NO ONE CAN DENY
The
images that Jesus presents here are just all too familiar. A priest
known for his stringent ways is assigned to be a pastor of a parish.
Church workers are easily threatened by his imposing presence. They are
meted with sanctions and suspensions whenever they fail to measure up to
what the parish priest expects them to do. Soon the workers lose
interest in serving under his pastorship. “He was just too strict,”
people say. Then they leave.
Another priest takes over the parish. This time he is more lax and
lenient. The workers have a grand time. The priest is easy to please and
no rules are set to guide those serving the church. Eventually, some
found a way to abuse the system. Others were scandalized by their fellow
worker’s loose approach to ministry. “The priest is just too good. And
most of the people simply abuse his goodness.” So they too left.
Jesus’s words today express His frustration in the people’s stubborn
resistance to God’s initiative to work in their lives. No matter what
was presented to them, they found loopholes in it. Something is always
not right according to their standards.
The clear idea here is that when man just refuses to receive the truth,
he will think of all possible excuses to avoid listening to it. He
would be like one of the spoiled children that Jesus speaks of who would
refuse to play no matter what the game is.
But “wisdom is justified by her deeds,” Jesus closes the discourse. No
one can deny how John the Baptist’s way converted a lot of people and
brought them to Jesus. People may not have “danced” with Jesus then, but
this cannot negate the fact that He was able to offer a new life to
people and a new way of reaching their Father in heaven. Fr. Sandy Enhaynes
REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you find areas in your life where you act like a spoiled child?
Make my heart fertile, Lord. Grant me deeper conversion.
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