There is a growing rift between Jesus and his beloved cousin John who is the first to hail Jesus as Messiah, baptizes him, and sets his feet on the path of ministry. It is not a rift of love but a vast difference in their form of ministry. John has withdrawn into the wilderness, living an ascetic, fasting way of life. His guidance to others is a stern “Repent!” “Change your ways!” “Beware the wrath to come!”

He had expected Jesus to minister in the same way. At first Jesus makes repentance his main focus. (See Matthew 3:2.) But his approach changes. He mingles with people in the villages and cities, reaches out, heals, comforts, transforms, feasts, and fellowships with “sinners.” He too calls for change but within God’s love, not wrath. This troubles John. He sends his disciples to ask Jesus why he is not fasting the way John does. In his reply, Jesus for the first time speaks of himself as the “bridegroom,” implying that joyful abundant love and celebration is one of the main signs of a transformed life. (See Matthew 9:14-15.)

Now in prison, John has serious doubts. Is Jesus really the Messiah after all? Jesus simply reports the facts: the blind see, the deaf hear, the poor are comforted. The realm of God is at work.

Then in today’s reading, Jesus reflects on the irony that John is criticized for his fasting while Jesus is criticized for feasting with outcasts.

The love of God calls us to feast with the “bridegroom” and to welcome the outcast into that feasting. We are called to dance with “sinners” and weep for their pain. These are not opposites; they are as one in the heart and realm of God.