Matthew 11:19
The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
The charge was false, made by religious leaders and the people against clear light and mighty works, claiming that sharing ordinary food and drink with tax collectors and sinners proved excess and evil company, just as they had rejected John for the opposite manner of life. He accepted invitations to feasts and homes as the only way to reach all classes, high and low, sowing truth at the table to call sinners to repentance and bring spiritual and physical soundness. His mingling was not approval of what opposes God's will nor worldly conformity, and His life of temperance, self-denial, reproof, and holiness refutes the accusation. Wisdom is proved right by its results in the lives of those who receive it, so the fruit of His ministry vindicated it despite rejection. As a sinless friend He pities, forgives, heals, and never forsakes the guilty, weak, and despondent who come to Him, and His example calls His followers to leave seclusion and self-righteous bigotry to minister to sin-sick souls with self-sacrificing pity.
False Charge and Setting
The verse records a false charge that ordinary eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners proved gluttony, drunkenness, and bad company. The charge was brought by the people of that day and by scribes and Pharisees, because He carried the gospel to all and accepted invitations to feasts and to houses of publicans as the only way to reach them with the message of heaven. It was a misrepresentation made despite great light and clear evidence of His miracle-working power, twisting His fellowship at their tables into excess. While sitting at table He was sowing seeds of truth in hearts present, knowing the seed would spring up and bear fruit to God's glory and that some who ate with Him would afterward respond to His call to follow Him, and His answer was that He came to call sinners to repentance while He kept steadily on with His work. The results of a person's life and work show whether that course is right.
The charge paired rejection of Jesus with rejection of John for an opposite way of life, just as they had rejected John for his different way and misrepresented John His forerunner. Their accusations did not make them true. They revealed the speakers' misuse of speech and rejection of God's messengers. Wisdom is shown to be right by the lives and results of those who receive it.
The verse belongs to the lesson of Matthew 11:16-27, which speaks to those given great light, precious opportunities, wonderful privileges, and blessings of light and knowledge from God. It solemnly rebukes them when their spiritual growth and advancement is not in accordance with what they have received and does not match the blessings and knowledge God had given. Applied to those holding out against light and right positions, the passage is a pointed rebuke that strikes the heart and brings straightforward confession, brokenness, and pardon.
The winebibber charge is refuted by His character, teachings, and obedience to His Father, just as the accusation of Sabbath-breaking was false. His life was one of temperance and self-denial. Intoxicating wine would have been inconsistent with His holiness and with His being a perfect offering whose blood could save. The terms glutton and winebibber also describe those whose self-indulgence and mistaken upbringing have made them slaves to appetite. When parents let children eat whatever they choose whenever they choose, indulgence forms harmful appetites and can weaken health and mental and physical vigor.
Purpose in Eating Together
He carried the gospel to all people and accepted invitations to feasts and to the houses of publicans because that was the only way to reach them with the message of heaven. While sitting at the table He sowed seeds of truth in the hearts of those present, living seeds meant to spring up and bring forth fruit to God's glory and to bring heaven's light to those in darkness. Some who ate with Him afterward responded to His call to follow Him, and to the accusation His answer was that He came to call sinners to repentance, and He kept steadily on with His work.
He placed signal honor upon humanity by befriending publicans and sinners and mingling with all classes of society, high and low, rich and poor, so that all might partake of the blessings He came to bestow. He was found in the synagogue and in the marketplace, proclaiming His message and sharing the social life of His countrymen. He gladdened with His presence the households of all who invited Him, but He never urged His way uninvited. His influence was broad and extended, welcoming and working among people from every class to bring them truth, healing, and spiritual life, so they could receive His blessings and know His character.
He gave Himself wholly and entirely to soul-saving, with one desire for spiritual and physical soundness for all, as the friend of every human being pledged to bring life and light to all who would receive Him. He relieved every species of human misery brought to Him in faith for relief, every kind of physical and spiritual suffering, ready and willing to help all who came to Him in faith, sowing seeds of truth beside all waters. Where independence and selfish exclusiveness expressed no sorrow and asked for no help He did not bestow healing.
His presence among them did not approve what opposed God's will and never encouraged anything against God's will, and it was not worldly conformity. By generous conduct and precious teachings, with reproofs, warnings, and instruction, He sought to uplift and ennoble them and enshrined Himself in hearts, giving opportunity to know His character. His life and teachings stood in marked contrast to the bigoted, selfish, self-righteous, censorious ideas of salvation held by Pharisees who spied upon Him, thought Him too liberal, and blamed and condemned Him.
He bridged the gulf that sin had made, revealing how highly He values the human race. He clothed His divinity with humanity so that humanity might take hold of divinity and become a partaker of the divine nature. Known on earth as the Friend of sinners, He mingled with all classes of society so all might become acquainted with God manifest in the flesh. He did not shun the social life of His countrymen, attending a marriage feast in Cana at the very opening of His ministry.
