Monday in the 28th Week of Ordinary Time, October 16, 2023

Luke 11, 29-32

While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here. At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here.”

“This generation is an evil generation.”  In Matthew 12, 38, we learn that it is the scribes and Pharisees who ask for this sign.  Matthew records Jesus as answering, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign.”  It is very possible that the Lord was asked for a “sign from heaven” several times during his Public Life, but Matthew and Luke seem to record the same incident here.  The word is usually translated as “generation” really should be translated as “age” because both the Hebrew and Greek words underlying “generation” mean an indefinite time period that usually includes many “generations”.  The Lord is speaking not merely of the generation in which he lived but in the age which extends from his Incarnation and Birth unto the present time.  Now, every age of the human race from the time of Adam and Eve could be accounted as “evil”, but this age particularly so since it is in this age that the Son of God came down to earth, performed powerful miracles and rose from the dead after his crucifixion, and yet relatively few follow him.  Even after traversing the length and breadth of Galilee and Judea, his followers, while measured in crowds, amounted to only a few compared with the Jewish population at that time.  In the years since, even those who claim to follow him distort his teachings to suit themselves.  We see this even among theologians and bishops today.  So what could be excused as ignorance in earlier ages can only be called malice today.  This wicked generation seeks “a sign” when it already has the reality.  It is like a longed-for relative has appeared and his family only wants to gaze st his shadow.  This may seem bizarre, but a shadow or sign can be interpreted in many ways that cannot be easily disproven, but the reality is harder to do this to.  We can use a shadow to justify any actions we want, but the reality will contradict the actions that are sinful and dangerous.  

“But no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.”  The actions of the “sign” of Jonah occurred in the distant past.  What the Lord means is that he will fulfill the sign of Jonah, the sign par excellence of the Prophets, for Jonah gave up his life to save foreigners from the storm and was swallowed up by a giant fish.  After three days he was cast forth from it onto the shore and he went on to preach to the Ninevites, who responded by repenting in sackcloth and ashes.  In the same way the Lord would give up his life to save the human race and enter death for three days.  Conquering death, he would preach to the Gentiles through his Church: “Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.”

“At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them.”  On the last day, the dead shall rise together for judgment by the Lord Jesus, who will come with great power.  The queen of the south, of Sheba, came to see Solomon with her own eyes because of the reports she had received of his wisdom.  For one ruler to go to another in ancient time meant acknowledging their superiority, which the queen reinforced by the great gifts she presented to the reigning king of Israel.  But Solomon performed no miracles.  He did not raise the dead.  Yet Jesus had performed innumerable miracles and had raised the dead and was fulfilling the Scriptures, and yet the leaders of the Jews rejected him.  Likewise, the Ninevites repented at the word of a foreign prophet who preached a God whom they did not know, and the rulers of the Jews would not repent despite their ongoing awareness of their need to repent and the Lord’s convicting words.

We believers have the reality of Jesus before us in his words, recorded in the Gospel, and in the holy sacraments, most especially in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.  Let us hold fast to him so that we may pass through death onto the eternal shores of heaven.