WEDNESDAY, TWENTY FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
1 Tm 3: 14-16 Ps 111: 1-6 Lk 7: 31-35
RESPONDING TO GOD’S SPEECH
In Luke 7:31–35, Jesus rebukes His generation for their stubbornness, likening them to children in the marketplace who refuse to respond to either joyful music or a funeral dirge. Through the prophets, God repeatedly called His people to conversion, yet they turned away. Jeremiah lamented, “They have turned their backs to me and not their faces” (Jer 2:27), and Isaiah decried those who “hear but do not understand, see but do not perceive” (Isa 6:9). Again and again, divine invitations to return to the Lord were met with indifference or hostility.
Jesus exposes this tragic pattern by contrasting the ministries of John the Baptist and Himself. John came in fiery asceticism, calling the people to repentance in the spirit of Elijah (Mal 4:5-6), yet many dismissed him as fanatic or possessed. Jesus, embodying the tender mercy of God (Hos 11:4), shared meals with tax collectors and sinners, and was derided as a glutton and drunkard. The same God who spoke through the Law and the Prophets now spoke through John and through His own Son – yet His people refused to listen, because it was not their expectation!
Christianity, then, is the culmination of this divine dialogue. In Christ, both the uncompromising holiness of God, as proclaimed by John, and the boundless mercy of God, revealed in Jesus, meet in perfect harmony. The “children of wisdom” (Lk 7:35) are those who discern the voice of God in every form it takes— whether through the stern call to repentance or the gentle offer of grace. They recognize that God’s ways, though at times unsettling, always lead to life.
Today, this challenge persists. Are we willing to welcome God’s wisdom in all its expressions, even if it unsettles us? Do we embrace both the cross of conviction and the banquet of mercy? May we not be like the unresponsive children of the marketplace, but imitate those who, hearing God’s voice, rise to answer.
Response: Great are the works of the Lord.
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