Daily Retreat 02/16/09
2009 Feb 16 Mon: Ordinary Weekday
Gn 4: 1-15. 25/ Ps 49(50): 1 and 8. 16bc-17. 20-21/ Mk 8: 11-13
From today’s readings: “Am I my brother’s keeper?... Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.... The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus, seeking from Him a sign from heaven to test Him.”
Sighing for Signs
The miracles worked by Jesus were irrefutable confirming signs of the presence of God, but the Pharisees, with their hardened hearts, like Pharaoh in the day of Moses, always had an excuse to dismiss the miraculous nature of His work.
To discredit Jesus, they would ask for further signs and miracles out of line with His mission of proclaiming the Kingdom of God and His call to conversion. One can well imagine the enemies of Jesus promising to believe in Him if only He would arrange for a thunderbolt to destroy a Roman garrison or effect some other terrifying sign from Heaven. These were the same people who later put Christ on the Cross, then challenged Him to come down as a sign to prove Himself.
Jesus refused all such selfish and showy demands for signs. But, then as now, to those with open hearts, to those who seek God and His Truth, Jesus Himself not only gives signs, but He Himself incarnates the true sign from Heaven.
Gn 4: 1-15. 25/ Ps 49(50): 1 and 8. 16bc-17. 20-21/ Mk 8: 11-13
From today’s readings: “Am I my brother’s keeper?... Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.... The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus, seeking from Him a sign from heaven to test Him.”
Sighing for Signs
The miracles worked by Jesus were irrefutable confirming signs of the presence of God, but the Pharisees, with their hardened hearts, like Pharaoh in the day of Moses, always had an excuse to dismiss the miraculous nature of His work.
To discredit Jesus, they would ask for further signs and miracles out of line with His mission of proclaiming the Kingdom of God and His call to conversion. One can well imagine the enemies of Jesus promising to believe in Him if only He would arrange for a thunderbolt to destroy a Roman garrison or effect some other terrifying sign from Heaven. These were the same people who later put Christ on the Cross, then challenged Him to come down as a sign to prove Himself.
Jesus refused all such selfish and showy demands for signs. But, then as now, to those with open hearts, to those who seek God and His Truth, Jesus Himself not only gives signs, but He Himself incarnates the true sign from Heaven.
posted by FrPitstick | 2/15/2009
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