Monday 19 July

SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

 

FAITH AND SIGNS

 

Introduction

As soon as their faith makes demands on them, as soon as they don’t see clear, the Hebrews complain and would choose slavery in Egypt rather than a difficult march through the desert to freedom. They don’t trust yet in God. They want signs of God’s might.

In the Gospel, the scribes and the Pharisees demand signs. The Hebrews had failed to see the sign of God in the fact that he had quietly led them to freedom and made them into a people. The scribes fail to recognize God in the message and person of Jesus, in his service, loyalty, and love. God is not a God of publicity. His presence is discreet. The sign of Jonas was that the Ninivites believed his preaching; the three days in the belly of the fish as a reference to the three days of Jesus in the tomb may be a later addition.

 

Opening Prayer

Lord our God,
in times of anguish and desolation,
we sometimes call for signs and miracles
that assure us of your presence.
Forgive us our presumption
and give us a faith strong enough
to recognize you at work in nature,
in the ordinary events of life
and in the goodness and service of people.
We entrust ourselves to you
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

 

Reading 1: EX 14:5-18

When it was reported to the king of Egypt
that the people had fled,
Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about them.
They exclaimed, “What have we done!
Why, we have released Israel from our service!”
So Pharaoh made his chariots ready and mustered his soldiers
six hundred first-class chariots
and all the other chariots of Egypt, with warriors on them all.
So obstinate had the LORD made Pharaoh
that he pursued the children of Israel
even while they were marching away in triumph.
The Egyptians, then, pursued them;
Pharaoh’s whole army, his horses, chariots and charioteers,
caught up with them as they lay encamped by the sea,
at Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

Pharaoh was already near when the children of Israel looked up
and saw that the Egyptians were on the march in pursuit of them.
In great fright they cried out to the LORD.
And they complained to Moses,
“Were there no burial places in Egypt
that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert?
Why did you do this to us?
Why did you bring us out of Egypt?
Did we not tell you this in Egypt, when we said,
‘Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians’?
Far better for us to be the slaves of the Egyptians
than to die in the desert.”
But Moses answered the people,
“Fear not! Stand your ground,
and you will see the victory the LORD will win for you today.
These Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again.
The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me?
Tell the children of Israel to go forward.
And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea,
split the sea in two,
that the children of Israel may pass through it on dry land.
But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate
that they will go in after them.
Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army,
his chariots and charioteers.
The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD,
when I receive glory through Pharaoh
and his chariots and charioteers.”

 

Responsorial Psalm: EX 15:1BC-2, 3-4, 5-6

(1b) Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;
horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
He is my God, I praise him;
the God of my father, I extol him.
R. Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
The LORD is a warrior,
LORD is his name!
Pharaoh’s chariots and army he hurled into the sea;
the elite of his officers were submerged in the Red Sea.
R. Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
The flood waters covered them,
they sank into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, O LORD, magnificent in power,
your right hand, O LORD, has shattered the enemy.
R. Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.

 

Alleluia: PS 95:8

Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel: MT 12:38-42

Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
He said to them in reply,
“An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign,
but no sign will be given it
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.
At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah;
and there is something greater than Jonah here.
At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon;
and there is something greater than Solomon here.”

 

Intercessions

– For open minds and hearts, that we may believe in God and see the presence of God’s goodness and love in nature and in the good people do, we pray:

– For faith in the Gospel and in the person of Jesus is manifested when we see how people try to bring his justice and mercy into our world, we pray:

– For gratitude, that God has given us the Jewish people as our ancestors and great source of faith, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
we bring this bread and this wine before you
and we ask you:
Give us eyes of faith to believe
that in these bare, simple signs
your Son can make himself present
and give himself to us
as the one who serves and shares.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord.

 

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
you have won our love
through your Son, Jesus Christ,
who died that we might live.
Through him, give us, too,
the faith and the quiet strength
to serve with a discreet love.
In this way, we can perhaps be
the sign of your presence among people.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord.

 

Blessing

God asks us: why we don’t see the signs of his presence and work among us? If only we had enough faith! May God open our eyes and bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary

The country in which Jesus lived was no backwater; it was the crossroads of the world. And the time in which he lived was a time of fervid enthusiasms and political meltdown. The people were looking for “signs and wonders.” There was a belief that the new age (the messianic times) would be ushered in with marvellous signs like those of the Exodus. People’s imaginations were on fire (as indeed are ours today!) for new things. This easily degenerates into a desire for entertainment. Rabbi Eliezer was said to have made rivers flow backwards, displaced trees, had voices come from heaven…. 

Naturally, people expected something similar from Jesus. “No sign will be given to this wicked generation,” he told them, “but the sign of Jonah!” Matthew seems to have interpreted this very fancifully, comparing the “three days and three nights” that Jesus was to spend in the tomb (factually inaccurate) with the three days and nights that Jonah spent in the whale’s belly. (Lk 11:29-32 does not make this comparison.)

Jonah himself was the sign to the Ninevites. Jesus is saying, “You are seeking a sign—I am God’s sign!