An Evil Generation!

Monday, October 12, 2026

Gal 4: 22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1; Lk 11: 29-32

Today’s Gospel highlights the perversion of human freedom as evil.

Jesus rebukes those who demand a sign in order to believe in him. Though it looks like a harmless demand, it hides in it an evil scheme to find fault with him, to deny his divine origin, and to attribute all his miracles to the power of a demon. Thus, asking for a sign is only a cover-up for rejecting Jesus. Their recalcitrant attitude hurts Jesus more.

Jesus calls them an ‘evil generation.’ If we ask how they became evil, then the answer lies in the perversion of their freedom. It was not as if Jesus demanded acceptance among them without doing anything. His ministry among people was both healing and liberative. People found the invisible God in Jesus. Yet, they chose not to believe in him.

Though God’s people had convincing proof about everything that Jesus was, and though his mission fulfilled messianic prophecies, they wilfully rejected that Jesus was someone ‘greater than Solomon.’ What was worse, in rejecting the Son of God, God’s people behaved worse than the Gentiles and godless people who accepted God’s emissaries in the Old Testament.

The names of the Gentiles that Jesus cites were people who embraced true repentance. For instance, the people of Nineveh did not just feel guilty but reformed their lives to face God. Their act was a complete change of direction in favor of God. Even the Queen of the South travelled to listen to Solomon’s God-given wisdom. Unfortunately, though the Son of God stood among God’s people, they remained indifferent and unyielding. 

Freedom is not free. We have freedom to make a choice for God. Through such freedom that opts for God, we become naturally good, loving, and selfless. 

Let us pray that we may freely choose God as the wisdom and end of our lives. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar