What someone might think

[myotch]

So, Jesus is at a restaurant. Some of John the Baptist's followers come in and say "Hey, we're abstaining and fasting, you're sitting here eating and drinking!" Jesus dismisses them.

Jesus's disciples are kind of awkwardly looking at each other, but Jesus know's what's on their minds.

He tells them "Look, if you are eating and drinking, people are going to call you a glutton and a drunk. If you abstain, they'll call you crazy."

Is the moral of the story that you can eat and drink a little, listen to some rock-n-roll, go to a movie. because these things are not what your witness is about, anyway?

Or is the moral of the story that if you don't do anything enjoyable, people will call you that crazy [John the] Baptist [follower]?

I remember in the Marine Corps, this guy's grandfather had died. He was holding an "Irish wake", with a shot of whisky set aside for the deceased. I was able to minister to this guys needs by being present at the bar, even toasting the deceased, and keeping him talking. My gunny, a strict 7th Day Adventist, looked at me funny - he knew I was Christian, and didn't understand why I was at the bar. (He, a physical security expert and First Sergeant of the Military Police, was there on a general law enforcement "glad-handing" mission). Once he realized this was a two-man wake, and this young marine was genuinely hurting, I think he got the idea of why I was there.

Sometimes we need to stop thinking about how we can serve God by not doing something we see as frowned upon or somehow forbidden, and start thinking about how we can serve others wherever we find them.