December 9/Second Friday of Advent
Jesus said to the crowd: “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.’” ~ Matt 11.16-19
Over a decade has passed, but I still remember the shock I felt by the ice rink when a fellow mom commented mid-conversation, as we watched our young boys at hockey practice, “You’re really kind of a ‘glass-half-empty’ person, aren’t you?” It stung to be identified as a pessimist and naysayer — but her observation contained enough truth to prompt some genuine soul-searching, and I have worked hard since that moment to reverse what was a reflexive tendency to negativity. Each of us has at some point encountered — or been — that person who reacts to the new or the different with dismissiveness, whose response to any idea or fresh message, no matter how carefully phrased, is some version of “No!” It is a standard human response to confront the challenge of the unexpected or unfamiliar by essentially “putting our dukes up” — but it is a response we should work to overcome. In today’s Gospel, Jesus likens his oppositional contemporaries to fickle child musicians in the market. Before them are two models of holiness: the spartan asceticism of John the Baptist, who came “neither eating nor drinking,” and the joyful companionability of Jesus, who came eating, drinking, and befriending sinners. To the nabobs of negativity, John’s self-denying ways are demonic; Jesus’s exuberant embrace of food and fellowship is evidence of self-indulgence and gluttony. Entrenched in their own world view, they are not open to different perspectives, different approaches; their reflexive response is to judge and dismiss. Are we so different? Today, let us endeavor, with God’s help, to overcome our tendency towards the negative, and keep our hearts open to new and potentially unsettling messages – and messengers.
Gracious Lord, Help me overcome my reflexive opposition to the new or the unfamiliar, and make me receptive to your life-giving call. Amen.
To hear The Dubliners sing “Lord of the Dance,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtM8BRF7Bd0
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120922.cfm
