May the words of my mouth and this meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, LORD, our Rock and our Redeemer. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Children tend to have wonderful imaginations and when they come to a certain age they like to act out various roles. They like to play at being a doctor or a nurse or a truck driver or a super hero or whatever. In a sense, acting comes naturally to them.
Children in the time of Jesus were no different. In the gospel reading this morning, Jesus tells a story of children playing pipes or we might say a flute at a make-believe wedding. Music for people to dance to. He also says that sometimes the children sing dirges or sad songs at a make-believe funeral, perhaps for a beloved pet turtle or kitty. Time for people to mourn. Jesus noticed there were often some children who simply refused to join in these pretend games.
They were indifferent to the pipe playing at the make-believe wedding as well as to the singing of dirges at the pretend funeral. They simply refused to play. They were party poopers who just refused to enter into the game. Sometimes the game reflected the joy of life, the happy events. Other times the game reflected the sorrows of life, the sad events. Nonetheless, these spoilsport children stood on the sidelines, looking on disapprovingly. Nothing, it seems, will please this apathetic bunch.
This brings to mind the hymn, Lord of the Dance (Lyrics by Sydney Carter)
I danced in the morning when the world was young,
I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem I had my birth.
Dance, then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the dance, said he,
And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,
And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.
Jesus sees in this unresponsive group of children some of the adults of his day. They would neither mourn in response to the somber, repentant message of John the Baptist nor dance with Jesus in his joyful message of God’s loving presence to all.. This apathetic group dismissed John the Baptist as possessed and Jesus as a glutton and a drunkard and they saw nothing good in either of them.
The ministry of Jesus and the ministry of John the Baptist were very different in ways, and, yet, according to Jesus, his generation found fault with both. John’s ascetic lifestyle was dismissed as ‘possessed’ and Jesus' celebratory one had him seen as a ‘glutton and drunkard, a friend of undesirables’.
Rather than asking, ‘What does Jesus or John have to say to us?’ some in that generation rejected them both in a casual, dismissive manner. One could say, “there was no pleasing them", they just would not engage with the message.
I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee,
But they would not dance and they wouldn’t follow me,
I danced for the fishermen, for James and for John,
They came with me and the dance went on.
So, where does this leave today? It seems that some people were deaf to both messages; however, the gospel today calls us to be open to both the message of John and Jesus, but, in particular, the message of Jesus.
Jesus identifies himself with the children who play pipes for others to dance to. It is interesting that Jesus identifies his own ministry with the piper and the dance. His life and his message are good news. The Good News of God’s love for us all.
Jesus, in a way, is piping a joyful tune in which he asks to join in the dance and to move in unison with the joyful music of his Spirit. Our calling is to become attuned to this music of God and to move to its rhythm.
I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame;
The holy people said it was a shame,
They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high,
And left me there on a cross to die.
This music of God that Jesus plays is joyful music, not mournful music. The music of a wedding feast rather than a funeral. It is music that brings light where there is darkness, hope where there is despair, joy where there is sadness.
If we are attentive to this music and allow it to shape our lives, then we will be a life-giving presence to others and our own lives will proclaim the good news of God. Even in the hard or sorrowing times in our lives.
I danced on a Friday when the world turned black,
It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back.
They buried my body and they thought I’d gone,
But I am the dance and I still go on.
However, sometimes we can forget to dance, we no longer can hear the music. We find fault with everyone, there is no pleasing us and we fail to see that God is there with us. Our gospel reading calls to be open to God's presence, even when we don’t feel it.
Most often God comes to us in ways that don’t quite fit our expectations. Let’s remember the children we heard playing in this morning's reading. The group that engages with imagination and vitality and the other group that refuses to join in preferring distance and apathy to engagement.
They cut me down and I leapt up high;
I am the life that'll never, never die;
I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me:
I am the Lord of the dance, said he.
Perhaps God will come to us in the joyful playing of the pipes, or maybe in the mournful songs of lament. Don’t shut out either genre, what matters is that we be attentive and responsive to God’s many comings to us in the course of our lives.
God communicates with us in different ways at different times, in both dirges and dances, in times of great sadness and great joy. We need to be open at all times to hear God’s voice and respond with faithfulness.
Dance, then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the dance, said he,
And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,
And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.
God continues to approach us in many and varied ways. Being a disciple calls on us to be attentive to the presence of Jesus. We need to answer Jesus’ call no matter what the circumstances of our lives might be. We need to embrace all that Jesus has taught us and know that with Jesus by our sides we can overcome anything. So don’t ever be a party pooper.
Blessings on your day.
Notes: Preached (Delivered) July 5, 2026, at Trinity Lutheran Church, Falun, Wisconsin and Bethany Lutheran Church, Grantsburg, Wisconsin
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost Year A July 5, 2026
Readings: Zechariah 9:9-12. Psalm 145:8-134 Romans 7:15-25a, Matthew 11:16=19, 25-30
Some ideas from: Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland. Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or frmartinhogan@gmail.com Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie
