“Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
Jesus replied that “no sign will be given”. How many times in our lives have we asked for a sign from God? Or made promises that if God did a favor for us, we would be good or repay God in a certain way?
As a child, did you ever pray to God for a shiny bicycle promising that you would be perfect for a year or maybe the rest of your life? Or as we grow older, ask God to cure your child, parent or spouse from a terminal disease and you would turn from your sinfulness and follow him? In a sense, we are asking God for a sign even though we are really trying to bargain with God for something we want.
Later in life, we have difficult decisions to make and ask God for a sign to help us make the right decision. Lord, send a Cardinal to my windowsill this morning and I will accept the offer from College A or a Jay bird and I will accept the offer from College B.
Or, Lord, let my current manager come and talk to me now and I will reject the offer for a new job in another department that means more pay but also more responsibility that I’m concerned may require too much time away from my family.
We basically know that we can’t bargain with God. God’s love is forever there for us regardless of our sin and failures. Asking for God’s guidance is critical in our lives, and we should always seek God’s will. However, asking for a concrete sign from God that we define isn’t the right approach to finding God’s will in our lives.
Jesus said that “no sign will be given on that day except the sign of Jonah the Prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. Jesus was referring to his Passion and death, spending three days in the grave and rising to bring us salvation. Jesus was telling us to seek God’s love, to accept God’s salvation which is freely given to us by his death and resurrection.
Yesterday’s Gospel was about Martha worrying about having to take care of all the tasks at hand while Mary was with Jesus. This is what Jesus was telling Martha. Don’t worry about looking for signs and revelations, seek God with all your heart and all these other things will be taken care of by your Heavenly Father.
Our psychological make up wants concrete answers and relying on God to provide is difficult for us. We want our life planned out and know what profession we will follow, who we will marry and how we will succeed.
Our individualism demands that we take care of everything, that we solve every problem and that we are in control. It is extremely hard, if not almost impossible to put our ego aside to trust in God and not ourselves.
Lord, help us to stop bargaining with you and looking for signs but seek your love with our whole heart instead.
