The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 12:38-40

In today’s gospel passage, the Scribes and the Pharisees are demanding that Jesus “work some signs” that they might, presumably, believe in him. Whenever He worked signs or miracles in the past, they found ways of discrediting Him, such as attributing the miracles He performed to Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils. This time, Jesus publicly calls their bluff and refuses to perform any miracles for them. He does, however, offer them a sign, and this sign is staring them right in the face. Jesus’ own life and witness is the only sign they needed, and this is the sign that his enemies, “an evil and ungrateful” generation, rejected.

The sign of the prophet Jonah who spent “three days and three nights in the belly of the whale” is a reference to Jesus’ death and resurrection when he would rise again after spending “three days and three nights in the bowels of the earth.” This sign, the Lord’s greatest miracle, would also be rejected by his enemies.

Jesus’ message is about conversion; it calls upon us to turn away from sin and to be faithful to the gospel. In today’s gospel passage, Jesus contrasts the attitude of the citizens of Nineveh, who “reformed their lives at the preaching of Jonah”, and that of the Queen of Sheba, who listened “to the wisdom of Salomon”, to the hard hearted and cynical attitude of the Scribes and Pharisees who refused to accept Jesus’ words of life. At the day of judgment, the Lord says: the Ninevites and the Queen of Sheba who repented, would rise up with the present generation and “condemn it.”

There is an important lesson for us here. We must put our trust in the Lord and His word rather than chase about after signs. Some people rush around the world, looking for signs and miracles to believe in, in far off places when they can experience the living Lord at home in His word and sacraments. If you do not find the Lord in your heart, you will not find Him anywhere. That was the problem with the disinterested Scribes and Pharisees.

They demanded signs while rejecting the living Lord right before their very eyes.

Fr. Hugh Duffy

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