Someone or something?

     Jesus in Luke's Gospel says that this is an evil generation ... that it seeks a sign.  He then says that the "sign" that will be given is the example of the past, the example of Jonah and of Solomon.  Jonah proclaimed a call to repentance, but it was the person of Jonah, saved from the belly of the whale, that touched the imagination of the people of Nineveh and prompted them to repent.  Solomon was gifted with an extraordinary wisdom that was recognized and sought after by the queen of the south.  She came from the ends of the earth to see and listen to and be inspired by this man of wisdom. 

     And in both examples, Jesus makes it clear that while there was the wisdom or the message that were sought after and accepted by those people, they were drawn to it by Jonah and Solomon.

     But he points out that this is the very source of condemnation for this generation.  If people could respond to God because of a person like Jonah or Solomon, why could this generation not respond to the living Word of God, Jesus.  Not to his persona, his dynamism, his personality and charisma, but to the truth of God's love that he is for them.  Jesus says that there is something greater than Solomon here ... there is something greater than Jonah here.  He does not say "someone greater - himself" but rather "something greater - the reality of God's love".  That "thing" is not represented by the person of Jesus, that "thing" IS Jesus, the reality of God.  And he is truth.

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Pray for the Church

in this time of transition.

May gratitude and joy,

hope and trust

in the mercy and love of God

dwell with us.