He kept to His heaven-appointed work despite opposition. He associated with sinners in order to point them to the Father and reflect the light of righteousness, while continuing His work against evil and fulfilling His heaven-appointed task.
Wisdom Proved by Results
The verse shows condemnation falling on the Son of man for sharing meals with tax collectors and sinners, calling Him gluttonous and a drinker of wine. That charge stood alongside rejection of John for an opposite way of life, and neither accusation made it true. The false words revealed misuse of speech and rejection of God's messengers, while the wisdom of His ministry was not undone by what critics said. Wisdom is shown to be right by the lives and results of those who receive it, for the fruit of a person's life and work shows whether the course taken was right, and the fruit of His work vindicated it.
Though God's truth may be rejected as foolish or offensive, those who believe it show it to be the power and wisdom of God. That vindication by results is displayed in the healing of the helpless man at Bethesda. The healing stands as a lesson of great value to Christians and of serious importance to unbelievers and skeptics.
Friend of Sinners
By coming to dwell among people, the Friend of sinners reveals that God knows their trials and sympathizes with their griefs, and through teachings of grace, promises of joy, loving acts, and divine appeal He shows God's presence with humanity. Though sinless, His heart is touched by suffering, and He pities the weakness of those who have fallen, meeting them with pity and practical help rather than cold rejection.
His friendship forgives as well as heals, for He welcomed the guilty paralytic when He alone could relieve him, forgave his sins, relieved his soul, and by divine power healed his body, and in this He came to give hope to the guilty and wretched. His mercy toward the erring woman likewise pardoned her and urged her to leave sin behind, showing His perfect righteousness. He has power in heaven and on earth, and He directs sinners to the church, which He appointed as a channel of light and a means of their enlightenment and salvation.
He does not forsake those who come to Him, and His friendship remains even for the weak and despondent who feel forsaken by God and too weak to help themselves, encouraging belief, surrender of the will, trust, united prayer, and restoration of divine favor. Being joined to Him through repentance and faith is necessary to be numbered among the redeemed, for genuine conversion unites the heart to Him in clinging faith instead of looking to self or seeking to make oneself righteous by good works. The truly converted heart is joined to His heart and the life is knit by hidden links to Him, so that destiny is bound to Him and because He lives the believer will live also, kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation with present salvation to be believed for and walked out in. That joining links human weakness to His strength and ignorance to His wisdom, so that under His guidance a person's efforts become a power for good, and being one with Him as He is one with the Father brings happiness to the one who acknowledges Him as the very best friend and is entirely satisfied with Him, leaving childhood self-indulgence and childish things behind to grow into manhood in Christ.
He was called a winebibber because condescending love and mercy led Him to eat with people in order to reach them where they were, and He was charged with being a glutton and a winebibber and even a devil when He left the courts above to come to this world and die for humanity. There was no truth in those charges, and His condescension drew hatred from those who wanted to destroy His influence. Yet His love did not make Him indulgent toward sin, for He reproved wrongdoing and warned and instructed people for their good, and His peace came from doing His Father's will rather than from staying silent or compromising duty to avoid conflict.
Following His Example
His genial and beneficent character leaves no excuse for seclusion or for Pharisaical preeminence and self-righteous bigotry. Sorrow fled at His presence, injustice and oppression withered beneath His rebukes, and death obeyed His commands. He placed signal honor upon humanity by befriending all classes so all might partake of His blessings, found in synagogue and marketplace, sharing social life and gladdening households that invited Him, yet never urging His way uninvited. He relieved every kind of human misery brought in faith, ready and willing to help all who came in faith, while bestowing no healing where independence and selfish exclusiveness expressed no sorrow and asked no help.
His example calls followers to minister as He did to sin-sick souls, learning from Him to devote themselves to God's work and the good of others. That devotion is to place God's claims above social demands and earthly affections, with unceasing, self-sacrificing effort and continual labor for the good of others. Christians should present His friendship as Friend of sinners so it draws people away from evil and into His service. That means treating the guilty with pity and sympathy and directing them to the Saviour who gave His blood to save them.
His liberal mercies in attending a wedding feast and permitting friends to make a supper in His honor enshrined Him in hearts and gave opportunity to know His character. By generous conduct and precious teachings on those occasions He set His life and teachings in marked contrast to bigoted, selfish ideas of salvation held by Pharisees who spied on Him, thought Him too liberal, and blamed Him for worldly conformity, though His course was not worldly conformity. His sacrifice rebukes pleas of inconvenience and cost against helping the erring, for He could afford to sacrifice heaven and life itself to save sinners, leaving the courts above to come to this world and die for humanity despite false charges of being a devil and a glutton and a winebibber in which there was no truth.