Luke 7:31-35

24th Week in Ordinary Time
1Corinthians 12:31-13:13
Luke 7:31-35

A. Text/Context

• The gospel passage today speaks of a virtue of being childlike and its opposite as being childish
• The flute played and the song or dirge sang is actually the very song that children sang while they are playing during the time of Jesus and why did Jesus use this is because the children taunt the losers
• In a group of children there is always the bully and they are the ones who set the rules where the weaker children must follow
• The Jews are like children because they do not know what to do in that sense so that they all avoid listening to John or Jesus
• This is like a lament of Jesus that the people simply do not like to listen to his preaching just like how they refused to listen to John, not really a condemnation
• You see, Jesus ended up dying on the cross and John ended up with his head decapitated by Herod simply because they do not want to hear what is not pleasing to them

B. Human Situation

• In our human situation, this is really about stubbornness, hardheadedness, selfishness and all the opposites of the virtue of being childlike
• The Jews cannot accept John or Jesus. John preached about repentance and Jesus teaches about love and forgiveness
• Instead John is taunted as crazy due to his coarse clothing and Jesus is taunted a sinner because he eats and drinks with sinners
• In the end they really do not want to listen to John or Jesus because they are too proud to be obedient
• Sometimes we are really like that. There are people who really do not know how to do things properly but still they would not ask for help not just simply out of shame but really out of pride
• When I was still a teacher, we went out for swimming in a beach and one of us seems to be always out of place for the occasion
• Instead of enjoying the beach, he sleeps that he has a headache, bad stomach, and so many reasons and even has a high blood pressure and he is not enjoying
• Then we found out later that he really does not know how to swim. He is so ashamed that we would know that he doesn’t know how to swim. He is childish instead of being reasonable in his attitude
• If we cannot accept that we have our own shortcomings something is wrong because you only want to appear to others always pleasing all the time, when in fact, others do not even care if you know how to swim or not
• This is what happened to the generation of people in Jesus time. They cannot accept that there is an ugly part in themselves so that when Jesus corrected them they harbored hatred in their hearts
• Paul said to the Corinthians that when I was a child I talk, think, and reason like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things. I know partially, then I shall know fully as I am fully known
• We need to accept in humility before God that we can also be wrong at times even if we always try to be righteous

C. Challenge

• So today we are challenged to be childlike by giving total trust in God
• You see, even though Jesus was ignored, he did not condemn, he only lamented
• On the cross Jesus even ask forgiveness to God in behalf of those who torture him because they do not know what they are doing
• Being childish even if we are already reasonable is really a nuisance before God while being childlike is a virtue so pleasing before the eyes of God