'The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say,
Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of
publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her
children,'--MATT. xi. 19.
Jesus very seldom took notice of His enemies' slanders. 'When He was
reviled He reviled not again.' If ever He did, it was for the sake
of those whom it harmed to distort His beauty. Thus, here He speaks,
without the slightest trace of irritation, of the capricious
inconsistency of condemning Himself and John on precisely opposite
grounds. John will not suit them because he neither eats nor drinks.
Well, one would think that Jesus would be hailed since He does both.
But He pleases them just as little. What was at the root of this
contrary working dislike? It was the dislike for the truths they
both preached, the rejection of the wisdom of which they were the
messengers. When men do not like the message, nothing that the
messengers do, or are, is right. Never mind consistency, but object
to this form of Christian teaching that it is too harsh, and to
that, that it is too soft; to this man that he is always thundering
condemnation, to that, that he is always preaching mercy; to one,
that he has too much to say about duty, to another, that he dwells
too much on grace; to this presentation of the gospel, that it is
too learned and doctrinal, to that, that it is too sentimental and
emotional, and so on, and so on. The generation of children who
neither like piping nor lamenting, lives still.
But my purpose now is not to dwell on the conduct with which our
Lord is dealing, but on this caricature of Him which His own lips
repeat without a sign of anger. It is the only calumny of
antagonists reported by Himself. We owe our knowledge of its
currency to this saying. Like other words of His enemies, this
saying is a distorted refraction of His glory. The facts it embodies
are facts; the conclusions it draws are false. If Jesus had not come
eating and drinking, He could not have been called gluttonous and a
wine-bibber. If He had not drawn publicans and sinners to Him in a
conspicuous manner and degree, He could not have been called their
friend. The charge, like all others, is a tribute. Let us try to see
what was the blessed truth that it caricatured. We may take the two
points separately, for though closely connected they are distinct,
and cover different ground.