've made for your life and demand that God makes it work.

But God is bigger than our boxes. He isn't obligated to work according to the rules we make. He is God! We can't control him. When we try to fit God in a box, we're trying to make him much smaller than he actually is. Our job isn't to tell God what he can or cannot do. Our job is to follow God where he leads us. He is the shepherd; we are the sheep.

And the truth is that God's way is always better. Jesus ends this passage by saying, "Wisdom is proved right by her actions." The religious leaders should have been able to look at Jesus and John and know that they were right because of the results. Jesus and John lived above reproach. The way God worked in their ministries was simply better than the rules the Pharisees wanted to play with.

What are some boxes that we sometimes try to fit God into? What can we do to sense his leading instead?