NOTES for Mat 11:16-19

People are hard to please. John’s asceticism seems to them a sign of possession, while in their opinion the Son of Man should not eat and drink with sinners. But He thinks otherwise, for that is precisely why He came: to live among sinful people, and not only to eat and drink but also to proclaim the Kingdom intended for them. Faith, as the Apostle says, comes from hearing. All this is very difficult to accept for those who do not want to defile themselves by associating with outcasts. Indeed, divine Wisdom can be understood only by those who have already shared in it at least a little—the tax collectors and sinners, the friends of the Teacher from Nazareth.