Seeds for 08/30/2023 - Matthew 12:38-42
Scripture: Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
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. 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.”
Observation: They want to see a sign? Jesus has already provided that and more! Healing the demon-possessed, healing the sick, feeding the multitudes… all of those have both addressed a particular need for the person/s receiving Jesus’ act of ministry, and pointed to Jesus’ identity as Messiah as well as the real presence of God’s kingdom in His ministry.
Jesus uses comparison and contrast, with familiar biblical stories, to teach His point. It seems as though Jesus provides two stories of reference and three points.
First, a miraculous deliverance. Jonah was three days and nights in the belly of the huge fish. Three days would have communicated something beyond only historical information. That many days would have verified that they were truly dead and gone (see the story of Lazarus in John 11 for another example). Two days? Maybe there’s a chance. Three or more? No way. By linking Jonah’s time in the fish to His own coming time in the tomb, He predicts God’s power to deliver, even from death. Will they receive the sign of the Resurrection when it comes?
Second, a convicting message. By enlisting the people of Nineveh as witnesses, Jesus is saying that repentance is the appropriate response to the real purpose of a sign, which is to point people to God and lead them to conviction. If the Ninevites of all people could respond in repentance to the preaching of Jonah, then the Jewish leaders who hear Jesus can be expected to as well.
Third, recognizable wisdom. If foreign rulers traveled to experience Solomon’s reputed wisdom and left impressed, then these leaders asking for a sign can be expected to recognized divine wisdom. The crowds knew it when they heard it after the Sermon on the Mount: “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.”
Application:
How has God shown Himself to you through life experiences and through His Word?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, open my eyes to the wonders, words, and wisdom you show me each day. May I respond to these signs with true repentance and devotion. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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