Tags
Baptist, Christ, Christianity, complain, God, Gospel of Matthew, gossip, Jesus, John, John the Baptist, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
The gospel for this morning from Matthew, chapter 11, has Jesus comparing the people “of this generation” (which, ironically, could be ours) to children who sit around in a marketplace complaining about each other. His point, it seems, is that nothing seems to satisfy them; they jump to judgment no matter what is presented to them. When John the Baptist came “neither eating nor drinking” they said he was possessed of a demon (“crazy” in our parlance). Then Jesus himself came eating and drinking and they said he was a glutton and a drunkard. So what is it that they wanted? What is it that we want? Most likely it is someone who looks like us, dresses like us, talks like us and acts like us. We’re not anxious to be moved very far from our comfort zone. It’s interesting that just this week, my teacher, Cynthia Bourgeault, said that it’s very difficult to grow if we remain in our comfort zone. Jesus said the same thing in another way this morning:
Wisdom is vindicated by her works. (Mt. 11:19)
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 