Matthew 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.”
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Reflection:
Whenever
biographies of famous personalities are to be written. Publishers would try to
make the exterior of the book as attractive as possible so that it would create
an immediate exterior attraction to the buying public. especially to those who
have superficial knowledge of the personality involve.
Jesus was
called names such as glutton, drunkard, friend of tax collectors and sinners by
the Pharisees and scribes. Because that’s what they saw, they based their
unfair judgments on what their eyes saw. If only they knew that the real motive
of Jesus was the conversion of tax collectors and sinners they would not have
unfairly judged Jesus.
The same
is true with John he was labelled as someone who is possessed by a demon. Perhaps
the reason behind such unfair name calling is based on the physical appearance of
John. And John’s preference to live in the desert before coming out to prepare
the way for Jesus to name a few.
Oftentimes
we are like the Pharisees and the scribes for we judge also based on what we
see and hear about our neighbor. We base our judgment on the exterior and the
superficial. But is this right? Of course not!
It’s not
correct to throw judgment based on what we see or observe for what we see is a
scant representation of the whole person. Let us know first the person before
judging. And if there’s an opportunity to talk to him/her so that we could have
a clearer picture of the person’s personality let us do so.
Are you
often times quick to judge? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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