Scripture:
Reflection:
Our readings today might aptly be described as a “lesson on manners,” a brief but very insightful tutorial on how Christians ought and ought not to behave. In the passage from 1 Timothy, we are reminded that through baptism we were incorporated into “the household of God.” Even though all of us belong to multiple “households” (family, friendships, local communities, groups and organizations), none should ever become more important than the household of God, which is “the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.” The household of God is our true place of belonging, the foundation and center of our lives; no other “household” should ever supplant it.
Lest we think the household of God is a haphazard collection of individuals, each doing as he or she pleases, the writer insists that every member should “know how to behave in the household of God.” That’s because as we grow as members of that household, we are initiated into the ways of God that have been revealed to us in Christ. By learning the “manners” of Christ, we can fulfill our baptismal vocation of witnessing Christ in our lives until, as 1 Timothy promises, he is “believed in throughout the world.”
By contrast, today’s strange nugget of a gospel shows us how not to behave; it is a pithy, if initially perplexing, lesson in “bad manners.” Jesus zeroes in on people who are always finding fault, always criticizing, and using that as an excuse to reject the message as well as the messenger. John the Baptist comes along, and rather than taking his message to heart, they declare, “He is possessed by a demon.” Then Jesus stands right in front of them, and rather than opening their hearts to receive him, they mock him as “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” As a result, they stay exactly as they were, untouched, unchanged, unredeemed. That’s not only bad manners; it’s also an inconsolable tragedy.
Paul J. Wadell is Professor Emeritus of Theology & Religious Studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, and a member of the Passionist Family of Holy Cross Province.