"We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ - St. Matthew 11.17
So do you want fire and brimstone or rainbows and unicorns? That is exactly what the Gospel for Mass today (St. Mt. 11.16-19, 25-30) talks about. Apparently, the answer is neither. St. John the Forerunner preached the Gospel with severe asceticism, fasting, eating at a barely subsistence level, having zero fun along the way, and the opinion of the religious leaders of the day, of the authorities, of regular Youssef on the street, even, was that John the Baptizer was either cuckoo or possessed. So along comes Jesus of Nazareth, who isn't particularly ascetic (with very notable exceptions like the 40 days in the wilderness, but we digress), who enjoyed going to wedding receptions, dinner get-togethers, and was not too fussy whether His disciples washed their hands ritually before dinner, and yet the same people who thought John was too harsh and needed a straitjacket instead of a camel's-hair robe thought Jesus was an all round lax glutton and lush who kept questionable company.
Our Lord's point is that nothing would have made these people happy, nothing would have commended any one preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God, nothing would have sunk into their stubbornness (what the Bible often calls "hardness of heart" or close-mindedness), nothing would force them to say anything nice about anybody bringing God's message. This is why later in the passage Jesus mentions that the Father has "hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and...revealed them to infants." (St. Mt. 11.25b)
Jesus' laid a heavy condemnation on the religious and civil leaders of Judea. No matter who was proclaiming the Good News, they just were not having it.
Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax-collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him." (St. Mt. 21.31b-32)
It didn't matter who brought the message, the fact of the matter is those who should have known better rejected the message and those whom everyone assumed were going to Hell in a handbasket were actually paying attention and receiving mercy from God.
Sound like anything going on today? Remember the heart of the Gospel: mercy, forgiveness, generosity, hospitality, justice, lifting up the oppressed and downtrodden. This message is by and large rejected by huge swaths of our population and many of our politicians, whereas those upholding the tenets of the Gospel are "sinners" in the opinion of these same hardliners. These sinners are paying attention. These sinners have gotten the gist of Jesus' message. Many of us have not. This is a call for us to shape up, because rejecting the mandates of the Gospel and presuming on God's favour because we're not one of "those people" is simply delusional.
Image displayed is a traditional icon of Jesus' baptism at the hands of John the Forerunner, signifying the unity of their message despite the difference in approach.