Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Luke (7: 31-35) in which Jesus says his generation is like children sitting in the marketplace, calling out to each other: “‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance”.

Fr Paul says the whole point of a parable is that it is an image, a picture which provokes reflection. The conclusion may not always be clear, and different people can understand the picture differently.

A first step is to look at the picture painted by this little parable. The children in the marketplace are crying out. Is it one group complaining that the other would not join them in dancing, and the other complaining that the first would not join them in mourning? Or is it one group complaining to the other that the other group would not join them in whatever they suggested? Whatever way it is they are crying out ‘to each other’, so both groups are giving it to each other.

A second step is to ask what Jesus meant to criticise the ‘people of this generation’. In the first case Jesus is remarking that you can’t please everyone: some people wanted an ascetic like John the Baptist, others wanted a more companionable leader, and they could not agree.

In the second case he is putting himself alongside the Baptist and likening the ‘people of this generation’ to sulky children who refused to ‘play ball’ whatever was offered.

There are, however, two further factors which must be noted. The first is that Jesus, demanding as he undoubtedly was, was also companionable and relaxed enough to share a drink and a meal with others, as we also know from the complaints about his linking up with tax-collectors and sinners. The second is that, by producing this amusing little simile about the grumpy and sulky children, he showed that he could laugh at a situation: he could bring humour into his teaching.

Fr Paul says we, too, live in a world where you can’t please everyone so it’s good to know that Jesus used a bit of humour to call out those who have a case of the sulks because things are not the way they want it.