The Venerable Howard Stringfellow
March 8
Jonah 3:1-10, Psalm 51:11-18, Saint Luke 11:29-32
In the Name of the True and Living God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the crowds, “Something greater than Jonah is here.” He tells them this because the people of Nineveh repented when Jonah preached to them. Why do those in the crowds not repent when Jesus preaches to them? They seek a sign, some proof, something to take all doubt away, some permission, some green light that makes the way forward, the way that Jesus recommends, more attractive than the way they are pursuing on their own. The crowds want something more than just Jesus’ preaching.
That kind of certainty, the certainty of a sign, let’s call it, may not be ours to have. My mind races to Easter, to the evening of the Sunday after the first Day of the Resurrection, when Jesus tells Thomas, and the disciples with him, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Blessed are those who have no sign and yet have come to believe—
Which is most of us. Most of us have not noticed supernatural interference in our lives. The key is "noticed". For we’ve had the interference. In perhaps subtle ways God is drawing us in. And today God is drawing us in by reminding us that the pull is benign and the preaching is short of certainty, but God awaits patiently to see whether we will give to God a regard equal to what we have already been given.
Would you stop doing something you know you shouldn’t do because Jesus died and rose again?
In Christ’s Name. Amen.
