Today's Gospel Reflection

Chosen to proclaim the Gospel of God

St. Paul considers himself a servant, a slave of Christ Jesus by free choice, so he desires that all his actions derive from Christ, his Lord and Master. Perhaps the title St. Paul likes best is "apostle, the one chosen to proclaim the Gospel of God. Since "the encounter" he had with Jesus and the loving coexistence he lived with him, St. Paul had no other obsession than to preach Christ and his Gospel as the best news he could offer to all people, especially the Gentiles, so that they might find joy and hope in life. 

From Jesus himself he had received "this gift and this mission: to make all the Gentiles respond to the faith".  St. Paul had understood that Jesus was a man, but he was not a man like any other man; he was also the Son of God, the one who had the power to conquer our death and then lead us to the resurrection of a life of total happiness. 

A perverse generation 

We find ourselves with a generation that is looking for signs: not much has changed since then. It is as if we were bored with the everyday, as if we always needed sensational gestures, extraordinary manifestations, clamorous miracles. Jesus is aware that the miracle is ambiguous, that we can believe in the miracle without recognizing who performs it and seek God for what he works, and not for what he really IS. That is why he says: no sign will be given to this generation except the sign of Jonah. Possibly for the first time that we heard the words of Jesus in today's Gospel, they shocked us. They seem to be far from so many words that come out of his mouth where what predominates is goodness. 

We can say that they are in line with the truth, and he is the Truth. And the truth is that this generation did not pay attention to the words of Jesus and to his person before the great gift that he offered them. Jesus does not understand how this generation does not accept his words, nor the ways he proposes to them... the best ways to achieve happiness, because all the words of Jesus, all his gestures, everything he did in life... was to help men, to fill him with light before the strongest questions of men... and they reject him. It is not strange that, before this panorama, going up to Jerusalem, Jesus is moved to tears because, wanting to gather his people like a hen gathers her chicks, they have rejected him. 

The queen of the South and the inhabitants of Nineveh will revolt against this generation because they listened to those who were younger than the Son of Man, like Solomon and Jonah. We well know that not all of Jesus' contemporaries belonged to that "perverse generation". Many listened to Him, many followed Him to the end, many found no one better than Him: "To whom shall we go, you alone have the words of eternal life". 

Lord Jesus, grant us today to recognize the signs of your presence in what we do, in the people we meet, and to be amazed again and again at your immense love, because much more than Jonah is here, much more than Solomon: The Son of God incarnate, the friend of mankind who lives with us forever and ever. Amen.