Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation. ...
At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it,
because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
Jesus calls out "an evil generation." He talks about other generations responding to the warnings of their prophets; his generation doesn't seem to be responding in kind, even though "there is something greater" in their midst.
It's eerie to read those words, considering where I believe Jesus was coming from at the time. No one knew, not even Jesus, what was about to happen. I don't think he was calling himself the Son of Man, or telling the crowd that HE was the something greater at hand. In my view, he felt called to minister to his countrymen who were lost, heading down a dangerous path. I believe he was challenging these people to join a movement with him, to change their hearts, to come closer to what God intended for them. Something great was happening, he knew, and the time to change was at hand.
The sense of foreboding feels very familiar. Two thousand years later, similar scenarios have played out generation after generation. It often feels like we're at the precipice of moral disaster, like it can't get any worse. We continue to search for answers, struggle in vain for personal and political peace and, more often than not, reject the truth that has been offered to us.
I don't like thinking of any generation as evil—especially my own. But I certainly have felt lost, and I certainly have failed to heed obvious messages and calls to be better.
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