Wednesday of the First Week of Lent – Feb. 24, 2010
Luke 11:29 – 32
As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom; and now one greater than Solomon is here. The people of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now one greater than Jonah is here."
It would be easy to get lost in the details of the passage, but don’t drown in analysis. Jesus uses two figures – Jonah/Nineveh and Queen of the South/Solomon – that likely would have resonated with his original hearers to make a point about the willingness – or lack thereof – to adjust one’s life.
We may not get the images, but Jonah with the people of Nineveh and Solomon with the “Queen of the South” likely would have been recognizable to Jesus’ first-century hearers. We, therefore, can immediately get over our fixation with knowing the intricacies of the references. If the names had been unrecognizable or obscure to Jesus’ original audience, he would have provided an explanation.
Both references point to groups or persons who heeded the wisdom or message of a spokesperson from God. Jonah spoke and was heard. Solomon spoke and was heard. Now Jesus spoke, but unlike Jonah and Solomon, he was being shunned and dismissed, not flashy enough or wondrous enough for his contemporaries.
Persons of every generation are intrigued by signs and wonders, the over-the-top illuminations that say, “God is here!” Yet, persons of every generation also miss the mundane, everyday manifestations of God in their midst . . . the lone bird descending on a lake . . . the weeping of a friend in pain . . . the compassion of a teen caring for a belittled classmate . . . the silence elicited from a scene more beautiful than words.
Jesus doesn’t promise a sign. He invites his hearers to receive his message and to adjust their lives accordingly. It is one thing to hear the message. It is another thing altogether to adjust our lives accordingly.
I can hear a message and affirm its goodness, its basic rightness. I can also find that when a message is too challenging, when it invites me to deeper life-change, I may balk. I resist not because I disbelieve the message, but because I don’t want the difficulty, struggle, and messiness of life-change.
Further, I find that sometimes when I resist the life-change because it is too strenuous, I may then go back and question the message. “Well, I didn’t really believe those things anyway.” Because my will is weak, I’ll dismiss the validity of the message itself.
Jesus invites us to adjust life so that we live true to God and to ourselves. Then, in living true to God and ourselves, we offer the gift of liberation and transformation to others and to the entire created world. Jesus invites this transformation, not because we have seen a sign, but simply because of who he is and because he invites us by name to this journey of Love.
As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom; and now one greater than Solomon is here. The people of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now one greater than Jonah is here."
It would be easy to get lost in the details of the passage, but don’t drown in analysis. Jesus uses two figures – Jonah/Nineveh and Queen of the South/Solomon – that likely would have resonated with his original hearers to make a point about the willingness – or lack thereof – to adjust one’s life.
We may not get the images, but Jonah with the people of Nineveh and Solomon with the “Queen of the South” likely would have been recognizable to Jesus’ first-century hearers. We, therefore, can immediately get over our fixation with knowing the intricacies of the references. If the names had been unrecognizable or obscure to Jesus’ original audience, he would have provided an explanation.
Both references point to groups or persons who heeded the wisdom or message of a spokesperson from God. Jonah spoke and was heard. Solomon spoke and was heard. Now Jesus spoke, but unlike Jonah and Solomon, he was being shunned and dismissed, not flashy enough or wondrous enough for his contemporaries.
Persons of every generation are intrigued by signs and wonders, the over-the-top illuminations that say, “God is here!” Yet, persons of every generation also miss the mundane, everyday manifestations of God in their midst . . . the lone bird descending on a lake . . . the weeping of a friend in pain . . . the compassion of a teen caring for a belittled classmate . . . the silence elicited from a scene more beautiful than words.
Jesus doesn’t promise a sign. He invites his hearers to receive his message and to adjust their lives accordingly. It is one thing to hear the message. It is another thing altogether to adjust our lives accordingly.
I can hear a message and affirm its goodness, its basic rightness. I can also find that when a message is too challenging, when it invites me to deeper life-change, I may balk. I resist not because I disbelieve the message, but because I don’t want the difficulty, struggle, and messiness of life-change.
Further, I find that sometimes when I resist the life-change because it is too strenuous, I may then go back and question the message. “Well, I didn’t really believe those things anyway.” Because my will is weak, I’ll dismiss the validity of the message itself.
Jesus invites us to adjust life so that we live true to God and to ourselves. Then, in living true to God and ourselves, we offer the gift of liberation and transformation to others and to the entire created world. Jesus invites this transformation, not because we have seen a sign, but simply because of who he is and because he invites us by name to this journey of Love.
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