“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.” (Luke 11:29-30)
In the Gospel for last Friday Jesus casts out a demon. In response, the Pharisee and Scribes proclaim: “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” (Luke 11:15) Then they demand a sign from heaven to prove otherwise – as though the casting out of the demon was not sign enough. Jesus describes this as an evil generation. Why evil? If our reading for today had continued just a few more verses, we would hear Jesus talk about an evil (or bad) eye. It is a comment that the request for a sign itself betrays an inner disposition oriented away from the light, away from God’s salvific project. Any such orientation, be it truly evil or just hardness of heart, misses the rescue of God.
In what way was Jonah a sign to the Ninevites? Christians immediately jump to the connection of three days: Jonah in the belly of the great fish compared to Jesus’ days in the grave before the Resurrection. And certainly, the future tense (“will … be”) lends itself to that understanding. But how would the first century listeners have understood Jesus’ comment?
In the Jewish mind there were two understandings: (1) Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh by means of his own divine rescue from the belly of the beast, or (2) Jonah was the prophet preaching repentance to the people prior to their judgment – and in the case of Nineveh, a successful project. Either way, the Ninevites, as evil as they come, were able to see the divine offer of redemption. The Queen of Sheba, a foreigner, was able to see Solomon as an agent of the Divine. She listened to God’s agent.
The evil Ninevites and a foreigner had the openness of heart to respond to the presence of God in the here and now. The presence that called them to make a change in their lives – in the here and now. Casting out a demon wasn’t enough for the Pharisee and scribes. The sign of the Kingdom was right in front of them.
What signs of the Kingdom are right in front of you? Can you see them? Or is your eye evil, only seeing the bad? The eye is but a reflection of the condition of the heart.
Image Credit: “Jonah and the Whale”, Folio from a Jami al-Tavarikh, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public Domain