A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 11:29-32)
While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “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.”
As today’s Gospel picks up where the Gospel reading for Saturday left off, the crowd continues to surround Jesus. As he speaks to the people, he refers to two great prophets and his fulfillment of them as the Messiah. The crowd would have known about Solomon and Jonah and shared stories about them for generations. Jesus says of Solomon’s wisdom: “there is something greater than Solomon here.” Similarly, he refers to Jonah among the Ninevites in his call for repentance: “and there is something greater than Jonah here.” Just as Jonah’s experience was a sign to the people of Nineveh, Jesus’ death and resurrection would become a sign to the people of his generation, both a sign and the signified. He is present today in his living word and present body and blood, soul and divinity, in the Eucharist.
Father in heaven, help me fully appreciate the significance of Jesus your Son. While the prophets pointed to you, they lived and died as signs of your mercy and your coming kingdom. Jesus pointed to you and continues to point to you; even more, he is the living sign, the Word incarnate, present to me in this moment through his death and resurrection. Give me the grace to distinguish between human wisdom and divine guidance. As far as human wisdom can ascend, in the life of the Trinity there is something greater than Solomon. As Saint Paul says, help me remember my call and my end in the person of Christ: “Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles, among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”
From the responsorial psalm: “The LORD has made his salvation known: in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice. He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel. The Lord has made known his salvation.”
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.