Eyes of Faith!

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Jon 3:1-10; Lk 11;29-32

In today’s Gospel, we witness Jesus’ disappointment with the religious leaders of his time over their demand for a sign from heaven to believe in him. 

The Pharisees and the Scribes demand the sign despite witnessing Jesus’ healing and miracles. 

Jesus knows that hard-hearted people would not believe in him even if there were to be a sign. 

To contrast their faithlessness, Jesus invokes the examples of the Queen of Sheba and the people of Nineveh. 

Though they were Gentiles, they readily accepted the Lord’s doings when they witnessed them. 

The Queen of Sheba traveled more than 1,000 miles to witness the wisdom of King Solomon. 

When Jonah preached God’s message, the city of Nineveh, along with its king, repented. 

The Queen of Sheba, who was impressed with King Solomon’s wisdom, will stand as a witness against those who rejected the greater wisdom of Jesus. 

The people of Nineveh and their gesture of repentance were far more admirable than the rejection that Jesus faced from his own people. 

Though they had no chance of encountering the true Lord because they were not part of Israel, they honored the Lord when the revelation reached them. 

Their eyes of faith discovered the Lord even through others. 

But for those who have no faith, even the miracle of ‘Jesus’ himself was not enough.

Only the eyes of faith can discover the Lord in any form – in a statue, in nature, or church.

Let us pray for the grace that our faith experience may become permanent through our eyes of faith. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar