Breaking the Word

 While still more people gathered in the crowd, he 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. At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here. At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here.  (Lk 11:29-32)

People long for a sign. In a materialistic society people ask for guarantee. Before buying a thing or a product people want to know whether the material will last ofr a time or whether that thing is worth the cost etc. In a religious context a sign is asked for. This is to know the significance of the person or the action or its meaning an relevance.

Son of man will be like Jonah to this generation. What was Jonah like, to the Ninivites?  Jonah was a run-away prophet. He was a cast-away prophet. He was a swallowed up prophet. He was a grumbling prophet and so on. With all these he was always falling back to God. Whatever might have been the negative situation bu the prophet was a man of God (he fell back to God and gave primacy to God in his own way)

Jesus is like the prophet in the sense of giving centrality to God and primacy to God. The Ninivites realized that they could not go away from God. They have to return to God by all means. There is only way and that is conversion to God. Jesus also peaches the same lesson to the people. In this sens of preaching he like prophet Jonah. He is a sign like Jonah. 

As he continued his journey to Jerusalem, he travelled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met (him). They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" And when he saw them, he said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" Then he said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."  (Lk 17:11-19)

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. As he goes down to Jerusalem he is preaching about the kingdom of God and doing the deeds (miracles) of the kingdom of God and gathering people for the kingdom. The values that Jesus presents at this stage are also of significance.

Luke focuses on Jesus’ attitude to Samaritans. In the gospel of Luke we have a positive picture of the Samaritans in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37).   Here again he presents another positive picture of them. Here the Samaritan is grateful compared to the Jews. Jesus has a positive view of a foreigner, an outsider than a Jew.

Being grateful reveals the faith of the individual. Jesus tells the Samaritan that his faith has saved him while the Samaritan had just expressed his thanks to him. So being grateful is expressing one’s faith. Being grateful is integral to the Christian life. “In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess 5:18). Thanksgiving is a foundational attitude and work of the Christian and the grateful people are saved (Read Col 3:15-17). We do pray in the Eucharistic prayer as follows: it is our duty and our salvation to give thanks. A grateful person is a saved person, is a believer, and is a Christian.