16-Sep-15

Gospel LK 7:31-35
Jesus said to the crowds:
“To what shall I compare the people of this generation?
What are they like?
They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.
We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’
For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine,
and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’
The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said,
‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
Reflection:
John the Baptist lived in the desert. He dressed in camel hair, surviving on locusts and honey and preached a message of repentance. Many saw John as a prophet and were baptized by him but the 'Pharisee and the teachers of Moses' law' rejected John.
Jesus, on the other hand, mingled with the people, even sinners, eating and drinking with them. Most people loved Jesus and saw him as one of their own, except the Pharisees and scribes who accused him of being a "glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners."
There are always people who find fault and take the opposing
view in every conversation. To those people, Jesus said,
‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.
We sang a dirge, but you did not weep."
Jesus is using an expression that would be the same as our saying to someone today, "No matter what I do, there is no pleasing you."
Jesus replies to his critics by saying, "But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” A modern day equivalent expression would be, "The proof is in the pudding."
In other words, Jesus is saying, he eats and drinks with the common people and associates with sinners, but the result is they are turning back to God.

"One filled with joy preaches without preaching." Mother Teresa