While 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” (Lk 11:29).
To understand what Jesus means we need to understand the sign of Jonah. Jonah was sent by God to go to Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, to call them to repent from their wicked ways. The Jews not only considered Nineveh to be a place of decadence, wickedness and godlessness, the military of Assyria had invaded Israel and eventually conquered the northern kingdom around 721 BC. We can understand Jonah’s initial refusal follow God’s lead. Not only did he not want to go to Nineveh, Jonah wanted God to punish and destroy them. Those who have read the tale, know that Jonah acquiesced and within hours of his proclamation to the citizens, including the king, they repented and God showed them mercy.
Jesus is drawing a parallel between the people of Nineveh and his listeners. The people of Nineveh listened and repented to a reluctant messenger. The Ninevites, Gentiles, the sworn enemies of Israel, received God’s mercy when they repented. Now, in their midst was one greater than Jonah, the Son of God, and they were demanding of him a sign. The sign of Jonah was repentance. Jesus, from the beginning of his public ministry preached the same: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15).
We would do well to listen to Jesus’ message. Repentance is a key spiritual discipline. We are called to consistently examine our conscience. We need to come to accept that we live in a fallen world. This is not a pessimistic view. This is an awareness of the reality of our present condition. Jesus warned about the cult of personality, the messiah complex. Jesus himself is the sign, he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Through accepting that we live in a fallen world, by recognizing we need a savior, we can make the next step to recognize that we need to repent and turn back to him who can save us, for apart from him, we can do nothing. If we believe we can solve our problems on our own, we will consistently fall short. Julian the Apostate, Roman emperor from 361-363 AD attempted to adopt and mimic Christian charitable works, which he saw value in but he sought to do so through the state by enacting policies without practicing Christianity. In essence, doing good on his own without Jesus. This did not work.
St Mother Teresa recognized the need for Jesus and stressed this when she taught her novices that she was not interested in numbers, she was not interested in having a branch of social workers. She and those who followed Jesus were to be missionaries of God’s charity. They were to serve Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poor. To do so they participated in daily Mass for an hour and adoration for an hour. Empowered by Jesus, blessed by his mercy and love they could serve Jesus in those they met in harshest of conditions.
May we not so much seek signs, but seek Jesus. Let us begin this morning by turning away from our own selfish pursuits and pray today that Jesus may be the center of our lives, the very source of our thoughts and actions. For it is, “Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name” (Romans 1:5). Let us trust that God is at work within us. We are called to follow his lead, to do what he asks of us today. Let us rise and be on our way to go and announce the Gospel of the Lord in word and deed.
Link for today’s readings:
Spiritual Stepping Stones 