In today's Gospel, Matthew 12: 38-42, some of the scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign. Frustrated, Jesus says to them: "...no sign shall be given...except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights." Jesus then rebukes the people for their lack of repentance at His preaching. "...[T]here is something greater than Jonah here." Nineveh repented when Jonah warned them of their evil ways while many people to whom Jesus preached, and preaches today, basically ignore His message. "At the judgment," Jesus says to them and to us, "the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here."
Among the questions that I need to ask myself are: 1) Do I realize that Someone greater than Jonah or Solomon lives in my midst, invites me to the Banquet of the Eucharist, lives in the very core of my being, directing to do good, calling me to repentance, nudging me to avoid the evil ways of dishonesty, gossip, greed, revenge, pride and other sinful ways? 2) To whom/what do I seek wisdom while avoiding an ever deepening relationship with Jesus in communal, liturgical and personal prayer, in living a life of love, mercy, and forgiveness; in holy reading and helping family members, one's neighbor and the outcast, a refugee, a homeless person in need?
It is not that you and I do not know what God asks of us, because the law of God, of love, is written on our hearts. We have also been told what to do, as Micah, in today's first reading reminds us: You have been told..what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do the right [act justly], and to love goodness [love tenderly], and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah, 6: 8).
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