Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Equal to Our Explanations

Understanding why the sacramental signs are so simple

07/21/2025

Matthew 12:38-42 Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." He said to them in reply, "An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here. At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here."

Who can forget that dramatic, although also anti-climactic – moment in the movie “The Wizard of Oz” when the curtain of the great Oz is pulled back to reveal a mere man. While fire bellows out and a voice thunders, the little dog Toto runs over to pull the cover back and a simple old man is turning the levelers and speaking through a microphone to project the mighty Wizard of Oz. And understandably, Dorothy, the Lion, the Tin-Man, the Scarecrow, and especially Toto, are all disappointed because he was their only hope to return home to Kansas.

In the gospel today we might say that Jesus pulls the curtain back on his own identity to reveal his divinity. Of course he has dropped hints along the way in the gospel of Matthew in the first eleven chapters, like his miraculous birth by a Virgin, the visit of the Magi, his miraculous healings of the sick, and his mastery over the wind and the waves.

But now the scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign, not because they sincerely want to believe but because they want to test him, and expose him as merely “the man behind the curtain.” And so Jesus says, sort of like Superman pulling his buttoned shirt open to reveal his super “S” beneath, you have a greater than Jonah, and a greater than Solomon here.

As you know, Jonah was a great prophet. And Solomon was the son of David, and in a sense, even greater than David. He built the temple, he taught with incomparable wisdom, and he ushered in an era of peace. Indeed, his name “Solomon” comes from the Hebrew “shalom” meaning peace.

In other words, Jonah and Solomon converted even the pagans to true faith in God and Jesus will convert the whole world. But only for those who come to his with sincere hearts. In a reversal of the plot of the Wizard of Oz, where sincere seekers discover a hoax, in the gospel today, we have devious seekers who find the God-man-Man. Or as we might say today, “You have someone greater than Superman here.”

I think discovering who Jesus is when he walked the face of the earth, and who he is as he walks among us sacramentally in the Eucharist, always depends on the sincerity of the seekers. All those who come to Christ in the gospels with faith – however minimal – were handsomely rewarded. On the other hand, those who approached him with malicious intent, like the scribes and Pharisees were roundly rebuffed, and went home empty-handed.

This challenge of being sincere seekers is especially daunting for modern Americans, who look at the world through the glasses of science and technology. Those glasses are good, and they can get us a long down the yellow brick road of life. Just look at all the modern advances we enjoy today. And perhaps that is just the beginning of the road. Who can guess where AI (artificial intelligence) can carry us into the future?

But science and technology also invariably begin with the assumption that “what you see is what you get.” And the necessary corollary to that is, “what you don’t see is what you don’t get.” That need for scientific verifiability is exactly where the yellow brick road hits a brick wall. And science and technology are useless to take us any further. It takes faith in the invisible to go through a wall. Or using the Superman analogy, to see through a wall, and glimpse what is beyond the senses, that is, what is spiritual and divine.

Several weeks ago Bishop Taylor stayed with us at the rectory and we ate dinner together. I asked him a question that had been really bugging me for a long time, and hoped he might have an answer. I asked, “Bishop we have such deep and profound faith in the sacraments that theology has articulated so beautifully and eloquently, especially regarding the Eucharist.”

I continued: “The Catechism even calls the Eucharist the source and the summit of the Christian life. Why are the signs of the sacraments, therefore, so strikingly simple, just bread and wine, and that, just a nibble and a sip. Shouldn’t the signs be more equal to our explanations?” He answered sarcastically, “So you want the Mass to be more theatrical?” I guess he meant like the Wizard of Oz with bellowing fire and a thundering voice.

It was a good answer, and it made me pray more and think a little deeper. Perhaps the signs of the sacraments are not equal to their explanations because like in the gospel so today: Jesus wants us to approach him with faith, believing what we cannot see, smell, hear, touch, or taste. In a sense, being sincere seekers, like Dorothy and her companions. Only then will the yellow brick road get us home to heaven.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

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