December 10, 2004
Friday of the Second Week of Advent
Reading I
Is 48:17-19
Thus says the LORD, your redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel:
I, the LORD, your God,
teach you what is for your good,
and lead you on the way you should go.
If you would hearken to my commandments,
your prosperity would be like a river,
and your vindication like the waves of the sea;
Your descendants would be like the sand,
and those born of your stock like its grains,
Their name never cut off
or blotted out from my presence.
Responsorial Psalm
1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
R (see John 8:12) Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
Gospel
Mt 11:16-19
Jesus said to the crowds:
"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."
From: Matthew 11:16-19
Jesus Reproaches People for their Unbelief
(Jesus spoke to the crowds), [16] "But to what shall I compare this
generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and
calling to their playmates. [17] `We piped to you, and you did not
dance, we wailed and you did not mourn.' [18] For John came neither
eating nor drinking, and they say, `He has a demon'; [19] the Son of Man
came eating and drinking, and they say, `Behold, a glutton and a
drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is
justified by her deeds."
Commentary:
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.
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
