““To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?” Luke 7:31 ESV
Reflection: how would you compare this generation to your generation?
There is an interesting psychology around the idea of “a generation”. That we can group certain behaviors with an age group. My grandparents generation behaved differently than my parents. And my parent’s generation different than mine, and so on. We can observe that, and we know that. But, since people are pretty much the same, what does the difference come from? There must be an external influence that cause the whole generation to behave differently, right?
Or said in another way, what is poisoning the whole generation?
An obvious difference in society, just over the past 30 years, is technology and the internet. But, by themselves these are just tools. Now we know that technology and internet can be used for good; and is very often also used by evil. Forces that want to influence, harm the most innocent among us. But what do we expect if we allow evil to have access to the children, through phones, movies, uncontrolled school teachers, and so on.
While we see this current challenge, it is not new. Such generational poisoning has happened all along history. While I grew up in a Christian family, quite involved in church activities, it was a time when we were told success was measured in your academic ability, your career, the size of your house and the brand of your car. I am still “a result” of that mindset, that programming if you will, as are my generation. Interacting with my generation will often be within that mindset.
Jesus, the Son of God, came to his own, but they rejected him. And we have to wonder why. Here is a people who had the most privilege of God, of knowing God. And when he appeared, in the flesh, as their prophets had said, they did not receive him. He demonstrated to them, over and over, who he was. He even told them who he was. And yet they rejected, turned their backs to him. Of them, the people of that generation, Jesus said
“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 sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’” Luke 7:32 ESV
Basically, saying that they were blind and deaf, could not see or hear, whether it was the call for repentance through John the Baptist (did not weep), nor the joy of salvation through the good news of Jesus (did not dance). For them, they had been generationally poisoned by a religion of law, among other things.
The message is just as relevant for this r generation, as for the one you are part of. What has poisoned yours? How can we be free, so that we can better follow Jesus?