I For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, “He is possessed by a demon.” Matthew 11:18 NABRE
Jesus comes to bring the kingdom of God, He desires celebration and acceptance but He is met with neither. John the forerunner to the Messiah is faced with criticism and questions about his sanity. The people of the time through prophecy seem to be anticipating a Messiah but when they see Him they reject His rejoicing and His mourning. They think the message of Jesus is something to be named as from the demons and ignored. It is classic justification, if we don’t want to do or accept something, we name it something unacceptable, and ignore it, it is not for us. We see this today in politics and cultural life. Name someone a liberal or conservative, then cancel them. The same happens to the message of John and Jesus. People wonder about the fasting and praying of John and rather than see it as preparation for the Messiah they declare he is possessed and reject him. If he has a demon possession in him then he can be justifiably ignored. In the next verse people will see Jesus who meets at people’s homes to share His message and He is declared a glutton and drunkard, always partying and eating with others, He too can be ignored.
Jesus puts it back on the generation, they are faithless, they are not living for God but for themselves. They can’t see the Messiah, they refuse to fast and pray so they may be more aware. They turn their backs on feasting as well, they want nothing to do with the wisdom of the Messiah and His forerunner. We believe the Messiah has come and leads the way to the kingdom of God, fasting and praying should be our daily practice. Celebrating the Messiah’s presence in our life should be common. We must live so others see Christ in us!
What are your daily priorities? What do you celebrate these days?
We believe the Messiah has come and leads the way to the kingdom of God, fasting and praying should be our daily practice. Celebrating the Messiah's presence in our life should be common. We must live so others see Christ in us! Click To Tweet#bible #godisgreat #jesus #christianity #dailybibleverse @youversion #BeAnEncourager #demon #faithless #Matthew #everybodyalways #god #jesuschrist #jesussaves #godisgood #dailydevotion #biblestudy #scripture #bibleverse #verseoftheday #cross #last #gospels #loveeachother #godisgreat #thisVineyard #youversion #everythingalways