Camphor Tree Feb 2005

Feb 16, 2005

Turn Back to Me Feb 16 Lk 11:29-32

While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
"This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation. At the judgment the queen of the south
will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them,
because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
and there is something greater than Solomon here. At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here."

The message that I get this morning reading the above passage is to repent and turn to God. The sign of Jonah is the story of an evil people who saw that they needed to return to God or be destroyed. It is my story and the story of every generation. Jesus tells the crowd to not wait for signs that the sign of Jonah will be the only sign. I recall that early Christians translated this into making a drawing of a whale in catacombs as a sign to others, the sign of Jonah. I saw the sign of Jonah carved into one of these walls in Rome. Turning to God is a daily act of conversion as a Christian without it we are on a path to ruin. The wisdom of greatest value is to be open to the mercy and love of God.