Give me just one more sign, just one more proof of God’s presence. In today’s Gospel some of the Pharisees are “seeking from Jesus a sign from heaven to test him.” While Jesus performed many healings, exorcisms, and extraordinary deeds it seems that people were always seeking just one more sign. Jesus performed many signs to show that he was the Messiah he also did things that went against the common or orthodox view of who the Messiah would be and what he should do.
St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians highlights the paradoxical nature of some of Jesus signs, especially the sign of the cross:
“For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:22-25).
In today’s Gospel Jesus is trying to open the eyes of some Jewish leaders and people to show that he himself is the sign of God’s presence in their midst. His words and his actions are signs that reveal the one true God. Jesus’ words at the end of today’s reading may seem harsh: “Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” He has, however, already given them a number of signs so what he is really saying is that no more signs will be given to you.
We can probably all emphasize with all of those seeking signs. We all seek miraculous signs of God’s presence in our world and in our life, be it the face a Jesus in a cloud or on some wall or an apparition of Mary. God does give us these signs but most often signs of God’s presence appear in the ordinary experiences of our daily life, a sunrise or sunset, the first words of a baby or even saying goodbye to a loved one on their deathbed. God “always walks with us on the journey of life” we just need to pause and see the signs of his presence.
Image: “Render unto Caesar” by revger is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.