28th Week in Ord. Time, Monday – 12th October 2020 — Gospel: Lk 11,29-32
Sign of Resurrection
Jesus is preaching to the Jewish people, who considered themselves as special and chosen because of their lineage to Abraham. They saw their family origins as giving them a privileged position to sit in judgment over those who converted to Judaism or those who never believed. Jesus reminds them that the non-Jews, i.e., the Ninevites and the Queen of Sheba, reformed their lives because they heard God’s Word preached by Jonah and Solomon. Indeed they will have a place of honour and judgment because they heeded God’s message of being chosen by God and then reformed lives. Such conversions of non-Jews were powerful signs to the Jews of Jesus’ time. And the only sign Jesus gave them was his resurrection. This is the sign given to all of us. Jesus who was condemned to death and death on the cross, who rose from the dead through the power of God, will continue to resurrect in many ways the lives of those who believe in him. Therefore, the sign which converts is not the miracles but the witness of life lived according to Gods’ Word. Every believer is called to pay attention to God’s Word and make an effort to live a transformed life that bears witness to the risen Christ.
