This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
The people of Nineveh were able to recognize the voice of a prophet of the Lord. He preached a simple and uncompromising message, a message with rough edges, without any signs to distract from it.
The queen of the south was able to recognize wisdom so great as to justify her journey from "the ends of the earth" to hear it. She did not come to see a sign but to to listen to the wisdom given by God to Solomon.
There are several reasons why we do still seek a sign, and then, as a consequence fail to recognize that the voice of the Wisdom of God himself speaking, the sign of Jonah, ought to have been enough for us. We seek a sign because signs are often entertaining, distracting, or mysterious. When the sincere seekers need signs to be pointed toward God they are given signs. But the signs we want do not point us toward God or help us to recognize what he is saying.
We don't want to change. Since we intuit that the preaching of Jesus, greater than that of Jonah, might cause as drastic a change in our lives, even more than that of Jonah did for Nineveh, we don't want to risk it. Without a sign we could know the rightness of the call and challenge. But we insist on a sign to give ourselves an excuse for stagnating where we are.
We don't want to listen to Jesus because we prefer to be the highest source of wisdom and authority in our own lives. Our human wisdom makes no demands on us, or only demands that we find congenial. It does not require us to put ourselves second, to journey outside of ourselves, "from the ends of the earth" to hear God's wisdom.
In Jesus there is One greater than Jonah and greater than Solomon. Without a sign we can hear that the voice of the one who is Truth itself does speak truly, and with authority. We need to learn to recognize when we are trying to stall, to insulate ourselves, or to distract ourselves from his voice. Our own wisdom will never lead to happiness. If we let it have full reign in us it will in fact lead us to an even greater destruction than that which threatened Nineveh.
Jesus does not begrudge us any sign that would help us. However, he wants us to focus on receiving what has already been given, what is right in front of us, but which we have not yet chosen to fully recognize. Let us pray for the grace to see and understand the sign of Jonah that is already there to guide us.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
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