MATTHEW 11:16 — KING JAMES VERSION 1
“But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,”
But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates. The parable of the children in the marketplace addresses the generation that refused both John and Jesus. The marketplace children who call to their companions are the generation who set the terms of engagement and complain when neither John nor Jesus meets those terms. The parable communicates the perversity of the rejection: no style of ministry is acceptable to those determined not to respond.