Ignoring the evidence

“Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.’” (Matthew 12:38 NIV)

On the surface, the request of the Jewish leaders made sense. They had been observing Jesus and hearing his teaching. If he really were from God then he should be able to prove it.

But that was the problem, wasn’t it? He had shown them a sign – in fact he had shown them sign after sign. Yet this still didn’t convince them. He had just driven a demon out of a man which had caused the man to be blind and unable to speak. Now the man could do both. But the Jewish leaders still weren’t satisfied: “Show us one more,” they said to him, “and then we will be convinced”.

If they hadn’t liked the driving out of a demon – after all, you couldn’t see a demon – they should remember that he had earlier healed a man at the synagogue on the Sabbath Day. The man had a shrivelled hand but was now completely healed. Both hands now worked. But this hadn’t satisfied them either. Instead “the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus” (Matthew 12:14).

How many times have we been involved in discussions with people and we have shown them scripture after scripture to establish what God’s word says. Yet they still aren’t convinced: “Show us one more,” they say, “and we will be convinced”. It should be rather obvious that if someone won’t accept something that is in front of their eyes adding one more isn’t going to convince them either.

But Jesus did give the Jewish leaders one more sign. It wasn’t the type of sign they were wanting as it didn’t involve anyone being healed or anything being changed. The sign he gave was from scripture.

“He answered, ‘A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’” (Matthew 12:39-40)

The only sign he would give them was the prophet Jonah. Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish before he was spewed out on land to return to life. In the same way ‘the Son of Man’ would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The implication is that he, like Jonah, would then return to life. Notice that he used a Messianic title in reference to himself. The greatest sign he could give that he was from God, that he was the Messiah, that he was Deity, was his coming back from being dead.

Although we aren’t given the details of how they reacted to this, he added something from scripture to address their lack of faith in spite of the evidence in front of them.

“The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.” (Matthew 12:41-42)

Even those from Nineveh changed when they heard Jonah. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria which was pagan nation, yet they could recognise someone who had been sent from God. The ‘Queen of the South’, whom we know better as the Queen of Sheba, would condemn them because she travelled many miles to hear Solomon’s wisdom, and they had someone even greater than Solomon, yet they were rejecting him and what he said.

What about us? Are we convinced by the evidence we see in Scripture as to who Jesus is? Or do we want one more sign? Would one more sign really convince us?

The evidence is plain. It is up to us to accept it and act on it.

Image by MissM (AI generated) from pixabay.com

Readings for next week: Matthew 10-14