Eating and Drinking

Matthew 11:16-19 contains an allegory of children in a public square arguing while playing make-believe funerals and weddings. “We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.” In the Church we sometimes argue over such things. Some Christian music sounds like a funeral dirge and some sounds festive like a wedding. Are we too often like the children in the marketplace? Is God interested in petty arguments? Do we childishly criticize legitimate choices like John the Baptist “neither eating nor drinking” versus Jesus “eating and drinking?” The children of true, heavenly wisdom approve the conduct of both as justified.