Today's Reflections
The Demand for a Sign
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Lk 11:29-32
29While
still more people gathered in the crowd, [Jesus] said to them, “This
generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be
given it, except the sign of Jonah. 30Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31At
the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this
generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of
the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater
than Solomon here. 32At the judgment the men of Nineveh will
arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of
Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
IT SEEKS A SIGN. The
Jews ask Jesus for a sign or miracle that they may believe in him as
one having authority from God. Jesus does not give in to their demand
and even calls them an “evil generation.” This is in reference to the
Israelites in the desert who required miracles from Moses while asking,
“Is the Lord with us or not?” They wanted the Lord to act according to
their expectations, instead of trusting in the God revealed to their
fathers as concerned with their welfare.
Jesus
points to a sign: the sign of Jonah. What the Ninevites saw was not
some spectacle of nature (like Jonah being swallowed and spat alive by a
whale) but the enormity of their sins that merited God’s punishment
unless they repented. And so they did repent, ordering a fast for men
and beasts alike.
It
is natural for us to be awed by the extraordinary.Jesus tells us that
if we only have faith, we will see miracles everywhere. A characteristic
of a miracle is the “awe” that it arouses in the witnesses. But the
same awe can be experienced in ordinary events: the rising and the
setting of the sun, the clouds, the birds and other animals, the persons
we encounter daily. These creatures attest to the power of the Creator,
and they, too, are miracles.
Are you still awed by the beauty of creation?
Or do you simply take things for granted?
What weakens or strengthens your faith?
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