Signs or Christ?

Monday, July 21, 2025

Ex 14:5-18; Mt 12: 38-42

Today’s Gospel invites us to examine if we seek signs or Christ in our lives.

The Gospel text follows a series of confrontations between Jesus and the Pharisees regarding the former’s Sabbath observance and exorcisms. The Pharisees accuse Jesus of violating the Sabbath law and of having a partnership with Beelzebul to drive out demons.  

While their accusations are fallacious and vicious, motivated by jealousy and hatred, their unbelief only manifests the hardness of their hearts. It is when Jesus looks at their spiritual blindness that he praises the faith and conversion of the Gentile believers from the Old Testament. 

Jesus tries to help them understand that demanding signs when Divine Truth is already evident only reflects unbelief. Through Old Testament examples, Jesus holds them accountable that greater revelation demands greater responsibility, which they fail to realize. What worsens their unbelief is the fact that when lesser revelation was enough for the Gentiles to respond with repentance in the past, even having the Messiah in their midst was not enough for the chosen people because all along they searched only for signs and not for Christ. Unfortunately, who they did not search for, they never found. Christ passed through their midst unnoticed. 

Just as they do not understand the greatness of Jesus, they fail to perceive his superiority over key Old Testament figures like Jonah and Solomon. 

The passage teaches some important truths to improve our life of faith. 

1. Faith rooted in signs and wonders often tends to be superficial and unstable. 

2. We should not fall prey to religious complacency that misses out on divine truth and revelation. 

3. Faith is seeking Christ, not signs. Faith is a relational encounter with the Lord. 

Let us pray that we may cultivate in us the authentic faith that restlessly searches for Christ. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar