A Single Sign

Gospel: Luke 11: 29-32

People demand signs from Jesus, but only one will be given to them, one they do not want to have, for it is the one Jesus announced in his home town of Nazareth at the very beginning of Luke's Gospel.  It is what Jesus refers to as the sign of Jonah.  Many think the sign of Jonah refers to the resurrection of Jesus, but that is not Jesus' meaning at all in the context of this passage and this Gospel.  It is much more jarring and controversial.  

For the sign of Jonah is the fact that foreigners and people regarded as outsiders will repent and come into the family of God while the alleged chosen people of God will not.  Jonah preached repentance to a great foreign city of Nineveh and they repented, all while God's prophets were being put to death by the chosen people in Israel.  Such will be the case in Jesus' time as well.  He will be put to death by the religious leaders in collusion with the powers of the world, while Samaritans and others repent.

It is no different in our times as well.  We see the religious leaders of our age in alliance with the powers of the world, doing untold harm to the poor, immigrants, refugees, migrants, the marginalized, and the sick.  They deride and attack those who show any opposition to them or any compassion on these unfortunates.  The sign of Jonah is ever present in our world.  The call to repentance, to mercy and care for others is the sign, the only sign given to us to heed.