What does Luke 7:35 mean?

Jesus has explained how Jews have used uncomfortable aspects of God's messengers as excuses to ignore their consistent message. Religious leaders and common people alike shun the self-denying lifestyle of John the Baptist, as well as his antagonistic call to repentance. They do the same with Jesus' own more celebratory lifestyle with repentant sinners (Luke 7:31–34). Jesus is directly referencing the "Pharisees and lawyers" who refused to be baptized by John (Luke 7:30), but He also speaks of "the people of this generation" (Luke 7:31). Few culture-sensitive Jews of that era would follow a rabbi who ate with sinners and tax collectors. Nicodemus' clandestine visit (John 3:1–2) makes for sharp contrast to Zacchaeus' public celebration (Luke 19:1–10).

Now, Jesus describes the sinners and tax collectors as wisdom's children. They are children in that they follow the ways of wisdom, compared to the religious leaders whom Jesus calls the children of the Devil (John 8:44). Wisdom has told them to repent of their sins, and they obey. "Wisdom" is presented as a personification of right thinking, as in Proverbs, directly coming from the nature of God (Proverbs 1:7). It is "justified" in the sense of being proven correct; this is the same way God is declared just (Luke 7:29). The choice of those who listen and accept God's purpose for them demonstrate the truth of His message.

In Matthew's account, Jesus says, "Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds" (Matthew 11:19). The two nouns—children and deeds—represent aspects of the full result: the followers are the children, and acts of repentance are their deeds.