This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
There had been an abundance of signs already, but the people had managed to ignore and to rationalize them. Were they tricks? Or did they have their origin in demonic power? They were ready to believe anything but the obvious and evident truth that Jesus was a man from God, attested by him "with mighty works and wonders and signs" (see Acts 2:22). It was clear that the signs Jesus deigned to offer were not going to move everyone to repentance. They didn't want the signs he gave, but rather signs on their terms and according to their specifics. Jesus wasn't going to play games with the only purpose of allowing peoples' egos to stay in control. Instead, he pointed out that they themselves already had seen and heard enough to be accountable.
she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
…
because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
In days past the people who been able to recognize the supernatural wisdom by which Solomon governed. Even the Queen of the South was drawn to leave her own throne to seek out the wisdom that could be found nowhere else. In days past the prophetic preaching of Jonah was enough to turn an entire nation to repentance. Yet here in Jesus was one who was wisdom incarnate, both prophet and king, but whose words were apparently harder to accept. He was a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles (see First Corinthians 1:23). He came to those who should have been the most ready to receive him, to his own people, but his sown people refused to receive him (see John 1:11).
and there is something greater than Solomon here.
…
and there is something greater than Jonah here.
How was it that in Jesus was one who spoke with a wisdom greater than Solomon and a prophetic voice more powerful than Jonah and yet many did not heed his words? Was it not perhaps because the stakes for accepting or denying Jesus were much higher, and that it was a choice with consequences that hit much closer to home? It was true that as a consequence of Jonah people changed their sinful ways. But to follow Jesus meant something even greater. It meant surrendering control of one's life to him. One was free to go and hear Solomon's wisdom and take back some useful principles by which to govern one's life or one's country, yet ultimately such a person could go back to their own throne. The wisdom of Jesus was centered around a Kingdom of which he himself was the only true king. It could not be had while still retaining the throne for oneself. One would have to divest of trust in material things, to lay down self-will, and to follow Christ, even if that meant following him to the cross. It is a small wonder that the generation proved recalcitrant.
How about us? We may not have been given the specific signs that would have made things so perfectly clear and explicit that we could follow Jesus with no risk to our egos. We would have preferred such perfect clarity about him that it was cold calculus, basically undeniable, rather than faith. Yet it is not a settled question whether we could ever be as convinced as that, or whether or egos would continue to remain evasive to avoid the cross. In any case, he did not want our acceptance of him to be the result of necessity, but rather the response to an invitation.
May the Lord help us who have been graced with such access to the living wisdom of Christ. May he give us the grace to overcome to grasp of our own egos in order to place our lives in his hands. May we learn to repent as did Nineveh so that there are no obstacles to the life of God being manifest in our own lives. May we surrender ourselves one who is not merely a king but the King of kings (see First Timothy 6:15). Our egos may feel threatened by this. But when has our ego ever delivered completely on a promise? We have already experienced the shortsighted limits of our own wisdom. Let us step beyond ourselves into trust in Jesus so that we too can be signs to a generation deceived and in need of truth.
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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