The Demand for a Sign

Today's Reflections 

 

The Demand for a Sign

Mt 12:38-42

³⁸Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to [Jesus], “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” ³⁹He said to them in reply, “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. ⁴⁰Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. ⁴¹At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here. ⁴²At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here.”

THE SIGN OF JONAH THE PROPHET. Some scribes and Pharisees have closed their hearts against Jesus. They do not see him as a man of God because Jesus heals on the Sabbath, questions their teaching and practice, and even attacks their character. They ask Jesus for a “sign” that will clear their doubts about Jesus’ authority coming from God.

Jesus refuses to accede to their request. He calls them an evil and unfaithful generation, the same words used by Moses against the rebellious Israelites who, instead of putting their trust in God and in Moses, complained, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?” (Ex 17:3; cf Ex 14:11; Nm 20:5).

Jesus asks people to have faith in him, to trust him, even without the “most convincing” sign. He gives them the example of the Ninevites who repented at the preaching of Jonah. The prophet had indeed undergone a “sign” experience: he had been in the belly of the whale three days and three nights. But the Ninevites would not have seen that miracle. Instead, they saw their own wickedness and believed in the prophet’s warning. And so they repented.

Jesus, in turn, calls for repentance and a return to God, more than people’s excitement over his miracles.

Aren’t we today an “evil and unfaithful generation,”

waiting for something earthshaking

to move us to repentance and return to God?