Put to death the drunk glutton

[Matthias]

“If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown. They shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so shall you remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear of it and fear.”

(Deuteronomy 21:18-21, NASB)

 

[Matthias]

With that as background, we come now to an incident in the life of Jesus.

”The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man, a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’”

(Luke 7:34, NASB)

The Jewish religious authorities (wrongly) viewed Jesus as a stubborn and rebellious son of Israel who would not obey. What did they want to do with him? They wanted to stone him to death. Why? To remove him from their midst, so that all of Israel would hear of it and fear.