Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Mourning John and Dancing Jesus?

Mourning John and Dancing Jesus?

Last updated on: July 1, 2026 at 6:00 pm by James F. McGrath

0 Comments

Mourning John and Dancing Jesus? 2026-07-01T18:00:00-04:00 James F. McGrath

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Mourning John and Dancing Jesus?

This past Sunday, my Sunday school class was up to Luke 7:31-35:

“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.”

I am sure some of them were worried. James is going to talk about John the Baptist…again?!

I hope I made it interesting.

The tendency of commentators is to treat the two appeals, to mourn and to dance, as symbolizing the different ways of life that Jesus goes on to mention. What Dom Crossan refers to as “fasting John vs. feasting Jesus.” Ian Paul reflects this in his recent blog post about Matthew 11.

The key problem? That runs directly counter to what the text says.

According to the versions in both Matthew and Luke, Jesus compared his generation to the children in the marketplace.

The children who call for dancing and for mourning are not John and Jesus in the parable, but their contemporaries.

The point is thus that John and Jesus are united in not joining in games that they are being told they must play.

The scenario is the market, where adults met as they sold and bought, and thus where children also met. Eventually children outgrow the stage of playing and become assistants to their parents who are there to sell or to buy.

John and Jesus have outgrown the childish games of their contemporaries.

As I emphasize in my recent books about John the Baptist, the point here is not what are ultimately superficial differences between John and Jesus. John never called on his followers to eat locusts and wild honey. The fact that John and Jesus differ with respect to eating habits is not the point, and its relation to that which is the point is widely misunderstood.

Hospitality and Reciprocity

In John of History, Baptist of Faith, building on the work of James Kelhoffer (see his chapter “John the Baptist as Abstainer” in The Eucharist – its origins and contexts: Volume 1. Old Testament, Early Judaism, New Testament), I make the following suggestion related to the meaning of the contrast between John and Jesus in this passage:

The phrase “eating and drinking” occurs quite commonly in the Hebrew Bible where it denotes both everyday meals and celebratory ones. In Luke 10:7…the focus is specifically on accepting hospitality that is offered. In Matt 24:38…the phrase has connotations of going about one’s everyday life…The most natural understanding of the phrase is that it conveyed
the enjoyment of meals in general as well as their connection with festivities on celebratory occasions. If we consider Jesus’s ordinary meal practice, it is often argued that his table fellowship across divides of clean and unclean, righteous and sinners, rich and poor challenged both the hierarchical relationships that often kept people separate at meals and the relationships of reciprocity that were inextricably intertwined with invitations to dine in the Mediterranean world. If John relied on what God provided so as to be in a position to refuse invitations and not place himself in anyone’s debt or in any sort of hierarchical relationship, then it might be said that both John and Jesus conveyed the same message and accomplished the same end by different means. Both worked to create a community united in a shared experience of baptism and commitment to practicing justice. Perhaps both ate in a manner that rejected the reciprocal obligations that meals were normally entangled with, John by finding his own food, Jesus by accepting invitations that he did not reciprocate and that he was in no position to. As James Kelhoffer writes, “In the eyes of ‘this generation,’ the outcome of John’s and Jesus’ different eating habits would have been the same: neither prophet would, through table fellowship, be gaining the social capital needed to promote his status as God’s messenger.”

The parable about the children in the marketplace fits nicely as a way of illustrating the point. The children of this generation have games that they insist on playing, and John and Jesus, each in their own way, opted not to play.

Instead, each engaged in the serious work of calling their contemporaries to repent in preparation for the arrival of God’s kingdom. Yet because John and Jesus would not engage them according to their own rules for their game, both were rejected. Wisdom, the maturity of John and Jesus over against the childishness of their opponents, is shown to be right by the way that sinners of various sorts took the call to repentance and the message of the kingdom to heart.

For the way their opponents labeled each of them as “rebellious sons,” see my treatment of that topic in an earlier blog post.

