Matthew 12:38-39: Give us a Sign
When the Jews asked for signs they weren’t just asking for some gob-smacking wonders that dazzled them. They wanted something to show that God was on their side! They’d seen a lot of miracles from Jesus (compare Acts 2:22 and Matthew 11:22-24) and instead of receiving him as the Messiah the miracles became the very reason they should kill him (John 11:47-48). They didn’t want signs to prove that he was the Messiah! They wanted assurance that God was about to do what they wanted done and if Christ produced signs like that he would be the kind of Messiah they would want. They had an agenda, their God would see that that agenda was accomplished and if Jesus made their case with signs then they’d throw their lot in with him.
Healing people on the Sabbath couldn’t be a sign from God because it violated the vision they had of God. The God of their Sabbath wouldn’t do the things this Jesus was doing. Above all things the Jewish Sabbath marked them out as the elect of God but their Sabbath and this alleged Messiah’s Sabbath were light years and a whole world apart. So it was their views against views of Jesus Christ that really came into conflict and because that was the case the works of Jesus, which he said were the works of God, had to be from another source—Satan.
God wouldn’t do such things! God wouldn’t do such things, they said! They said this not because the deeds weren’t happening—they were happening and they couldn’t deny it! They said God wouldn’t so such things because they had created a God in the image of their own views, and before they’d change their views they’d change God.
Not only could God not come dragging a cross—that was scandalous—he couldn’t come violating his own purity and sabbatical laws. Not only could God not send a Messiah who’d end up a loser in a conflict with Rome he couldn’t send a Messiah who would undermine the religious structures that identified Israel as Israel, the elect nation of God.
The upshot of it all was that what they saw before their eyes couldn’t be the work of God. But there was the reality, what would they do with it? How about ignoring it and saying nothing? That wouldn’t work because everyone was talking about it. Say it was the Devil that did it. Where it was possible explain it as something natural (that would mean it wasn’t the work of God, don’t you know). Do whatever you have to do with it just as long as you keep God out of it!
"An evil and an adulterous generation seeks a sign," said the Christ (Matthew 12:39) but the only sign they would get was the kind they didn’t want, the kind that didn’t fit into their theological structures, the kind that spoke of their failure.
But had they had the heart to see they would have seen that the awful events of Golgotha was the most profound assurance the human heart could have wanted. All this dismissed because they had their own religious worldview.
It’s astonishing what we build our views of God on. Some say God couldn’t have done this or that because God wouldn’t work on the Sabbath. Others say God couldn’t have done this or that because God wouldn’t take away a little granddaughter’s favourite playmate and baby-sitter. Some say God couldn’t have done this or that because it would undermine our religious platform. Others say God wouldn’t do this or that because people might be offended at him and turn away from him.
"Give us a sign."..."No, not one like that, try again."...No, that won't work either, try again."..."look, let me tell you what I believe, now work a sign that fits into that."..."Oh, you won't? Well, you don't suit me. There's got to be another god around I can be happy with."
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.