Matthew 11

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Images. Poetic images. Scenes, smells, sounds . . . sensations conjured as if by magic through words on a page, through the spoken utterances that teach us about the world. How sad it is to miss being mesmerized by the imagery of the word; how pedantic to be always and only looking for the right, the factual answer to things.
      Take the images in Matthew 11: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind?” And then again the central image (to me) of the entire chapter:
“We played the pipe for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not mourn.”
Explaining what's meant by an image doesn't feel right, like explicating a joke. Either you get it or you don't, I guess. Like Jesus refusing at times to elucidate his parables, simply implying that anyone who is prepared to listen with an open heart (ears to hear) will “get it.”
      There are things I don't quite get in Matthew 11, like how Matthew could have recorded this in such detail when all the disciples—him included—had just been sent out on their own in Chapter 10. But there I go, reading for the facts and assuming that once I've got those straight I'll understand.
      “Wisdom is proved right by her deeds.” Aphorisms—sayings—are neat things you can embroider onto a piece of cloth, frame and hang on the wall. This one caught my eye as it summarizes a paragraph on some public judgement involving the fact that John the Baptist lives a simple, actually ascetic lifestyle and his successor, Jesus, doesn't. The proof is in the pudding can cover a multitude of quarrels and quibbles.
      Verses 20 – 24 really puzzle me. So used to hearing that a relationship to Christ is personal, it's hard and harsh to hear Christ's damnation of whole towns of people in one fell swoop after another. Tyre and Sidon, even Sodom will be judged less harshly than Bethsaida or Chorazin or Capernaum, all cities that neglected to respond to the message even though they witnessed the miracles.
      I find I can only go back to the core of the chapter again for help with this: “We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance.”
      So I'm grateful for the last paragraph in the Matthew 11 account: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
      It might just as well read, “When you hear me play my pipe, throw off your heavy clogs and dance!”
      What more is there to know?

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