Matthew 12: 38-42
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here! The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here!
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Unexpected Signs
In today’s Gospel reading, the scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign. Their request does not come from a place of faith or sincere desire to know God’s will but from a desire to test and trap him. Knowing their hearts, Jesus rebukes them and tells them that no sign will be given to them.
This reading is both challenging and comforting. Like many of us, I often ask God for confirmation when I’m discerning an important decision. This reading invites me to pause and examine my heart. Am I seeking a sign or confirmation because I genuinely desire God’s direction, or am I hoping God will simply affirm what I’ve already decided? Ignatian spirituality reminds us that true discernment begins with humility, honesty, and openness to God’s will and direction for our lives, even if it leads to an unexpected place. May we seek signs not to satisfy our preferences but to faithfully follow where God is leading us.
—Edith Hudson is a graduate of the Midwest Jesuit's Seminars in Ignatian Formation program, a spiritual director, and the police chief of Marquette University’s Police Department
Prayer
Teach me to seek you,
and reveal yourself to me as I seek:
for unless you instruct me
I cannot seek you,
and unless you reveal yourself
I cannot find you.
Let me seek you in desiring you;
let me desire you in seeking you.
Let me find you in loving you;
let me love you in finding you.
—St. Anselm of Canterbury