Latest Podcasts

My latest podcast appearance to appear is this conversation with James Tabor

Another recent one is this conversation with Märv Medardo of Pistis Productions

I have given so many interviews and appeared on so many podcasts talking about John the Baptist, that there are some that I didn’t realize had appeared or somehow missed sharing. Here are some of those that you also may have missed.

C. J. Cornthwaite did a deep dive into my work on the nativity traditions

I had recorded a conversation with C. J. that discussed some of this, which you probably saw. I also previously shared conversations with Bob Cargill, but I don’t think that I included this one about John the Baptist and the Lord’s Prayer

I also don’t think I shared this conversation with Tim Whitaker

My conversation with Marc Jolicoeur

And of course, I continue to have conversations about other topics

This is Not Church

Beyond Deconstruction – James McGrath

And finally, in case you missed it, here’s a recent post of my own about John the Baptist and Jesus, plus that earlier one that I refer to in the article above.

The Murder of the Beloved Son

John and Jesus as Rebellious Sons

Previous Post

June 27, 2026

Generative AI is Nothing New

Next Post

July 2, 2026 'Disclosure Day': The Real Revelation Isn't Aliens

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"V. good.For me, the gold standard for this sort of thing is still Wikihistory by ..."

Scurra

The Time-Traveler’s Apprentice (A Short Story)

"The one who says "no one comes to the Father but through me" is the ..."

James F. McGrath

Attack on Religious Freedom in Indiana

"Until I read, "As a Christian, it is possible but not at all necessary to ..."

Sam Vimes

Attack on Religious Freedom in Indiana

"Hey James, regarding your penultimate paragraph, I struggle with the same issue. I do think ..."

Jeff Cate

The Fourth Synoptic Gospel

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Peter 1 Samuel 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians 2 Kings 2 Peter 2 Samuel 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy academia Acts of the Apostles afterlife Akhaten Alcatraz American Academy of Religion Amos Anglican Arabic Aramaic archaeology art artificial intelligence astronomy atheism atonement Babylon 5 Baptists Battlestar Galactica Bible Biblical Studies Carnival biblioblogging Black Mirror Blade Runner Book of Job book review Buddhism Call for Papers China Christianity Christmas Christology Chronicles Coptic creation Daniel Deuteronomy Doctor Who Dune Easter Ecclesiastes economics education Eldad Keynan Enoch Seminar Ephesians eschatology Esther Evangelicals evolution Exodus Expanse Ezekiel Ezra fantasy Fringe fundamentalism Galatians games Ge'ez genealogy Genesis Gnosticism Gospel of Jesus' Wife Gospel of John Gospel of Judas Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Gospel of Peter Gospel of Thomas Greek Harry Potter Hebrew Hebrews Hinduism historical Jesus history Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Holidays horror Hosea humor incarnation India inerrancy information literacy inspirational Intelligent Design Ireland Isaiah Islam Israel Italy James Jeremiah John the Baptist Jonah Joshua Judaism Jude Judges Judith Lamentations languages Latin Leviticus libraries literature Lord of the Rings LOST Mandaeans Mandaic memes Methodism Micah monotheism morality Mormons movies music mythicism NASSCAL Nehemiah new perspective New Testament news Numbers Orthodox paganism panentheism pantheism Patheos Paul and his letters Pentecostals Philippians Philippians 2:6-11 philosophy physics Planet of the Apes podcast politics Progressive Christianity Protestantism Proverbs Psalms pseudoscience racism religion Revelation Roman Catholicism Romania Romans Ruth scams science science fiction Secret Gospel of Mark Society of Biblical Literature Song of Songs Star Trek Star Wars Stargate Swahili Syriac Taoism technology Terminator The Handmaid's Tale The Hobbit The Matrix theodicy theology theory Timeless Titus tomb Torchwood travel TRON Uncategorized United Kingdom Westworld X-Files young-earth creationism Zechariah

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 February 2007 January 2001

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz