In today’s Gospel, Mt 11: 16-19, Jesus expresses his exasperation with people who, rather than accepting Jesus and His message and sincerely listening to Him, complain that He’s not like John the Baptist. In dealing with leaders or significant persons in our lives who speak a truth, it is easy to avoid that truth by saying something like: “How come you are not like so and so” or “So and so does the same thing, so why complain about my behavior.” By comparisons we take ourselves out of the present moment and avoid dealing with the issue at hand. The truth that could have set us free and deepened our relationship with one another is avoided. As we escape the reality momentarily, the wisdom of that moment will resurface at a later time when we realize that a truth was spoken that we needed to hear. Imagine Jesus being in that situation and how saddened He must have been! He is, in fact, in each of our situations and how saddened He must be when we skirt issues by comparisons as a subtle means to avoid a truth that needs to be faced if we are going to be set free through honest interactions.
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