Matthew 16:1-4
The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ 3 and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.[a] 4 A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.
Questions:
ReplyDelete- Why did the Pharisees want a sign from heaven now, when they saw and heard so many signs already?
- Would they have believed any sign that Jesus could have given them?
- What is the sign of Jonah?
http://www.bible-studys.org/Bible%20Books/Matthew/Matthew%20Chapter%2016.html says:
ReplyDeleteThis time Jesus rebuked them for being so concerned with heavenly signs that they could not even interpret the signs of the times all around them. Then He referred them to the same sign He gave them before, the sign of the prophet Jonah (verse 4; 12:39).
These Pharisees and Sadducees were always trying to trap Jesus. They would not have believed, regardless of how great the sign from heaven.
As primitive as their method of predicting the weather was, there ability to discern spiritual matters was worse. They had the long promised and long-awaited Messiah in the midst and refused to acknowledge Him.
These Pharisees and Sadducees could even predict the weather by the physical signs in the sky; but had no spiritual discernment at all.
Jesus upbraided them for not understanding their own Scriptures better. Abraham, their physical forefather, accepted on faith. This was not good enough for them; they had to see the act with their very own eyes. Followers of Jesus must accept on faith.
Wicked people refuse to believe. Jesus called them wicked and adulterous. Wicked because of their unbelief; adulterous because they spiritually rejected Him (spiritual adultery).
The sign spoken of, that would be given, was Jesus' body lying three days in the earth and rising again, as Jonah spent three days in the whale's belly and was returned to the earth.
He knew that they would not receive or understand the message, so He (as He has commanded us to do when they will not believe) left them and went somewhere where they would receive the message.
http://johnmckinnon.org/matthew16v1-12 says:
ReplyDeleteSigns can make faith unnecessary – or they cater for those with only little faith. Jesus considered that his work and his person were sufficient to generate faith. Anything else might serve only to trivialise the genuinely sacred: mystification replacing mystery.
Jesus did not perform his general healings and exorcisms as means to elicit faith in him. They were signs of the advent of the Kingdom and anticipations of it, illustrating it and calling for faithful commitment to it. Jesus worked particular healings in response to people’s faith, not as ways to arouse faith.