Wednesday, XXIV Week of Ordinary Time
(Luke 7)
The movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner appeared in the 1960s when interracial couples were a rarity. The dinner guest was an African-American who wanted to marry his white hosts’ daughter. The plot moves around the father’s resistance to the marriage. Today we would admonish people who disapprove of a marriage solely because the couple belongs to different races. And we would condemn outright the refusal to eat with members of different races. Nevertheless, we should understand that such social conventions as the separation of the races in the past were based on more than prejudice and hatred. In the gospel today we see Jesus trying to break through the social conventions of his time to bring his people to a greater wisdom.
Jesus chastises the people for not accepting either John the Baptist who ate with no one or himself who seemed willing to eat with anyone. These people are Jews, of course, who are particularly attentive to table fellowship. They are supposed to share table with Jews in good standing as a matter of communal fellowship. The fact that John does not eat or drink like regular Jews makes his prophecy questionable in their eyes. The people question Jesus’ prophetic legitimacy as well for eating and drinking seemingly to an excess with sinners, people considered outside the pale of table fellowship.
But both John and Jesus possess a wisdom that runs deeper than social conventions. John’s austerity is a prophet’s call of the people to God’s holiness. It is an extreme position that is meant to witness how great the need is for reform. Jesus’ extension of himself to outcasts shows God’s special concern for sinners. Jesus does not conform to their ways but invites them to return to God’s. His words at the end of the passage “wisdom is vindicated by all her children” tell us that those who can appreciate what John and Jesus are doing will move beyond social conventions to true righteousness.
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