Luke  7  :  30 – 35   

Unto whom shall I liken the men of this generation,  and to what are they like,
They are like children sitting in the marketplace,  and calling one to another, and saying … We have piped unto you and you have not danced, we have mourned to you and you have not wept.
For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say He has a devil. 
But I the Son of man has come eating and drinking, and you say – behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and prostitutes

Whatever was going on ?

The great itinerant Teacher that had attracted such a large and popular following wherever he went by performing such mighty deeds of healing and miracles throughout Israel, seemed unusually upset and was speaking very strongly.

He who displayed such grace and truth,  with compassion and empathy, whom God had plainly and obviously anointed with his Spirit without measure, who went about doing good to ordinary people and healing all who were oppressed by the enemy in whatever fashion, was
speaking out most sharply and pointedly indeed.

And to what section of his audience was he directing these cutting words from God’s viewpoint and perspective that vividly exposed wrong motives and hidden thoughts ? 

Lets listen in !

Unto whom shall I liken the men of this generation,  and to what are they like, he asked pointedly, and then proceeded to answer his own question ….
They are like children sitting in the marketplace,  and calling one to another, and saying … We have piped unto you and you have not danced, we have mourned to you and you have not wept. For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say He has a devil.  But I the Son of man has come eating and drinking, and you say – behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard, a friend of (the despised) tax collectors and prostitutes

“ Children sitting in the marketplace”  indeed  -  could he possibly be referring to those “men of the cloth” who had made religion their livelihood,  the rich and powerful practitioners of the established and elaborate religious ritual of the Temple and synagogue ?

“ Children”  in the sense of a lack of understanding perhaps, or even “spiritually blind” as he had referred to them before in Matthew 23

The professional theologians who  “sat”  -  established and settled in the secure marketplace of their own denomination or assembly,  and who had made a business and a good living out of establishing religion into an enterprise that owned bricks and mortar, and turned a divine commission into a “market” – what a cutting observation that would raise hackles and would surely not sit well with his hearers  ---  did he not care for the effect of his words ?

 “ marketplace” indeed -  that one was rather obvious  -  they had turned the things of God into a marketable commodity, into revenue,  into a marketable business, with management structures,  ornateness,  fine robes,  and elaborate ritual, and extracted an exorbitant lifestyle from the adherents by costly sacrificing and tithe extraction.
And with all the trappings that go with a “market”  or a business in this day and age =  mission statements  (how noble sounding),  business plans, budgets, fund raising techniques, boards and directors, committees and agendas, appeals,  etc   etc

“ calling one to another”  -  so much of their time spent unconsciously competing with each other,  in “Holy Huddles”,  seminars, conferences, papers and articles written for their colleagues on the fine points of theology   -  not really of much interest to the general populace.   Performances orientated to impress and indoctrinate the brotherhood, instead of getting out and meeting peoples real needs   -  the “Come - hear” mentality,  instead of the “Go - Tell  “  action that Jesus advocated and demonstrated.

And the criticism associated with each ones methods and persuasion … 

“We have …. and you have not ….”    the many denominations each advocating their own particular doctrinal stance – from Catholics to Protestants, from Pentecostalists to Baptists, from cults to sects,  each “piping” their way, applauding themselves for what they “have”  and hold concerning beliefs and doctrinal interpretation,  and criticising others for not “dancing” to their particular tune.   

For “mourning” and admonishing others when not getting a “weeping”  or  a favourable response to their methodology and techniques, wondering why people haven’t responded to their invitations,  why others haven’t come into line with their petty judgements

And the impossibility to please these religious legalistic advocates –
“ for John came  ….  and you say,           for I come  …… and you say… “  
whatever any other person of any other calling does is never up to their superior standard – every other persons action is weighed and examined according to their standards and found wanting,  Each other individuals lifestyle is put under their microscope and examined and compared to their own narrow range of noble criteria, and criticized accordingly.  
Impossible to please, except to discard all of ones individuality and become like one of them.

And so down through the centuries to this very day,  the continual rerun of Jesus words

Tele - evangelists with their constant (if veiled) appeals for funds – make one contact and see how the mailbox fills with their pleas thereafter

The religious market place taken to new levels in presentation, marketing and empire building  -  the amassing of property and buildings,  all in an effort to “market”, present and promote the product, to train and employ professionals the while,  the end supposedly justifying the means.

But instead of the Church / Christians converting the world  -  rather the world’s methods would seem to have infiltrated and virtually converted the religious Church system.  
Pay your tithe by direct credit or credit card, in regular installments, they will save you all the hassle of cash

As in Jesus day,  so today the religious marketers continue, only updated

All in an effort to continue the work of the itinerant Carpenter by trade, but who built no edifice or church building, who had no house nor fixed abode, but just moved around demonstrating Gods love and power with 12 assorted close followers

And no surprise to later read of Jesus efforts to cleanse the Temple of the profiteers from religious marketing and the professional marketers – he even took the time effort and trouble  to make a whip and drive them out from the Temple of the day

Not much has changed over 2,000 years would you say, just an upgrade of the methods and techniques ?

Luke 7  :  30 – 35     A passage of scripture very rarely preached on, I wonder why !