In today's Gospel Jesus teaches, "And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” At the end of the passage he observes:
"To what, then, will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.’
“For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
The phrase “wisdom is vindicated by all her children” means that true wisdom is ultimately proven right by the results it produces. In other words, God’s wisdom—expressed through John’s call to repentance and Jesus’ ministry of salvation—will be shown to be true by those who accept and follow it.. Wisdom here refers to God's divine wisdom for the salvation of humankind, Vindicated means that wisdom will be justified or proven right. And wisdom's children are those who follow God’s wisdom—those who accept John’s message of repentance and Jesus’ message of salvation.
Jesus was saying that, despite the criticisms and rejections, those who truly embrace God’s wisdom will prove its truth by their transformed lives. True wisdom is not determined by public opinion but by the fruit it produces in those who follow it.
We are hearing Dietrich Bonhoeffer quoted in the national news this week. He wrote "Against stupidity we are defenseless" in a letter from prison, which later became part of his work Letters and Papers from Prison. Specifically, this idea is found in an essay he wrote while imprisoned by the Nazis in 1943-1945.
In this essay, Bonhoeffer reflects on how stupidity is a greater danger to society than outright evil because it is resistant to reason and cannot be overcome by logical argument. He argues that stupidity is not merely an intellectual deficiency but a moral and social issue—people become stupid when they surrender their independence of thought to a dominant ideology or leader. The American president is now floating the idea of making Gaza the "Riviera of the Mediterranean" through a plan of gentrification. Many commentators and political authorities are treating this as a possible solution to the ongoing crisis.
Pastor Emillie addressed the problem of offense in another way. She had the congregation focus on the good things being done and happening at Creator rather than fixating on offense. In the Gospel of Luke, the Greek word translated as "offense" is often σκάνδαλον (skandalon) or related forms like σκανδαλίζω (skandalizō). This word carries a deeper meaning than just being offended in the modern sense—it refers to something that causes someone to stumble, fall into sin, or be led astray. Jesus is saying that those who do not stumble over His identity or mission are truly blessed. Some people found Jesus' teachings and actions difficult to accept, but true faith does not fall as a result.
An example might be included in this Gospel passage.Some might stumble on Jesus saying "Among those born of women there is no one greater than John" while they recognize that Jesus was born of woman.
Yet quoting from Paul's letter to the Corinthians on wisdom and foolishness:
**"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
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