We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn. The two children's games that the generation refused: flute-playing for dancing (celebration) and dirge-singing for mourning (grief). Both modes of the messianic invitation were rejected. Jesus and John represented the two modes — John the ascetic mourner, Jesus the celebratory feaster — and the generation dismissed both. The rejection of both modes communicates that the generation's objection was not stylistic but fundamental.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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