Mtr Mary Trainor

The queen of the South...came to listen to the wisdom of Solomon... Matthew 12:42

Dear friend,

It’s one of the most colorful stories in the Bible. The Queen of Sheba, intrigued by things she heard about King Solomon, “came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue….” Once there, “she told him all that was on her mind.” (1 Kings 10)

Jesus refers to the “queen of the South” in today’s Office Gospel (Matthew 12:33-42) While sparring with Pharisees and scribes, some of them ask Jesus for a “sign.” They want a demonstration of his powers. They want proof.

He does not comply, of course, instead condemning them as part of an evil and adulterous generation. Jesus then points to people in history who would do better at the judgment than them. One of his examples was the Queen of Sheba, who brought her questions to Solomon. And then listened to him, allowing herself to be changed by what she heard.

I would guess that many of us would love a sign. Maybe we have even asked for one. Not necessarily as a challenge, as the Pharisees did. More from deep desperation. Show me, Lord. Show me you are here, God. Are you here, Holy One?

Dismayed as I was by early exposure to hell-fire-and-damnation theology, I turned away from church in despair. I had fallen in love with Jesus, but religion had lined the road to God with tricks and hazards. It seemed insurmountable. Somewhere along that path, I may have asked for a sign. Show me you are real, God. Or am I just wandering around in this wilderness for no good reason?

Life brought some twists and turns. A few decades passed. And one day, following some complicated cosmic choreography, I ended up in an Episcopal Church. Where I found that God is real. And that my years in the wilderness were not wasted..

God does not offer proof-on-demand. And yet “proof” may be available.

In Matthew 11, John the Baptist sent followers to ask Jesus if he was the one, or were they to wait for another. By way of answer, Jesus told John’s disciples to report their observations: the blind see, the deaf hear, the dead are raised.

Yearning for God’s presence, listening, watching, praying, waiting, alert to where we see love happening, or the unlikely good thing, or the new development that didn’t seem possible. These could be our answers.

More often than not I suspect “proof” lurks in subtlety. It may take a bit of attentiveness on our part to recognize it.

Jesus said the Queen of Sheba will rise up at the judgment in a better position than the Pharisees because she  ...came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon….

Mtr. Mary