Today's readings speak to us about the need for faith.
In the Gospel, the Pharisees who lack faith ask for a sign, but Jesus solemnly denies it to them.
In the letter of James, we have the corresponding teaching.
To obtain what we ask for, we must have unwavering faith.
Is Jesus being unfair to the Pharisees by denying them a miracle?
No, because the evidence they have is already enough to make it reasonable for them to believe.
Their lack of faith is culpable because it is the result of a refusal to believe.
Their request for a sign is a way of saying that none of the miracles Christ has performed count, yet those miracles are the very ones the prophets had foretold the Messiah would do.
For example, Isaiah said, And the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then shall the lame leap like a stag, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
Some Pharisees, like Nicodemus, accept Jesus as the Messiah.
It was the others, who seemed to be the majority, who refused to believe.
And it is of these, obviously, that those who argue with Jesus come.
We see this sort of behavior today in people who call themselves skeptics.
No matter how much evidence they are given, they always ask for more, and ideally something that they don't think that they can be given.
Why is that?
In the case of the Pharisees, the reason seems to have been their fear of losing their privileged position.
They didn't want to become disciples of Jesus, that unlearned man, and of the common people he had chosen as apostles.
To preserve their position of prestige, they would at any cost refuse to believe.
So even if Jesus had performed a more spectacular miracle, they still would not have believed.
So Jesus gives them no new sign now.
This is similar to why he did not come down from the cross when he was challenged.
When they said, let him come down now from the cross, and we'll believe in him.
Even if he had come down, this would not have been enough for them to believe.
Furthermore, Christ did not come to satisfy human whims, but to do the will of the Father.
And it was the Father's will that he should die on the cross for the salvation of those who would believe.
It was also the Father's will that the greatest sign done by Jesus be not such as the Pharisees asked.
According to St. Luke, they asked him for a sign from heaven.
But the Father willed that the greatest sign be deep as Sheol and not high as heaven.
It would be the sign of the Prophet Jonah, Jesus' resurrection on the third day, which he promised in the beginning of his ministry when he said, destroy this temple and in three days I will rebuild it.
In the first reading today is the beginning of the letter of St. James, the so-called brother of the Lord who was actually a cousin of Jesus.
He writes to those who do have faith, insisting on the need to believe wholeheartedly.
Only those who have this attitude can hope to receive what they ask for in prayer.
What we can and must be certain of is that God will give us what is good for us.
We cannot always be certain that what we ask for is good.
But if it is not, then we will receive something that is in reality better than what we are asking, even though we may not recognize it.
And so it is with trials.
St. James begins his letter by telling us to consider it all joy when we encounter various trials.
And this isn't the way that we normally react to trials.
Usually we hope and pray to escape them or for them to end as soon as possible.
But the apostle teaches us that God uses trials to help us to grow in virtue and become perfect so that we can enter heaven.
This is similar to the lesson that the letter to the Hebrews teaches.
God disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant.
But later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained.
The psalmist speaks as one who already enjoys that fruit.
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I hold to your promise.
And in appreciation he adds, it is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.
See how this fits together with what St. James teaches about prayer.
When we pray we must do so with faith that God will give us what is best for us.
So if we pray and the trial remains, then that is what is best for us.
And we should rejoice in this gift of the Lord.
His last point regards the way God often acts in those trials.
He brings down the powerful and exalts the lowly.
He fills the hungry with good things and the rich he sends away empty, as Our Lady sang.
So that the rich and powerful should not let their riches make them proud, because these things will all pass away.
A flower is beautiful when it blossoms, but it must one day wither.
And just so their riches and power will pass away.
Likewise the poverty and weakness of the lowly last only for a time.
And then the Lord will fill them with good things forever.
So let us have faith in our Lord who has given us so many proofs of who he is and of his goodness.
Those who trust in his promises will not be disappointed.
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.