The demand for signs | Bandera

The demand for signs

Fr. Dan De Los Angeles - February 25, 2015 - 03:00 AM

Wednesday,
February 25, 2015
1st Week of Lent
1st Reading: Jon 3:1–10
Gospel: Lk 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)

Jesus was surprised that people still demanded for signs even though there were lots of signs awaiting interpretation. Jesus cited Jonah who was taken by the Ninevites as a sign that the time for repentance had come. By this sign the whole town of sinners repented in sack cloth and ashes.  The point of Jesus was that just as Jonah became a sign for the people of Nineveh, so he was to be the sign that the kingdom of God had already come.

So why did people still ask for signs? Perhaps they wanted from Jesus a show of wit reminiscent of the wisdom of King Solomon who attracted people as famous as the Queen of the South. But Jesus did not give in to this request. In so refusing Jesus set himself above Solomon and all other wise men of the earth. His offer of salvation was definitely more than the spectacular they got form the Wisdom of Solomon. He even relaxed the requirement that one should belong to the Chosen People of God in order to merit salvation. People only needed to have faith to be saved. The people of Nineveh, for example, did not belong to the Chosen People but they were saved when in faith they repented.

As in the time of the Jews signs abound in our midst today. We don’t have a Jonah in our midst but we have good priests and nuns making heroic offerings of their lives. They are signs of the magnanimity of God’s grace in our midst. We have people who love us standing as signs of the love of God. But these external signs can remain meaningless and powerless if there is no faith deep within each of us.

This Season of Lent is our opportune time to deepen our gift of faith. Instead of looking for signs to sensitize our faith, let us deepen our faith to make sense of the signs that have remained unnoticed. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.

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