September 20, 2017

Gospel: Lk 7:31-35
And Jesus said, “What comparison can I use for the people? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace, about whom their companions complain, ‘We piped you a tune and you wouldn‘t dance; we sang funeral songs and you wouldn‘t cry.‘
Remember John: he didn‘t eat bread or drink wine, and you said, ‘He has an evil spirit.‘ Next, came the Son of Man, eating and drinking; and you say, ‘Look, a glutton for food and wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.‘ But the children of Wisdom always recognize her work.“

REFLECTION:
On several occasions, Jesus referred to children as models for how his followers should be. “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven“ (Matt 18:3), he said. However, children also have their dark side. They can be brutal in taunting their peers. They can be real bullies and control freaks. They sometimes insist on getting what they want, even if what they want is unfair to others.
Today Jesus compares the present generation to this dark side of children. Such people, who have already made their conclusions and judgments, are totally blind to the intimations of truth and, in their childish stubbornness, reject all contrary evidence. If John the Baptist was austere, they rejected his austerity as evil. But when Jesus went around eating and drinking with people, they accused him of being a glutton.
Am I childlike or childish in my relationship with God and my brothers and sisters?