The Pharisee and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away. (Matthew 16:1-4 [NASB])
Consider a boat. What makes it seaworthy? Does the name of
the company that owns it give us confidence in the boat or its actual
construction? We must consider that with our lives and people who teach us in our
world.
The main question that arises from this passage is for what kind
of sign are we looking? Do we want a sign so we can tell others the meaning and
gain recognition and followers? Or, do we seek a sign so we can praise God and
lead others to Him? Jesus raised this question in Matthew 16:1-4.
In this passage, we need to consider two things, the people
of the story and the signs of which each speaks. The people include the odd
joining of Pharisees and Sadducees to remove Jesus’ power over the people, and
then Jesus Himself. The signs in this passage speak of how this group of men
sought to trick Jesus and what they themselves did not understand of Jesus’ purpose
on earth.
The Pharisees were the Law givers and upholders of the Jewish
Law. They believed God provided the Jews with the written Law and the oral Law.
The Pharisees were known for their personal piety and their teaching Jews
should obey all 600+ laws in the Torah. They were a minority in the Sanhedrin
(the Jewish council) yet they seemed to control the decision-making because
they had popular support among the people. Because the Pharisees considered the
oral tradition as equal to the written tradition, it evolved over the centuries
as they added to God’s Word, which He forbade in Deuteronomy 4:2. In Matthew
9:14, 15:1-9, 23:5, 16, & 23, and Luke 11:42, the Gospels give examples of
the Pharisees considering their traditions as equal to God’s Word. The Pharisees
believed in the resurrection of the dead and an afterlife. They believed in the
Messiah setting up His kingdom on earth. Because Jesus came to earth not to set
up the earthly kingdom with power and might that would overthrow their current
rulers, the Romans, and because His teachings were contrary to theirs, the
Pharisees feared Jesus decreased their power and leadership among the Jews, and
so wanted Him gone.
The Sadducees were a part of the Jewish leaders and of the
Jewish council, the Sanhedrin. They were the aristocrats of the Jews and known
for corrupting their religious devotion. The Sadducees controlled the Jerusalem
Temple, known as Herod’s Temple. They only accepted the written word of Moses. The
Sadducees rejected the oral tradition as being equal to the written word. They
rejected the supernatural, including angels, demons, heaven, hell, and bodily resurrection.
The Sadducees believed the soul died with the body. They held strongly in
ritual purity as prescribed by God through Moses. Because the Sadducees didn’t
believe in a heaven, hell, or bodily resurrection, they had no need for a Messiah
as spoken of in the works outside the written tradition and as Jesus preached.
With this understanding of the actors in these four verses,
let’s consider closer what these men said. The group of men confronting Jesus asked
for a sign from heaven. Jesus challenged them on that and spoke of the sign of
Jonah. Were these men speaking of the same thing? The answer comes from the
ultimate motive of the questions. The Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus.
Were they testing Him to determine if He was blaspheming? Jesus will show us
the truth of that in verses two and three.
First, consider what the Pharisees and Sadducees asked. They
asked Jesus to show them a sign from heaven. This word for sign comes from the
same Greek word for sign as Jesus spoke of in verses three and four, semeion, which typically means a
miraculous sign to confirm or authenticate something. The motive of these
religious leaders was overtly to prove Jesus was a blasphemer, but by doing
that, it would prove their authority as the religious leaders of the Jews. The
covert reason, Jesus would bring to light with His statement.
What was the real reason for the religious leaders asking
for a sign from Jesus? In verses two and three, Jesus asked them, while the surrounding
crowd listened, if they knew how to read the sign in the sky telling people when
it would rain or be a fair-weather day, how did they not know how to discern
the sign of the times? Jesus basically said these leaders of the Jews could read
the physical signs of earth, but even as spiritual leaders, they were unable to
discern the spiritual sign of the times. This statement by Jesus proved the
sign for which the Pharisees and Sadducees asked of Jesus was a way people used
to prove the cause they pleaded was God’s when actually they did not do that. The
religious leaders asked the question to put them in an exalted place where people
would continue to look at them as their leaders for disclosing Jesus as a
non-Messiah and a blasphemer.
Jesus’ statement continued in verse four. He not only showed
the Jewish leaders’ covert question, but He labeled them for the people who
could not see what they did. He said in verse four, “An evil and adulterous
generation seeks after a sign, and a sign will not be given it, except the sign
of Jonah.” First Jesus revealed the leaders’ covert motive for the question, to
raise themselves in the eyes of the Jews as spiritual leaders, and then overtly
called them evil and adulterous. These Pharisees and Sadducees were evil and
adulterous and leading the Jews to be the same. Jesus made the Pharisees and
Sadducees a lesson for the crowds that followed Him and heard about His teachings
and signs.
A lesson comes in this sign of Jonah of which Jesus spoke. The
only sign the evil and adulterous would get would be what happened to Jonah.
What happened to Jonah? Jesus explains this sign in Matthew 12:39-41. He said,
But He (Jesus) answered them (Pharisees and scribes) and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it because they )the Ninevites) repented at the preaching of Jonah; and something greater than Jonah is here.” [NASB]
The sign of Jonah, Jesus said, was his coming back to life
three days after being taken into the deep. Jesus, like Jonah, would be dead
for three days and then come back to life. He would be bodily resurrected. Jonah
was a sign for the Ninevites sent by God and they repented, though later
reverted to a wicked life. Jesus challenged the Jewish religious leaders. He asked
how they could be spiritual leaders of God’s people when they could not read
the spiritual signs of the time. They we so afraid of losing their fame and
followers that they did not see the sign of God in front of them and lead the
people to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. The Ninevites who repented would judge
the Jews, who though they had the Messiah in front of them did not believe.
The sign of which Jesus spoke was a sign given to confirm His
authority to preach, teach, heal, cleanse, and forgive. Its end purpose was to
exalt the One giving the sign, God the Father. It authenticated Jesus and His
eternal purpose by doing what man could not replicate or that for which man
could not take credit. The Jewish leaders asked for a sign to authenticate
Jesus as a blasphemer, not to exalt God but themselves so the Jews would continue
to follow them. These leaders asked for signs to tell others about their abilities
and greatness instead of seeing God and praising Him.
We have that choice to make every day, too. It comes down to
what makes our boat seaworthy, the name on it or its Workmanship?
Will we
ask so we can tell or see so we can praise?
Not all asking brings
seeing God, but all seeing of God comes from asking of Him.
Likewise,
Not all telling brings
praising of God, but all praise of God brings telling about Him.
Lord, so often I ask
for You to show me Yourself, but then I don’t proclaim Who You are or what You’ve
done. Please forgive me. Sometimes, if I am completely honest, I even claim a
new insight learned, but don’t give you credit. Forgive me, LORD. I am not so
smart to tell of You from my earthly insight. Help me always to see You to
proclaim You. Help me realize I am but a created being who always needs to You
to keep from sinning. I am weak and You are strong. If it were not so, I would not
be saved now and able to proclaim Your goodness, mercy, grace, and love. You,
oh Lord, are almighty and I am not. Thank you for Your love of me from the
beginning of time. Thank you for Your plan to save me and for saving me from
myself, my sins, and my due judgment. Lord, all I can do when faced with
Yourself is prostrate myself on my face and praise You. I love You, Lord. Amen.
