Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar;

Luke 7:33-35: “For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and you say, He hath a devil.  The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and you say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebidder, a friend of publicans and sinners.  But wisdom is justified of all her children.”

John the Baptist was an ascetic who practiced strict denial as a means of physical and spiritual discipline.  So why would such behavior lead the Pharisees to believe that John the Baptist was demon possessed?   If a monk lived such a life style we would say he was a very Godly person to live a life of denial.

Again, we are faced with a Hebraism.   Eating bread and drinking wine was an expression of hospitality or social interaction, sort of like saying: “Oh, Bunkie and I had lunch today.” John the Baptist just came out of the wilderness and preached and went back into the wilderness.  He did not dine or “have lunch” with people.  Where Jesus, on the other hand, came and lived among the people, ministered to them, interacted with them.  Thus, he came eating and drinking.

Without the understanding of this expression as a Hebrew idiom, many have seized upon this passage and said: “See there, Jesus drank alcoholic beverages and even got drunk.”  But this is far from the intent of this passage.  What John the Baptist taught and what Jesus taught was so outlandish for the time, it was considered crazy man talk.  I mean if some dirty, homeless bum comes up to you on the street and says: “God told me that the Messiah is coming and in fact walking the streets of Chicago right now.”   You would sort of roll  your eyes and look for the turnip truck that he just fell off of.  Or if someone dressed in clerical robes, a fully credentialed, trained minister steps out of St. Francis’s church, puts his hand on your shoulder and says: “My child, I am the light of the world, if anyone believes in me he shall have eternal life”  you would probably think he had one too many communion services and took an extra sip of the wine.

The point is, the Hebrew idiom “eating and drinking” is an expression of how one interacts with people,  not a commentary on one’s diet.  John most likely ate bread at some point in his life and Jesus did not have had to drink wine.  Both men were teaching something so radical that the Pharisees just assumed John the Baptist was a crazy man and Jesus had too much to drink and got carried away with His Messianic teachings. Jesus was trying to show the inconsistency of the Pharisees argument for rejecting the message that He and John the Baptist were bringing.  It would be a real error in cultural understanding to suggest this passage proves Jesus drank alcoholic beverages. Now if you ignore the fact that this is a Hebrew idiom, then you may reach the conclusion that Jesus drank fermented wine and was even prone to get intoxicated at times, which has been tragically suggested by come teachers and commentators.

“But wisdom is justified of all her children.”   Now what is that suppose to mean?  The answer is simple if you stop thinking English.   In English the word “wisdom” is always positive.  Hence you have to do a lot of spinning and twisting to make this square peg fit a round hole.  However, to simply understand that in Hebrew thinking, wisdom can have either a positive or negative connotation you have a round peg fitting a round hole.  Sometimes the word wisdom can mean stupidity, just the opposite of our understanding.  Sound strange?  I remember years ago when I was a camp director with Youth Guidance, I was introduced to a new English idiom.  I took some of our counselors, who grew up in the inner city of Pittsburg, to town to do some shopping.  One of my street wise staff members pointed to a woman across the street and said: “Man she’s bad.”   I replied: “I don’t know she looks like a pretty good person to me.”  So don’t give me any guff about wisdom being used as an idiom for stupidity.  Clearly in Hebrew idiom Jesus was simply saying: “You can tell whether wisdom is real wisdom or stupidity by the consistency or inconsistency of its arguments.  Since your arguments are so inconsistent, it is a clear indication of your stupidity.”   In English idiom Jesus was saying:  “You guys are so off the wall. Like that has got to be the most stupid argument I have heard yet.”

No, I don’t believe Jesus ever drank alcoholic beverages, let alone ever got drunk, anymore than the believers were drunk on the day of Pentecost.

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