20th
Week After Pentecost Á-? Friday
T
ODAY
Á-?
S
READINGS
,
FOLLOWED
BY
A
FEW
SMALL
PASTORAL
AND
PERSONAL
THOUGHTS
.
Philippians 3:8-19 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung,
that I may win Christ,
9
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
10
That I may
know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable unto his death;
11
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
12
Not
as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend
that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13
Brethren, I count not myself to have
apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto
those things which are before,
14
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus.
15
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be
otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
16
Nevertheless, whereto we have already
attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
17
Brethren, be followers together of
me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
18
(For many walk, of whom I have
told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19
Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind
earthly things.)
Luke 7:31-35 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what
are they like?
32
They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and
saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not
wept.
33
For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil.
34
The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a
winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!
35
But wisdom is justified of all her children.
Luke 7:31-34 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this
generation? and to what are they like?
32
They are like unto children sitting in the
marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye
have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.
33
For John the
Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil.
34
The
Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a
winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!
The Lord is using a Jewish game of the time to ridicule the Pharisees. The game was played with two
groups of children. One group would mourn and wail and the other would dance and play flutes. Each
group would stay separate from the other. This doubtless was imitating the real funerals and
celebrations they had seen.
The Lord is exposing the PhariseeÁ-?s hypocrisy. They would not join with St John the Baptist, nor with
Christ. The mourning children represent St John, who lived and austere life. The dancing children
represent our Lord, who did not live such an austere life in public, as St John did. The Pharisees held
themselves from both, and ridiculed both their teachings and ways of life.