Breaking the Word

"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." (Mt 11 :16-19)

The people of this generation are like playful children. They are playful and hence they are not responsible about anything that is happening around. Their concern is about singing and dancing and mourning. Certainly if they are children then this way of behaviour is okay. But the trouble is that they are the elders who play the role of children. This is to say that they are not mature and they do not, in any sense, reveal responsibility to what happens around. Instead of being mature and responsible these are playful.

Moses, in the book of Deuteronomy, writes about a son who is a glutton and drunkard and how he should be treated: "If a man has a stubborn and unruly son who will not listen to his father or mother, and will not obey them even though they chastise him,… 'This son of ours is a stubborn and unruly fellow who will not listen to us; he is a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all his fellow citizens shall stone him to death. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel, on hearing of it, shall fear.(Deut 21: 18-21).

John the Baptist was a man of austerity and self-denial and he is considered as a possessed person. Jesus himself speaks of parties and is lavish with forgiveness and love. People consider him as a rebel son or a false prophet. Yes people do not like any challenge in any way.

Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. Whoever has ears ought to hear. (Mt 11:11-15)

The reading speaks about John the Baptist and his work. As regard him he is in the long list of people who prepare for the arrival of the Messiah. In fact he is the last one. The preparation has begun with Abraham, Moses and Elijah (law and the prophets). Jesus says that John was Elijah. Here he is trying to say that, the belief of the people that Elijah should return before the coming of the Messiah, is fulfilled. Jesus is telling us to see the events in God’s time table. According to God’s time table the things are happening as HE has planned.

John has completed his mission and in fact he has been pushed into the prison for it. He is the greatest among men because he has completed his mission. But from the point of view of the kingdom he is not the greatest, for the criteria in the kingdom has a different scale of rating.  Jesus is not just telling about John, rather he is talking about himself. He is talking about his own messiahship. The messiah he is trying to be is not according to the expectation of most of the people and he does not want to force himself on people.