Verse 18
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a demon. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! And wisdom is justified by her works.
John was an ascetic, living in the wilderness on the roughest of fare. Christ was sociable, even attending weddings, and eating with publicans and sinners. That unreasonable generation rejected both. John they accused of having a demon; and Christ they vilified as a "glutton and winebibber." There was clearly no place in that society for any type of manifestation of God's righteousness, no matter what direction it took.
The following criticisms were directed against Christ: (1) He was called a glutton. (2) He was called a winebibber. (3) They said he cast out demons by the prince of demons (Matthew 9:34). (4) They called him Beelzebul (Matthew 10:25). (5) They called him a sinner (John 9:24). (6) They said he had a demon (John 7:20). (7) They said he was a Samaritan (John 8:48). (8) They charged him with violating the sabbath (Matthew 12:2). (9) They referred to him as a "deceiver" (Matthew 27:63). (10) They accused him of friendship with publicans and sinners (Luke 15:2). In that last calumny, they overreached themselves, because what they intended as a slander is in fact the glory of our Lord, namely, that he is a friend of publicans and sinners.
And wisdom is justified by her works ... means that both John and Jesus were doing the will of God.
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