"The crowds got even bigger".(Lk. 11: 29) ... a situation that would have made any preacher teacher thrilled to bits!! But Jesus is not flattered...for he knows the intent of this crowd who are out to see him work miracles to prove his identity! He gives them a challenge: if you haven't understood the Scriptures and repented of your sins, you will fare worse than the Ninevites at Judgement Day and worse than a pagan queen who came to listen to the wisdom of Solomon. The Ninevites listened to a one-line sermon of Jonah, the prophet: "in only forty days Nineveh will be destroyed!" They repented heart and soul, from the king to the last and least of his subjects! Jonah worked no miracles. Jesus had fed thousands! cured many blind, lame, and even raised the dead! What has happened?

When we are only busy, yes even obsessed with our own selves, we are unable to see goodness in others (outside ourselves). God is surely present and active in our life, our world. It takes courage to burst out of our own selves to behold his presence and plan in and through others. If we are not open for him in others, we will suffocate in our own selves! The presence and call of God is very real in our life, history and world.