Matthew 11:16 – 19

16 “But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions,

17 and saying:

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

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, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”

Jesus begins by comparing the times being like children sitting in the marketplaces. The marketplaces in the cities and towns of Israel were for more than selling and purchasing items. They were the main social activities. People gathered to pass news and gossip, they gathered to pass the time, and the children gathered there to amuse themselves. Jesus is comparing the times to children gathering in the marketplaces to amuse themselves.

The first set of children was to furnish music for the other set and the other set was to respond.

The second set of children was hard to please, Jesus is using this illustration to show the attitude of the current generation in their response to the teaching of John the Baptist and himself.

The Jews were this way with John and Jesus teaching.

John was eating and drinking, he just was not eating the conventional foods of the cities. He was eating locusts and wild honey and living in the wilderness so they called him a maniac or he was out of his mind. We only see these charges in the words of Jesus, which is enough of a statement to establish it as fact. (John 7:20; John 8:48,49,52) these scriptures show the same charges made against Jesus.

Jesus is accused of the opposite because his activities do not meet the approval of the Jews.

Jesus said even though their activities did not meet the approval of those Jews, their results were what was justified. Their work was adapted to the different environments that they worked in. John worked in the wilderness preaching repentance and baptizing, while Jesus ministry was largely in the towns and cities where the dinners, wines, and homes were to socialize, eat, and teach in.