 |
| St. John the Baptist by El Greco |
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
Wednesday,
September 18, 2013
24th
Week in Ordinary Time
Luke
7:31-35
Jesus
Reproaches His Contemporaries
(Jesus spoke to the crowds) [31] "To what then shall I
compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? [32] They are like
children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, 'We piped to
you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.' [33] For John
the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine; and you say, 'He has
a demon.' [34] The Son of Man has come eating and drinking; and you say,
Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' [35]
Yet wisdom is justified by all her children."
Commentary:
31-34.
See the note on Matthew 11:16-19.
[The note on Matthew 11:16-19 states:
16-19.
Making reference to a popular song or a child's game of His time, Jesus
reproaches those who offer groundless excuses for not recognizing Him. From the
beginning of human history the Lord has striven to attract all men to Himself:
"What more was there to do for My vineyard, that I have not done in
it?" (Isaiah 5:4), and often He has been rejected: "When I looked for
it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?" (Isaiah 5:4).
Our Lord also condemns calumny: some people do try to
justify their own behavior by seeing sin where there is only virtue. "When
they find something which is quite obviously good," St. Gregory the Great
says, "they pry into it to see if there is not also some badness hidden in
it" (Moralia, 6, 22). The Baptist's fasting they
interpret as the work of the devil; whereas they accuse Jesus of being a
glutton. The evangelist has to report these calumnies and accusations spoken
against our Lord; otherwise, we would have no notion of the extent of the
malice of those who show such furious opposition to Him who went about doing
good (Acts 10:38). On other occasions Jesus warned His disciples that they
would be treated the same as He was (cf. John 15:20).
The works of Jesus and John the Baptist, each in their own
way, lead to the accomplishment of God's plan for man's salvation: the fact
that some people do not recognize Him does not prevent God's plan being carried
into effect.]
35.
The wisdom referred to here is divine Wisdom, especially Christ Himself (cf.
Wisdom 7:26; Proverbs 8:22). "Children of Wisdom" is a Hebrew way of
saying "wise men"; he is truly wise who comes to know God and love
Him and be saved by Him--in other words, a saint.
Divine wisdom is revealed in the creation and government of
the universe, and, particularly, in the salvation of mankind. Wise men
"justifying" wisdom seems to mean the wise, the saints, bear witness
to Christ by living holy lives: "Let your light so shine before men, that
they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in
Heaven" (Matthew 5:16).
Source:
The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries.
Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co.
Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage
readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers
for details.
"Ignorance
of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome
No comments:
Post a Comment