Bible Verse Lookup
Mt 11:16-19
Chapter 11
16
Now, what can I compare the people of this time to? They are like children sitting in the marketplace, about whom their friends complain:
17
We played the flute for you,
but you wouldn’t dance.
We sang a funeral song,
but you wouldn’t cry!
18
For John came fasting, and people said, ‘He is possessed by a demon!’
19
Then the Son of Man came, eating and drinking, and people said, ‘Look at this man: a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
Yet, wisdom is vindicated by her works.
Commentaries
About John the Baptist.
When Matthew discusses the Baptist, he often speaks indirectly to his followers, who, even decades later, had not yet decided to join the Christian community. Jesus responds about his identity and mission not by theorizing but by showing miracles and signs performed for the poor and the excluded (8f), in which the echoes of the prophecies are heard (Is 35:5f; 61:11). Those who reject him violently oppose his messengers, as is happening in the communities Matthew is addressing; it continues today and will always be so.