Luke 7b: HG Bishop Youssef

John the Baptist Sends Messengers to Jesus

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²⁹ And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.

• Justified God
  • Publicly declared and confessed the goodness and justice of God.
  • They approved of what God had done and blessed His name for sending among them such a great prophet like John the Baptist.
  • They received the word of God and listened to the preaching of John the Baptist and were baptized by him
  • Those who believe and obey the message that God sends, we declare the righteousness and justice of God.
• Those who had repented and received the ministry of St John the Baptist found it easy to accept the message of salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who did not, would accuse and condemn God.
• The will of God was that all who heard John's teaching would repent and then accept the message of salvation
• The Pharisees and lawyers did not believe the testimony of John the Baptist, and thus rejected the will of God and the economy of God relating to their salvation. That's why they were not saved.

³¹ And the Lord said, “To what then shall I liken the men of this generation, and what are they like? ³² They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying:

‘We played the flute for you,
And you did not dance;
We mourned to you,
And you did not weep.’

³³ For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ ³⁴ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ ³⁵ But wisdom is justified by all her children.”

• The Lord uses an image to explain the leaders of Israel's conduct
• They have been exceptionally blessed with two great divine messages:
  • One by John the Baptist, the servant of God
  • One by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Incarnated Son of God
• He chose an everyday scene from the people's life that they had witnessed often:
  • Children played simple games in the open air (e.g. a marketplace)
  • The resentment of a group of children who refused to take part in or approve of any game
    • So there are a group of children and when they see the children playing a happy game like a wedding - they refuse to participate. (The flute)
    • So the children play a different game like a funeral - and they still refuse to participate. (The mourning)
    • You resent every act
  • The children that played the flute and were happy represent the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ
  • The children that played the mourning and grieving part represent John the Baptist and his disciples who preached the doctrine of repentance
  • The children who refused to join both groups are the Scribes and Pharisees who were not pleased with either one
• They condemned John the Baptist for his asceticism and said "He has a demon."
• They condemned the Lord Jesus Christ for His tenderness and said "He is a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners"
  • This doesn't mean that the Lord would get drunk... it was a false accusation just as John the Baptist did not have a demon.
  • "Friend of tax collectors and sinners" - in their mind they meant that He participated in their sins. This is also a false accusation.
  • In reality, He was truly their friend in that He loved them and did not despise or push them away. Rather, He wanted them to change and abandon the sinful life and consecrate themselves to the Godly life. He wanted to rescue them from the guilt, shame, power and penalty of their sins.
• Wisdom is justified by all her children
  • The wise man is proved to be wise by his wise actions
  • The wise person is the one that accepted God's will by:
    • Repenting at the hand of John the Baptist
    • Rejoicing at the message of the Lord Jesus Christ
  • In our contemporary time, those who are opposing the teachings of the Scripture are not children of the wisdom of God. They are like the contentious children of Israel that the Lord said to them "You are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying: 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we mourned to you, and you did not weep.'
    • Let us study and examine ourselves:
      • Are we the children of wisdom or not?
      • Are we attending to the commandment of God?
      • Are we attending to the Mysteries of the Church?
      • Are we following the glad tidings of the Gospel of Salvation?
      • Or are we like the Scribes and Pharisees rejecting the will of God toward ourselves?

A Sinful Woman Forgiven

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• The story of the sinful woman who went to the house of Simon the Pharisee is about repentance and the relationship between forgiveness and love, so we pray it every day as the gospel of the Midnight Hour

³⁶ Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. ³⁷ And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, ³⁸ and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. ³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”

⁴⁰ And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”

So he said, “Teacher, say it.”

⁴¹ “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴² And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”

⁴³ Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”

And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” ⁴⁴ Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. ⁴⁵ You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. ⁴⁶ You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. ⁴⁷ Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

⁴⁸ Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹ And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰ Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

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