Word to the Wise
Monday, July 24, 2017 - Monday in the 16th Week in Ordinary Time
[Exod 14:5-18 and Matt 12:38-42]Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." He said to them in reply, "An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet." [Matthew]
I can remember as a grade school kid that occasionally we were entertained by a traveling magician who performed some regular feats involving string and cards and coins. We were convinced that if we watched closely enough we could catch him. Of course, he was too good for us, but we would keep trying. In the scene from the gospel scripture for today, the scribes and Pharisees have refused to believe that Jesus had power over unclean spirits despite what he had already shown. The plain fact was that nothing would really satisfy them. Their request is not a request coming from faith but from dislike and skepticism. Their effort to discredit reminds me of much of what I see on news programs or in newspaper columns!
In the musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, Herod taunts Jesus by singing, "Prove to me that you're no fool. Walk across my swimming pool." To a person of faith, it seems absurd to make God prove that God deserves our faith! Yet, there is occasionally that wish for the miraculous to prop up our weakness. We would really never be satisfied. God is present in the ordinary things of life because we are made in the image and likeness of God and by virtue of our baptism, we are identified with Christ and members of his Body, the Church. The Sign of Jonah - the death and resurrection of Jesus - is the one Jesus promised. We proclaim it every day in the Eucharist. That should be enough. AMEN
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