"An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Nivevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation"
Gospel of Matthew and Luke
The Book of Jonah is a story told in order to teach a lesson to the inhabitants of Judah. Jonah was an extremely nationalistic Jew from Judah, and a somewhat reluctant messenger called by God. Jonah symbolizes the whole country of Judah, which at the time was failing to understand God's message of salvation. God's call to conversion was meant for all nations and peoples, even those who they may have felt were not worthy of God's grace and compassion.
In sending Jonah, the main character in the story, to the foreign city Nineveh, we are reminded as well that Jesus' mission was meant to be for all people and all nations.
Jonah preached God's message to the Ninevites, and the Ninevites listened and repented (that is they changed the direction in which they were going) and as a result, the disaster that was predicted by Jonah was averted. The city and its people were saved from possible destruction.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus makes a very interesting statement to the people who demanded a sign from Him. He said: "An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Nivevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation". Then he left them and went away.
When Jonah preached God's message, the Nivevites repented and changed, and the disaster was averted. Jesus says: "And there is something greater than Jonah here".
Jesus is for us what Jonah was for the Ninevites. Jesus calls us, not to look for marvelous signs and wonders, spectacular miracles which dazzle our eyes, but to repent, to change the direction in which we are going. Jesus calls us to live the Gospel of love.
Our culture today is perhaps similar to the culture in Jesus' time when He called it an evil generation, a generation that was not listening to God's word, a generation that was going its own way. Jesus' call to the generation of His day is the same as His call to us today; we must change.
God's light and salvation breaks through only if we turn to Him, and live His law of love. This call includes becoming a messenger of God, and bearers of the Good News.
The purpose for our spiritual journey is to draw us more deeply into this realization, to make us aware that our wholeness, well-being, our healing as a people will only come as we abandon our own ways of doing things and turn to God for guidance and direction. It is a call to change. This change creates within us a new ardour and enthusiasm for the Gospel. And God's grace gives us a new vibrancy which enables us to express our faith in a manner that draws others to conversion, to the realization that it is only in God that we can place our hope and trust. Like Jonah, the reluctant messenger, we must come to the realization of the importance of our mission of calling others to wholeness, a message meant for all peoples and all nations.
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