16 October Luke 11:29-32

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Please read the passage before the homily.

An evil generation looks for a sign.  An evil generation will receive the sign of Jonah.  Jonah was a reluctant prophet; he did not want to be a prophet and tried to escape by running away.  That did not work so he had to go to Nineve.  Nineve was like Hamas to the State of Israel today or like Russia to Ukraine today.

Jonah refused to go to Nineve because he suspected that perhaps, maybe, Nineve would listen to God, repent, and so find salvation.  The Queen of the South, the Queen of Sheba, listened to Solomon and was impressed by the words of truth he spoke.  Non-Israelites, in other words, heard the word of God and came to believe in God without having asked for signs.

Believers asked for signs, whereas the non-believers did not need signs to come to believe.  When believers ask for sings, they become an evil generation; when non-believers accept the word of God without sings, they show themselves to be a good generation.

One of the main challenges of being Christion is that we have to become the other.  The Bible says, “Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9).  The word of God proclaims those blessed, not us blessed.  The word of God challenges us to identify with the others, those who hear the word of God and those who are called to the supper of the Lamb.  We are called to move beyond ourselves and embrace even the Ninevites of our day: we must join them in hearing the word of God, not make them join us if we are not listening to God’s word.

Unbelievers will stand in judgment of those who should have believed but did not.