Wednesday of the First Week of Lent
We’re quite accustomed to reading signs, aren’t we? We need directional signs to help us navigate while driving. We look at signage to identify places of business as we walk down a sidewalk. The signs in Lowe’s help us find the plumbing fixtures, electrical boxes, or whatever. When hiking, I’m always thankful for signs along the trails that tell me I’m still following the correct path. Advertisers compete to make their signs most attractive so that I’ll be drawn toward their company’s goods and services. We rely on signs throughout every day to guide us and give us confidence that we’re headed in the right direction, staying true to course, making wise choices, and finding the thing or destination we seek. I wonder if it’s because of the reliance on signs in the day-to-day that many times we seek signs in our spiritual life, in our journey of faith. If I’m out on a long hike on unfamiliar and unmarked trails, I may become fearful of losing my way. I lack confidence in my ability to find my way without adequate signage. Maybe it’s the same sometimes as we seek to remain purposefully on the path God lays out for us. Today’s scriptures tell us that we don’t need a sign when we have the very real presence of God. Our confidence comes not from being convinced but from the conviction that God is with us.
Jesus contrasts the people of his generation with the people of Ninevah. In our first reading, Jonah had barely begun calling the people to repentance when they became convicted by his message, repented of their sins and proclaimed a fast. Apparently, they didn’t need a sign, they believed that God was with Jonah. Even the king of Ninevah recognized the presence and call of God. Jesus also contrasts his generation with the queen of the south who traveled a great distance to hear the wisdom of King Solomon. She came, not seeking a sign, but because the fame of the Lord had spread through Solomon (1 Kings 10:1). She sought God, not a sign.
It’s ironic that the people of Jesus’ generation asked for signs when the Christ himself, the one to whom all previous signs had pointed, stood in their midst in the flesh. Once, when I was in New York City, I stopped a NYC resident on the sidewalk and asked if he could point me in the direction of the Empire State Building. He looked at me with an unbelieving stare and then slowly turned his head and his eyes over his right shoulder to behold that iconic building rising up beside us just a couple blocks over! I felt so foolish; all I needed to do was turn to the side and find the impossible-to-miss thing that I sought. How often does that happen for us in our spiritual life? We ask God for a sign to assure ourselves that we’re on the right track, and all the while we have God’s presence to give us that confidence, and the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. The impossible-to-miss God is with us! We don’t need a sign when we have the wisdom of God present to us as a gift of the Holy Spirit. St James tells us, “If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you” (James 1:5). We don’t need a sign when we have God.
We offer bread and wine to God in every Eucharist. These sacramental signs are the most convincing signs of all. We come to each Mass confident that through the Sacrament these signs will be transformed into the very real Body and Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ’s presence in the Sacrament and in each of us who partake gives us all the confidence we need. We need no other convincing signs. Christ is with us, Christ is for us, Christ will lead us. In daily life, one might say, but how do I know if I’m making the right decision, how do I know if I’m on the right path? We grow in our ability to make confident, holy decisions as we grow in intimacy with God. The more we seek and know God, the less we feel the need for signs. St Paul urges us, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). Let us keep in step with the Spirit today, not by asking for signs, but trusting in the Spirit’s leadership.
Elizabeth Wourms