Matthew 12:38-45. Some scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign, but he tells them "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." He says the people of Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba will condemn this current generation on the last day, because they at least saw the truth when it was presented to them, and it was presented to them by lesser prophets than the Son of God. Then Jesus says when an unclean spirit leaves someone it seeks a resting place, but finds none, so decides to return to its original subject. If it returns and finds the soul cleaned up and in good order, it gets seven other spirits spirits to return with it and take up residence there. So it ends up being worse for the possessed than it was when he was troubled by only one evil spirit.

First, I have often thought about Jonah and how I understand his annoyance with God. God made him go to a people that he saw as evil and unrepentant. I say "made" him go because Jonah tried to run away from God, unsuccessfully of course - you can never truly run away from God! So God gets Jonah to Nineveh by extreme measures, and Jonah does what God had asked - he goes through the city announcing its destruction due to its evil ways. Then, though, Nineveh repents, and so God relents, so Jonah doesn't even get the satisfaction of being right, when he was clearly doing and saying what God asked him to!  I have to admit, I would be annoyed as well. I would feel like I looked like a fool, proclaiming something so stridently that did not happen. But God knew that this was the only way Nineveh would listen - to a direct threat of impending doom. If the message had been "softer," they wouldn't have repented. Jonah's ego is a small price to pay for the salvation of a city, and God eventually tells Jonah that. That is a lesson for me and my ego as well - I often have a hard time speaking what I know to be the truth when I know people will think less of me, or be angry with or mean to me, for it. The lesson of Jonah is that my ego (or dare I say pride? read on!) does not matter if it is in service of God's will. In fact, it is necessary for me to learn to let go of this pride, to willingly and lovingly accept the "disgrace" of appearing wrong in the service of God; to learn humility.

On to today's actual reading! Jesus compares the pagan Nineveh and Queen of Sheba to the Jewish scribes and Pharisees here, and the pagans come out on top! This clearly is not good for the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus is saying that Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba, although not being gifted as being part of the chosen people, were all still loved by God and were given the opportunity to hear God's voice - Nineveh through Jonah, and the Queen of Sheba through Solomon. When they heard God's wisdom, they listened and learned. Thus, they are in a better position than the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' generation, who are speaking to the Son of God, something much greater than Jonah or Solomon, and yet their hearts are so hardened, they are so convinced of their own righteousness, that they cannot see it or will not accept it. They have fallen victim to pride. These Jewish leaders have been given signs and wonders, and yet they ask for more. Jesus knows that no sign will convince them, they are an "evil and adulterous generation."

How did it get to this point? That is where the story of the possessed man comes in. The scribes and Pharisees know God's Word, they teach it, they are the chosen people. They were, therefore, at one point at least, a clean house from which their demons had been driven by the Truth. (Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba did not have this initial cleansing, they had to hear the Word from someone who did.) But, thinking that their house is clean, the scribes and Pharisees thought themselves "safe," and so did not protect themselves against further assault. (The devil comes hard after the righteous, in Jesus' example here it takes seven demons to take over the place where just one had lived previously.)

Because they let down their guard, and started feeling self-satisfied and righteous, the scribes and Pharisees opened themselves to even greater evil. This is the result of pride. Pride is the greatest and most deadly sin (just ask Lucifer) (#sorrynotsorry, pride month🙁). It blinds us to our wrongdoing and hardens our hearts against the Truth. It made for an evil generation then, and is making one now.

Edited 6/4/21 to change "God repents" to "God relents", since repenting is not something God does, I used the wrong word there.