Gospel – Matthew 11:16-19
Jesus spoke to the crowds, “But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
The Gospel of the Lord
The Mass intention is for in Thanksgiving for the Recovery of
Paul Martin
Reflection:
In today’s Gospel Jesus said, “Among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
Jesus talks about John the Baptist. But John isn’t there to hear him because, at this moment, he is in Herod’s prison.
John’s crime was to criticize Herod for marrying his bother’s wife. John will pay the full price for this when, late one night, an executioner is sent from Herod’s birthday banquet to cut off John’s head.
There had been many prophets in Israel’s history. Jesus says that John is the greatest of all because he was privileged to see the fulfillment of what the prophets had proclaimed – the kingdom of God present in a new way in Jesus.
- Jesus has high praise indeed for John the Baptist. And yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he was. The dignity conferred on us by baptism is a challenge to live up to.
- John proclaimed the gospel, allowing his disciples to leave him to follow Jesus. I think of what it might mean to be less so that Jesus might be more.
