31. And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?
32. They are like to children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped to you, and you have not danced; we have mourned to you, and you have not wept.
33. For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and you say, He has a devil.
34. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and you say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a wine-bibber, a friend of Publicans and sinners!
35. But wisdom is justified of all her children.
CYRIL; There was as a certain play among, the Jewish children of this kind. A company of boys were collected together, who mocking the sudden changes in the affairs of this life, some of them sang, some mourned, but the mourners did not rejoice with those that rejoiced, nor did those who rejoiced fall in with those that wept. They then rebuked each other in turn with the charge of want of sympathy. That such were the feelings of the Jewish people and their rulers, Christ implied in the following words, spoken in the person of Christ; Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation, and to what are they like?
They are like to children sitting in the market-place.
THEOPHYL; The Jewish generation is compared to children, because formerly they had prophets for their teachers, of whom it is said, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings have you perfected praise.
AMBROSE; But the prophets sung, repeating in spiritual strains their oracles of the common salvation; they wept, soothing with mournful dirges the hard hearts of the Jews. The songs were not sung in the market-place, nor in the streets, but in Jerusalem. For that is the Lord's forum, in which the laws of His heavenly precepts are framed.
GREG. NYSS. But singing and lamentation are nothing else but in the breaking forth, the one indeed of joy, the other of sorrow. Now at the sound of a tune played upon a musical instrument, man by the concordant beating of his feet, and motion of his body, portrays his inward feelings. Hence he says, We have sung, and you have not danced; we have mourned to you and you have not wept.
AUG. Now these words have reference to John and Christ. For when he says, We have mourned, and you have not wept, it is in allusion to John, whose abstinence from meat and drink signified penitential sorrow; and hence he adds in explanation, For John came neither eating bread, nor drinking wine, and you say he has a devil.
CYRIL; They take upon themselves to slander a man worthy of all admiration. They say that he who mortifies the law of sin which is in his members has a devil.
AUG. But his words, We have piped to you, and you have not danced, refer to the Lord Himself, who by using meats and drinks as others did, represented the joy of His kingdom. Hence it follows, The Son of man came eating and drinking &c.
TIT. BOST. For Christ would not abstain from this food, lest He should give a handle to heretics, who say that the creatures of God are bad, and blame flesh and wine.
CYRIL; But where could they point out the Lord as gluttonness? For Christ is found every where repressing excess, and leading men to temperance. But He associated with publicans and sinners. Hence they said against Him, He is a friend of Publicans and sinners, though He could in no wise fall into sin, but on the contrary was to them the cause of salvation. For the sun is not polluted though sending its rays over all the earth, and frequently falling upon unclean bodies. Neither will the Sun of righteousness be hurt by associating with the bad. But let no one attempt to place his own condition on a level with Christ's greatness, but let each considering his own infirmity avoid having dealing with such men, for "evil communications corrupt good manners." It follows, And wisdom is justified of all her children.
AMBROSE; The Son of God is wisdom, by nature, not by growth, which is justified by baptism, when it is not rejected through obstinacy, but through righteousness is acknowledged the gift of God. Herein then is the justification of God, if he seems to transfer His gifts not to the unworthy and guilty, but to those who are through baptism holy and just.
CHRYS. But by the children of wisdom, He means the wise. For Scripture is accustomed to indicate the bad rather by their sin than their name, but to call the good the children of the virtue which characterizes them.
AMBROSE; He well says, of all, for justice is reserved for all, that the faithful may be taken up, the unbelievers cast out.
AUG. Or, when he says, wisdom is justified of all her children, he show that the children of wisdom understand that righteousness consists neither in abstaining from nor eating food, but in patiently enduring want. For not the use of such things, but the coveting after them, must be blamed; only let a man adapt himself to the kind of food of those with whom he lives.
Catena Aurea Luke 7