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     The stories of Jonah and the Queen of Sheba would have been familiar to Jesus' audience.  Besides his well-known journey in the whale (which the Gospel According to Matthew has Jesus mentioning) his success at getting the great city of Nineveh was amazing (even to Jonah).  The Queen of Sheba traveled a long distance to hear Solomon's wisdom.  The simple message of Jesus - that of repentance - is greater than the "sign" of Jonah or the wisdom of Solomon.  Jonah was able to get the Ninevites to repent.  Jesus is experiencing resistance to his message.  The crowds are more interested in some kind of extraordinary "sign" that will convince them of Jesus' power and identity.

     Jesus encountered the same kind of resistance earlier in Luke's gospel account when he began his preaching in Nazareth.  There he mentioned the prophets Elijah and Elisha who were signs to an unbelieving generation.  He (Jesus) is greater than they.  The message from Jesus does not require a great "sign," (although his death and resurrection would become one).  It requires simple conversion and repentance.  Great signs and miracles that do not demand any change or conversion are useless.  The best sign of Jesus in our life is that we are enabled to overcome the temptations and pitfalls that our secular and consumerist culture constantly throw at us.  Real Christianity is always going to be "counter-cultural," which is why so many try to domesticate it by preaching the "gospel of prosperity."    Jesus gives us a clear warning about this in the parable of the rich fool.  [cf. Luke 12:16-21]  We saw the same warning in the Gospel According to Mark this past Sunday.  

     The wisdom of Jesus is a continual summons to conversion and in doing this we become a sign to our own generation.  We might be surprised, like Jonah, at how effective a sign we can be!  AMEN