Mt 11:16-19
[Jesus said to the crowds,] 16“To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, 17‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ 18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ 19The 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.”
Reflection
You did not dance: Jesus asks a rhetorical question about his contemporaries. He then answers his own question by referring to spoiled children playing a game of “pretend.” A happy tune is played, but they pout and refuse to dance and be glad. A dirge is sung, but they do not cry or wail.
Many in the crowd rejected John the Baptist because they found him too rigid and demanding. He neither ate nor drank and they thought he was possessed by the devil. John called for a change of heart. Many were willing to follow him so long as it did not cost too much.
The complaint against Jesus is just the opposite. Jesus is not serious enough; he associates with the wrong people, namely, tax collectors and those outside the Jewish law. He is a glutton and a drunkard because he enjoys eating and drinking with these people. But, like John the Baptist, Jesus is not concerned with winning popular approval. His sole preoccupation is to be faithful to the mission given him by the Father.