Gospel Reading: Mt 11:16-19
Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another,/ ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance,/ we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’/
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by her works.”
Reflection
IT IS LIKE CHILDREN
We sometimes encounter or know people who seem to be unhappy with everything. We offer them something, they refuse; we do not give them anything, they complain. They eat up or try our patience.
The Pharisees and the scribes are like these, as Jesus describes through a metaphor of children’s play in the Gospel.
The ascetic John the Baptist they regard as possessed by a demon. Jesus, who celebrates with people, they see as “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”
People like the Pharisees and the scribes are impossible to live with. Spoiled children (as many of us may have been) want all the attention to themselves and want everything to revolve around them. As Christians, we have to grow up.
In our relationship with God, do we act maturely or as unspoiled children? Can we be happy with those who are happy, and sad with those who are sad?
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