Wednesday of the First Week in Lent
“Show us a sign.” That unholy request rings out many times throughout the Gospels. Religious leaders and even the disciples ask Jesus for signs. Implicit in this plea is the desire for proof – show us some sign so that we might have evidence of who you are and from whence you’ve come. Our Lord doesn’t need to prove himself to us; we ought to prove ourselves to him by responding to his self-revelation, love, and invitation to life eternal. Let us seek to go deeper in our intimacy with God through more frequent reception of the Sacraments. It is by these efficacious signs of grace that we grow in faith and trust in God.
Our Gospel begins, “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.’” It’s perplexing how often people demanded a sign from Jesus when he performed signs and wonders all around them! He healed the sick, delivered those possessed with demons, raised the dead, and taught with supernatural authority. And yet, don’t we behave the same way sometimes? Have you ever asked the Lord for a sign when you were confronted with a difficult decision, felt distant from God, or needed direction and guidance? What led you to seek a sign? What does that tell you about yourself, your faith, your view of God?
In the realm of science and technology we collect data and gather evidence in order to prove theories and come to definitive conclusions. We need proof that the “thing” we’re working on will work, that it will be safe and reliable, that we fully understand it, that we can trust its performance. Our God is not a “thing” or a “what,” our God is a “Who.” We don’t come to know people in an evidentiary way, we come to know people through relationship. Our God, the God in Three Persons, becomes known to us as we pursue our interior life. The deeper we press into prayer, the Sacraments, and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the less we will desire a sign from God because we will find all we ever need to seek. Deep within our being, in the place where God dwells and communes with us, we find everything we need to know – we find the One who desires to be known. We find our Beloved and embrace our belovedness. From that deep well, our Bridegroom speaks, leads, summons, guides, and directs – all in love.
It's a very different thing to seek relationship rather than to demand evidentiary proof, isn’t it?
“Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.” The Son of Man will be a sign to this generation. What is he a sign of? Our Lord Jesus Christ is the very real sacrament of God. The Church is the universal sacrament of Christ, and through her Christ has given us the Sacraments. According to the Catechism (1131), “A sacrament is an efficacious sign of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life of grace is dispensed to us through the work of the Holy Spirit.” Let us seek these efficacious signs of grace more frequently!
“Show us a sign.” The only sign we need is Christ himself, the sacrament of God, who established his Church and her Sacraments in order to lead us into the divine life. As we grow in intimacy with God, particularly through the Eucharist and Reconciliation, we ourselves will become signs – sacramental conveyors of God’s love, mercy, compassion, grace, and forgiveness. May our Lenten journey be marked by just that.
-Elizabeth Wells