Gospel Commentary – September 17, 2025

September 17, 2025

This is one of those Gospel stories that makes you smile because of the irony and humor that are part of Jesus’ unique way of teaching. He is the most beautiful of men, the wisest, the most demanding, the most loving, and also the most good-humored.

Luke puts on the Lord’s lips a kind of almost theatrical amazement before the people who either don’t know what they want or reject, on principle, any authority that dares to propose something uncomfortable or new. So, they first criticize John the Baptist for his austerity, and then they criticize Jesus for the exact opposite. Neither John’s way of life nor Jesus’ way of life is acceptable to them. John’s fasting makes them suspect some dark influence, while Jesus’ enjoyment of a good meal makes Him look like a friend of tax collectors and sinners. His healings, His message of freedom, His kindness in dealing with people… none of it convinces them. It’s as if they were saying from the start: no matter what you do, we will not accept you.

It’s clear that when Jesus speaks about that generation opposing first John and then Himself, He is pointing at the teachers of the Law, the scribes, and the Pharisees—those who clung to their own rules and securities and who rejected, from the very beginning, anything new that might unsettle them.

At other times, Jesus praised the faith of the simple and the little ones to whom God has revealed Himself. Now He says they are children of Wisdom and have proved Wisdom right. In other words, they have taken God’s side.

To be humble and simple is the condition for receiving the light. Let us ask our Lord Jesus Christ for a pure heart, able to open itself to the salvation that comes from Him. May He make us children of Wisdom.

Virginia Fernández