Year II Sixteenth Monday in Ordinary Time

Jesus was ambivalent about his miracles. The only sign to which he points his interlocutors in our Gospel reading today is his resurrection. He does this obscurely by referring to the three days Jonah spent inside the whale. Despite saying the Son of Man would be in the earth for three days and nights, at this point in Matthew’s chronology, nobody, not even his disciples, would likely know what he was talking about.

Jesus uses the story of Jonah the reluctant prophet to call those demanding a sign to repentance. He points out to them that it will be worse for them on the day of judgment than for the people of Nineveh (who were not Jews) because when the Ninevites heard Jonah’s call, they repented. In effect, Jesus is telling the scribes and Pharisees demanding a sign not to “put the Lord your God to the test.”¹

Repenting, as the Greek word (metanoeō) translated in our Gospel passage as “repented” indicates, means more than just being sorry for your sins. Being sorry for sin is contrition. Contrition while necessary for repentance is not sufficient. This is indicated by the following part of the Act of Contrition we say in confession after saying our sins and before receiving absolution: “I firmly intend with [God’s] help to sin no more and avoid whatever leads me to sin.” To repent is to commit to change in the ways you need to change.

In our reading from Micah, God, through the prophet, asks Israel what he has done to put them off him. He taunts them for their half-hearted worship. God makes it clear that he desires quality, not quantity. In the end, God tells them what he requires. This is the same message Jesus gives to the Pharisees. It is also the message the Lord has for all of this evening: “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”²

Is there a greater miracle than a person who does what God asks solely out of love for God? We call such women and men saints. A saint acts justly and loves mercy. Saints are humble. Saints do not see themselves as holy. As human beings, they are aware of their flaws, their sins, and their failures. A saint is a person open to receiving God’s grace.

It is grace that we ask for in confession through the Act of Contrition. When said sincerely, you acknowledge that no matter how determined you are to forsake your sins and those pathways that lead you down the dark alleyway of sin, you need God’s help. We call this help grace. A saint loves mercy by extending mercy to others. A saint is someone who has experienced Divine Mercy.

The Eucharist is both a symbol and a sign. If you don’t recognize Jesus in this sign, what makes you think you’d recognize him through any other sign? After all, it isn’t obvious to the casual observer that the bread and wine become Christ’s body and blood. By giving himself to you in this way, he seeks to make you a sign of his presence to everyone with whom you come into contact. Yes, he gives himself to you to sanctify you, to effect the changes brought about through repentance, to make you a saint. Moreover, he gives himself to you so that you, in turn, can bring him to others.

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1 Matthew 4:7; Deuteronomy 6:16.^↩
2 Micah 6:8- New Internation Version translation.^↩