The sign of Jonah

October 15,
2018 Monday
28th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Gal 4:22–24, 26–27, 31–5:1Gospel: Luke 11:29-32
As the crowd increased, Jesus began to speak in this way, “People of the present time are evil people. They ask for a sign, but no sign will be given to them except the sign of Jonah. As Jonah became a sign for the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be a sign for this generation. The Queen of the South will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and here there is greater than Solomon. The people of Nineveh will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for Jonah’s preaching made them turn from their sins, and here there is greater than Jonah.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The Jews had another bullet to bite from Jesus in today’s Gospel episode. Jesus exposed the inconsistency of their claim that they descended from people of extraordinary wisdom. Indeed their ancestors were wise. But the inconsistency lies in the fact that the Jews refused to embrace their ancestors’ paradigm, especially Solomon’s paradigm. A person as wise as Solomon could easily recognize the extraordinary wisdom behind the teachings of Jesus.
Jesus called them “evil people” in verse 29. A parallel account in Matthew’s Gospel adds the word “unfaithful” (Matthew 13:38). They were an unfaithful, evil people. The word “unfaithful” is also used in the Gospels to refer to the “adulterous”. Taken in this context, the word unfaithful is well chosen in Matthew’s version. Indeed the Jews were adulterous in the sense that they betrayed their relationship with Yahweh when they refused to accept the Messiah whom Yahweh sent. Would any sign be of use to adulterous people? (Jeremiah 3:6-10). To an unfaithful heart, no sign will work. Jesus did not see any use of giving them a sign. Besides, they already had the sign of Jonah.
The sign of Jonah teaches us what repentance bestows. The people of Nineveh, though sinners, had repentant hearts. Because of their repentant disposition it was easy for them to recognize that the appearance of Jonah in their city was a sign from heaven that it was time for them to repent. And so when Jonah appeared they set out as a people to fast wearing sackcloth and putting ashes on their heads. Then God relented and withheld their punishment.
Without repentance, no sign from heaven is efficacious enough to touch hearts. In the absence of repentance, the heart is only capable of longing for the spectacular. This is the reason why we must first learn from the sign of Jonah. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM.