Wednesday of the First Week in Lent
Dear brothers
and sisters in Christ Jesus, there are several signs and wonders in the Old
Testament to manifest that God is present amidst them. In case of the call of
Moses, to show that he is sent by God he performed some signs, for exam in Exodus 4: 7, then the LORD said, “ Put
your hand inside your cloak” so Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he
took it out, it was leprous, like snow. “ Now put it back into your cloak,”he
said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it
was restored, like the rest of his flesh. And in the case of Gideon- the sign
of Fleece (Judges 6:36-40). It
invoked certain faith in God.
On the other
hand, there are times the signs have been given, it did not lead to belief. In
the desert journey people of Israel received a lot of signs but were
unbelieving. Pharoah saw the signs but was stubborn to believe. In the Gospel too, people were astonished and
awe struck at the miraculous deed of Christ, but all of them did not move to
faith. (Luke 5:26; Mark 2:12) they were moved to glorify but not had a change
of heart.
Therefore
, all these signs and wonders alone do not instil faith but in all these there
is a person who does them at the command of God. That particular person’s word
and action is an essential yardstick for opening up other’s minds to the Truth
of God and to Faith.
The context: During Jesus' time as the Gospel presents to us, people
were amazed at his extraordinary works and words, so they started following.
Some among them are for to see miracles and some others are seeking other signs
to believe in him that He is the Son of Man, the Messiah.
But 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.
Why do we seek signs? Some reason could be in general
To confirm that it is from God
To show excuses their unbelief (No intention
to believe) Matthew 16:1; Luke
11:16).
To satisfy their curiosity but no real
desire to know
To attract to themselves not to the
true source (frauds)
What is the sign of Jonah that Jesus speaks about?
The Sign
of Jonah
There are two aspects to the sign of
Jonah.
●
In the belly of fish and in the heart of
the earth:
Jonah 1:17 But the LORD provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah
was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. This refers to Jesus
in relation to his death, that he would be in the heart of the earth for three
days and for three nights.
●
Preaching : Jonah 2:10 The LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited
out Jonah on the dry land. Once he was in Nineveh, he went about preaching the
word of God, the wrath of God and invited them for conversion of heart and
lives. So also after the death and resurrection of Christ, the message of
conversion will be proclaimed throughout.
1st reading - Prophet spoke the Truth, People Listened,
Believed and they were saved.
Jonah thought people would not listen,
the Ninevites are the Assyrians; they were pagans, cruel and immoral in their
nature, so they were in enmity with God and Israel. Though the Prophet was
hesitant to go for the fear of his life and cruelty, he was led to go. To his surprise, when people heard his
message there was immediate response, they believed in his message. They
recognised the truth, believed in God, and repented. From the most downtrodden
to the most powerful, they took Jonah’s words to heart. They repented and
turned from their evil ways. Thus they were spared.
Jesus also mentions about the wisdom of Solomon, the Queen of Sheba came from afar to
listen to Solomon, to appreciate the gift of wisdom. She recognised this as the
gift of God and came to witness it personally and enlivened by it. His wisdom was a sign, pointing towards
a fraction of God’s wisdom and Truth.
Jesus said, there is greater than jonah,
solomon and all the prophets. Nothing could win him over even death.
Jesus' message was to invite people to
repent and believe, the kingdom is at hand. He inhibited people to turn away from their sinful ways and return
to communion with God by changing the course of their lives.
People marvelled at his preaching,
astonished at his healings but many continued to ask for signs. They
failed to see a great sign, failed to see who was in front of them.
The Present
day Danger:
People are now easily targeted, misled by
so called man of god. The deceptions
in God’s name to earn more followers not to Jesus but to himself. So the more
the number of followers the more the man of God he is. So they are only performing some acts to
attract more people, designing and creating some exaggerated works to impress
and increase followers. But this is at the cost of omitting Truth, Spiritual
quality but adhering to exaggerations and emotionalism(pleasing words and false
miracles). Even today People flock to places if something sensational happens without
first verifying it. This is dangerous to faith. People want signs and
marvellous deeds but fail to see who is in front of them because:
We have
enough signs today
★
The Eucharist (failed
to spend time)
★
The Word of God (failed
to read and learn)
★
Which do not need any
further proof to instil faith. It’s like pouring water into the sea and holding
a candle to the sun. The lord has
already given enough signs through his life and death and resurrection.
★
sacrament and community of faithful. (failed to understand
the role)
Lent is time to reflect and understand
the many ways he is present to us now. We don't need more signs and wonders to
believe.
Let us
listen to Word of God, the eternal Truth and believe
Let us
recognize Christ in the Eucharist who is always before us.
“So
faith comes from what is heard, and
what
is heard comes through the word of Christ.” Romans
10:17
Let our
faith be relied on Word, Eucharist = Christ, the eternal Truth
Let our faith
not be relied on sensory experiences, sensations, emotional satiety
, ‘Because you have seen
me, you have believed;
blessed are those who have
not seen and yet have believed’” John 20:29
