The Lord requests that we do justice, love kindness and walk humbly

Micah 6:1-4.6-8, Mt. 12:38-42. In a flash of inspiration, today's first reading states what God really wants of us: “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah says what God does NOT want: Not holocausts, nor thousands of sacrificial lambs, for none of these externals can replace the personal attitudes and deeper intimacy with God. With such priorities in His heart, how disappointed Jesus felt when in today's Gospel, some were interested only in His miracles, instead of His message about our relationship with God. He had shown kindness and concern, but these people wanted something more spectacular than the cure of a poor cripple or the blessed wisdom of being poor in spirit or pure of heart. He reminds them about Jonah and how many Ninevites were converted by His preaching; and about the Queen of the South's admiration for the wisdom of Solomon. These foreigners, even the worst of them, the Ninevites, repented and were converted.

There has always been the longing in religiously minded people for the extraordinary sign that leaves no room for doubt. However, that is not how the Lord works. He comes to us in and through the ordinary more than the extraordinary. In response to the request of the Scribes and Pharisees, Jesus tells them that He is present among them as someone greater than the Jonah, greater than the wise king Solomon, if only they had eyes to see and ears to hear. In looking for a sign from Jesus we show that we do not appreciate what we already have. In looking for the unusual we can miss what is before us. The Lord is among us as one greater than Jonah, greater than Solomon, greater than all the prophets and wise men of Israel. He is among us as one who is full of grace and truth. Unless we take the risk of being generous towards others, no miracle will prove anything to us. Jesus points to the sign of Jonah, “three days and three nights in the belly of the whale.” We must also risk going the depths and letting ourselves be “swallowed up” by the will of God and taken to wherever God brings us, as happened to Jonah. Then we will experience the sweet reward of faith, after long fidelity.
May the Lord help us to contemplate the goodness of our God and respond by walking humbly in the presence of God! Amen!!! Remain safe and have a fruitful week!!!