“To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation?  What are they like?  They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: ”  ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.’  Luke 7:31-32 (NIV)

Is Jesus telling us about John the Baptist?  Does He explain the importance of the work that was commissioned to him from Heaven?  Does He then draw our attention to the way people respond to these invitations from above?  Does He show how God in Heaven reaches out to touch and communicate to His beloved creation?  Are we the very people our Father has created, planned for and cared for?  Do we have a choice in how we will respond when presented with the realization of God?  Can we choose how important we will make Him?  Are we able to give Him credit for what He tells us He has done for us?  Do we allow Him the credit of Being Who He says He Is?  Or do we attempt to package God up into something we can manage to understand?  Can we confine Him into a book or hold Him in past history?  Can we reduce Him to ideals, or a set of rituals to live by?

Does Jesus try to help us jump the gap from earthly thinking and start to see where God is coming from?  Does He try to lift us up from seeing only the material world where we were born?  Is He trying to show us how our Father has nurtured us and is restoring us to Him?  Does He spell out how He has sent messengers to convey to us of His love?  Are His intentions to enter into a real and personal relationship with us?

Our Savior compares the different forms of receiving the good news of God.  He says there are those of us who no matter what kind of music is played for us, we just don´t want to hear it. Have we heard these stories before?  Does it sound like music to us?  What affect does it have on us right now?  Did it make us dance once upon a time?  Does it move us in this moment?  Has it the power to reach the deepest sentiments within us?  Can we still cry to the Lord?  Can we sense the merriment and the sorrow?  Do we feel like dancing?  Are the notes we hear strumming the chords of our hearts?

Are there still some souls like the Pharisees left on the scene?  Does Jesus´ description fit us?  Who is there left who will eagerly give themselves to the music of Jesus?  Will we let His voice ring in our ears?  Will we let ourselves be carried away in every lofty note?  Does our heart feel like dancing?  Will we cry if we find the song is dying down?  Will it bring a tear if His words do not reach our listening ears?

Dear Jesus, play a tune for us!  Let us hear Your voice today!  Move us to tears!  Set a song in our hearts!  Let it move us to get up and dance!  Let it carry us away!  Do not let us be a generation who close our ears to the sweet music of You!  Open our hearts today to the angelic symphony of praise to God in the Highest!

Amen