Daily Devo w/ Pastor Eric October 26, 2021
The “Sign of Jonah”
Matthew 12:38-45, NLT - One day some teachers of
religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to
show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.”
But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation
would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign
of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was
in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son
of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.
“The people of Nineveh will stand up against this
generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at
the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse
to repent. The queen of Sheba will also
stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came
from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than
Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen.
“When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the
desert, seeking rest but finding none. Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I
came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order.
Then the spirit finds seven other
spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there.
And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of
this evil generation.”
We rejoin the spirted conversation
between Jesus and the Pharisees/religious teachers. After being warned by Jesus that they are
teetering on the edge of sin that is unforgivable, the leaders ask Jesus for a
sign to prove he has authority to say such harsh things to them. Remember, they have witnessed several “signs”
already, including demon-exorcisms, countless healings, and even a resurrection
or two. So Jesus, who isn’t a show-us-a-miracle
traveling road show, refuses to perform on-demand for the leaders who will no
more be swayed from their murderous intent than they have been up until
now. Instead, Jesus’s critique of them
continues.
“Only an evil, adulterous
generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them
is the sign of the prophet Jonah.”(v. 39)
Once again, Jesus stops short of
actually calling the leaders evil and adulterous, but He might as well
have. But as I have encouraged us to do
before, let’s not distance ourselves from the targets of Jesus’s polemic
here. We need to hear Jesus’s warnings
to those who should know better, because the warnings are for us as well. Don’t continue to demand proof as a basis for
faith when all the proof necessary has already been given. Only people who have already steeled
themselves against such proof and betrayed the faith insist on signs being
given.
Jesus
is angry and one of the words he uses here helps us understand why – generation
(“only and evil, adulterous generation…”). Jesus is making a charge against specific
individuals; he’s leveling an evaluation of an entire generation. Implied here is the troubling thought that,
not only have these leaders turned against the God they claim to serve, they
are leading and will continue to lead others to do the same. Jesus is not just calling out evil. He is
calling out systemic evil.
When Nineveh was called out by Jonah, they repented. When the Queen of Sheba heard about the
wisdom of Solomon, she traveled across the world to hear it personally. But now, God-in-the-flesh is standing before
these leaders and they continue to demand proof and cast doubts into the hearts
of their followers. Shame, shame.
This
grave warning still calls out all who persist in setting themselves against
obvious truth and leading others to do the same. Jesus says that the only sign that will ever
be given for such rebels is “the sign of Jonah.” Jonah was willingly thrown into the sea by
those in peril so that those in peril might be saved from the wrath all around
them. Long before He is crucified, Jesus
alludes to his ultimate sign; he will
die at the hands of those who oppose Him, but their “victory” is actually their
once-and-for-all defeat. Truth will
prevail in the end. And the “generation”
that fought against truth and brought others down with them will find
themselves in a worse situation than they were in before.
It’s extremely
hard to resist the temptation to conclude that Jesus’s warning is not for us. But every generation recorded in the Bible
and all the generations since the last word of the Bible was scribbled down have
struggled with embracing the obvious signs they have already been given in
favor of looking for a sign that will never come. I already have all the “proof” I will ever
need that I should follow Jesus with all that I have. You have that proof as well. This leads to a very uncomfortable question.
Question: Why do we
continue to resist truth we already know deep in our hearts is right?
Prayer: Have mercy on
us Lord when we refuse to receive the truth You offer – the truth that could
set us free. Help us let go of our
resistance even when it is so hard to do so, lest we become part of a generation
that stands on the wrong side of Your warning.
Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for the healing of divisions within the worldwide church.
Song: Come Tear Down
the Walls/I Surrender All - Revere
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