WHAT MORE COULD HE HAVE DONE?
Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr
My dear encountered couples:
Jesus wants us to take a good look at ourselves and see if we are hard to please. He very bluntly told the people of his time that they were hard to please. I doubt if the people of our time are much different. What do you think? How about you? Are you hard to please? Ask the people who buy you Christmas gifts and see what they think. Are you easy or hard to buy for?
Jesus was doing all he could for the Jewish people. But he felt he was getting nowhere. He must have been having an extra bad day when he came right out and told the people directly what he thought of them:
“What comparison can I use to describe this breed?” he asked. “They are like children squatting in the town squares, calling to their playmates: ‘We piped you a tune but you did not dance! We sang you a dirge but you did not wail! In other words, John the Baptist appeared neither eating nor drinking, and people say, ‘He is mad!’ I, the Son of Man appeared eating and drinking, and they say, ‘This one is a glutton and drunkard, a lover of tax collectors and those outside the law!”
Fortunately, Jesus did not say, “I give up!” and walk away. He kept at it. He gave them every chance in the world. But let us remember. He didn’t come to please people. He came to give us the opportunity for eternal happiness.
Do we really want it or not? Jesus might not have stood on his head to persuade us to listen to him, but he allowed himself to be nailed to a cross. Many of his people still remained hard to please. Are we?
