(Please read the Scripture passage before reading the homily.)
What do the Queen of the South and the Ninevites have in common? I am thinking of two things. They were not members of the chosen people and they listened to the Word of God. What do Jonah and Solomon have in common? They made the word of God known to pagans.
What happened then? With Jonah, we know that he did not want to preach God’s word to the Ninevites. He had tried to run away to a place called Tarshish. In the end he only went because he had to. The Ninevites, however, believed Jonah’s preaching and the people and even the cattle repented of their sins.
With Solomon, we know that the Queen of the South had come to him because of the rumors of his great wisdom, but she found that the stories only reported half of Solomon’s wisdom.
Unbelievers listened readily to the word of God given by a reluctant prophet or to the wisdom of a man. Believers, on the other hand, do they listen when someone greater than Solomon or when the most willing of prophets, the word of God himself, speaks.
The opponents of Jesus asked for a sign. The Ninevites and the Queen of the South asked for no signs, they readily accepted the word of God. Before we blame the people of Jesus’ time or the opponents of Luke’s community for not believing, we have to ask ourselves how often we ask for signs in our own lack of belief.
We have learned to call God Father, but how often do we run from God to pursue our own agenda? How often do we want signs instead of having faith? We have the name of being believers and we can recite verses from the word of God, but neither makes us better than other people. If we have the reputation for being Christian and do not listen to the word of God, we are hypocrites, and the Ninevites are better people than we.
We are all called to listen to the word of God, we, the Ninevites, the Queen of the South, the people of Jesus’ time and the people of Luke’s community. Jonah came and Nineveh heard; Solomon was wise, and the Queen of the South came to hear him. Jesus, the One greater than Jonah and Solomon, has come: let us be like the Ninevites and like the Queen of the South, hearers and doers of the word.