In today's first reading Galatians 4: 22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1, St. Paul speaks about two kinds of births: natural and spiritual, of the flesh and through faith in God, in Christ Jesus! We could speak about having a natural mother and a spiritual mother, being born of the law and being born of the Spirit! The law binds us, enslaves us, condemns us; the spirit sets us free. In St. Paul's words: "For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery."
In the Gospel of today, Luke 11: 29-32, Jesus confronts the crowd that is asking him for signs. Jesus had already healed many people, raised the dead to life, cast out demons and fed thousands from a few loaves of bread and a few fish. So why continue to beg for signs? They were doing so out of malicious suspicions and stubbornness, wanting information about who He really was. If He claimed to be God, then they could accuse Him, from their perspective, of blasphemy and that would validate their desire to put Him to death. Knowing their motivations, Jesus says of 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 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."
In Matthew 16:13-17, Jesus Himself asks His disciples: "Who do people say the Son of Man is? And they said, 'Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' 'But you,' he said, 'who do you say I am?' Then Simon Peter spoke up, 'You are the Christ,...the Son of God.'"
Jesus asks you and me that same question! Are we ready to respond or are we still looking for signs or, on the other hand, are we still taunting those whose faith in Christ Jesus is unshakable?
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