A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
“This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus refers to the first reading from Jonah, who traveled throughout Nineveh, announcing that in forty days the city would be destroyed. But when the king of Nineveh heard Jonah’s announcement, he called for man and beast alike to be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God, turning from evil and renouncing violence. Their faith in God’s mercy saved them: “When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,” Jonah says, “he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out.” Jesus compares himself to Jonah, but as Jesus says of himself as the savior of all through his death and resurrection, “there is something greater than Jonah here.”
God, open my eyes to the meaning of the Gospel as it relates to this day. No sign will be given this generation, says Jesus, except the sign of Jonah. Jesus’ sign as the Son of God would mean that through his Passion, death, and resurrection, repentance would lead not only to a new life in him but in everlasting life. Father in heaven, your Son is your final word. He is what he points to: the God of the living. The invitation to share in eternal life with the Father begins through repentance and recognizing the need to return to you. From the Gospel acclamation: “Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart for I am gracious and merciful.”
Thank you, Lord, for your loving presence. Let me rest in that today and make a place for it in my heart. “A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.