Luke 7:31-35, The Children of Influence

 Λουκᾶν 7·31 Τίνι οὖν ὁμοιώσω τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης καὶ τίνι εἰσὶν ὅμοιοι;  32 ὅμοιοί εἰσιν παιδίοις τοῖς ἐν ἀγορᾷ καθημένοις καὶ προσφωνοῦσιν ἀλλήλοις ἃ λέγει·

ηὐλήσαμεν ὑμῖν καὶ οὐκ ὠρχήσασθε,

ἐθρηνήσαμεν καὶ οὐκ ἐκλαύσατε. 

33 ἐλήλυθεν γὰρ Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτιστὴς μὴ ἐσθίων ἄρτον μήτε πίνων οἶνον, καὶ λέγετε· δαιμόνιον ἔχει.  34 ἐλήλυθεν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων, καὶ λέγετε· ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος φάγος καὶ οἰνοπότης, φίλος τελωνῶν καὶ ἁμαρτωλῶν.  35 καὶ ἐδικαιώθη ἡ σοφία ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν τέκνων αὐτῆς. 

Therefore, how will I compare the people of this generation and who are they like?  They are like children who are sitting in the market and are calling out to one another saying, 

“We played a flute for you, and you didn’t dance, 

We sang a lament and you didn’t cry”

For John the Baptist has come neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, “He has a demon”.  The son of man has come eating bread and drinking wine, and you say, “Behold, a man who is a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners.”  But wisdom is pronounce righteous from all of her children.  Luke 7:31-35

ἐθρηνήσαμεν (We sang a lament)

Lamenting as at a funeral.  During that time, it was common for jewish families to hire people to lament (sing sad songs) at funerals.  That may seem a little crazy to us, but that was the culture of their time.  From this text, you can see that it was so common, that children actually pretended to be the hired lamenters while playing with each other.

οἰνοπότης (a drunk)

Literally, this means “one who drinks too much wine” or “drinks wine to excess”.  This noun is formed from another noun οἶνος (wine).  οἶνος is a fermented beverage made from grapes.  There are some who contend that Jesus didn’t drink real wine, but only grape juice.  As you can see from this context, that proves to not be true.

καὶ ἐδικαιώθη ἡ σοφία ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν τέκνων αὐτῆς. (But wisdom is pronounced righteous from all of her children)

It could be translated “wisdom is shown to be right from all of her children”.  It’s interesting that Jesus relates it this way.  It indicates that people’s wisdom is either shown to be right or wrong base on the product of what they produce later.  So, what they know now really comes to light later.  In other words, your influence now will really prove right or wrong by those who either accept your influence or reject your influence later.  The ones who accept the influence, continue to produce more of that influence or wisdom.  As we can see now, Jesus’ wisdom and influence is shown to be right because of us, his children.

For some more insight, check out Stephen’s Blog.

http://wordforlifeinlove.blogspot.com/2010/10/same-old-tune.html