Word to the Wise
Friday, December 15, 2023 - 2nd Week of Advent - Fri
[Isa 48:17-19 and Matt 11:16-19]"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.' [Matthew]
Public opinion can be a very fickle thing! And those who make a living trying to figure out that opinion are legion. One wonders, if he were alive today, if Jesus' description of "this generation" would be based on polls or surveys? What comes through clearly in all four of the gospels is that neither John the Baptist nor Jesus completely met some public expectations for the role of Messiah! Nobody can please everybody any time.
When a child is born, every parent will have "hopes" for the little one when he or she "grows up." The joys and sorrows of the child become those of the parent. This can go a little too far, as the expression, "helicopter parents" testifies. Jesus' own family and hometown rejected him. The Gospel According to Mark mentions an attempt at an intervention to remove Jesus from the public eye! [Mark 3:21]
In the gospels, we have the story of Jesus' birth, life, death and resurrection. The "infancy narratives" of the Gospels According to Matthew and Luke tell us the stories that we celebrate in Advent and Christmas, but these stories have to be read in the light of what comes after - the whole story! Jesus had a tough life ahead of him. Public opinion in Jerusalem, in Jerusalem at that fateful Passover, would swing from "Hosanna to the Son of David!" to "Take him away! Crucify him!" Do our expectations on looking at the manger scene change when we look at the crucifix? Should we leave the manger scene up year round? AMEN