An Admonition and A Sign, Luke 11: 29-32

“This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah” (Lk. 11: 29). We do not want to hear this. We do not want to think of ourselves in this way. We reserve such language for those who are not like us, those whom we perceive as the enemy in some kind of way. But during these 40 annual days of Lent, we are challenged to be honest with ourselves and identify our failings. We get caught up in this delusion because we all too often wrap ourselves around the things and the people of this world, looking for satisfaction, or fulfillment in things that are finite, rather than trusting in God who is the only one who can give us that happiness and the fulfillment that we most desire.

Yet, it is natural for us to desire good things, justice and fairness; to be treated with dignity and respect. It is natural precisely because we are made in the image and likeness of God. But it is also true that we are all, each and everyone of us, sinners. Because of our sinfulness, Jesus came into the world to save us from our sins. For this reason he willingly chose to suffer and to die for us. But like the people of Nineveh, we all too often take our eyes off of God, and look to the things, or the people of the world for our salvation. Because of this, our view and understanding of ourselves and others is often distorted, even untrue. And the result is sin. We become hypocrites who quickly see and judge the sins of others, never seeing our own. We need to hear Jesus speaking to us when he says: “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye” (Mt. 7: 3)? We are no different than the people of Nineveh, or the people that Jesus is addressing in this passage about the sign of Jonah.

What is the sign of Jonah that Jesus is referring to in this passage? “Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this (our) generation” (v. 30). He is speaking of it as a sign for his death and resurrection. Jonah’s three days and three nights in the belly of a whale before then being spat out on the shore is a prophetic sign for Jesus’ death and resurrection. “Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this (our) generation” (v. 30). Then Jesus, speaking of himself, tells the people that “there is something greater” standing before them and speaking to them. This is true for us, too. Jesus Christ is standing before us here and now. But Jesus is no “sign”. He is reality itself. He is the promised Messiah, the Word of God made flesh, who has come among us and remains with us even now, even here. But do we see him? Do we listen to him? Do we repent and turn back toward him like the people of Nineveh did?

We are living in a Nineveh-like world enamored with and distorted by greed, the enticements of pleasures of all kinds, and the corrupting elements of power. It seems evident that many in our own time have forgotten and turned away from God, and as a result, there is much suffering and division. So much seems to be driven by unchecked passions, ceaseless, reckless, and selfish competition and power seeking. It is the world blinded often by hypocrisy, and drowning in mutual mistrust and deceits of all kinds. It is a world where lies are presented as truths and where others are no longer seen or treated as fellow human beings, but as objects to be used, or abused for less than noble motives, where the tawdry and the cheap are given ultimate importance.

The goal of our Lenten journey is to see our sins, our participation in these habits, to repent of them, and to turn back to God. In our effort to become detached from the things, the distractions of the world, we are not being asked to stop loving the good things or the people of the world. The good and beautiful things of God’s Creation are God’s gifts to all of us. We are to see and to love them as God loves and sees them. When we are no longer blinded by our worldly passions and self concerns, we become more able to see the world and our neighbors as God sees them and they become even more beautiful to us. The goal of our Lenten journey, then, is to turn our eyes back to Jesus to look hard and honestly at our penchant for sin, to seek forgiveness and the graces we need to courageously turn back toward God. “With God on our side, who can be against us” (Rom. 8:31)?