Scripture Daily

Context No. 2977 of 4322 · Matthew

Context · Reflection

Matthew 12:38-42: in context

38Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” 39But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. 40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here. 42The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here.

Some scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign. He calls them an evil and adulterous generation and says no sign will be given except the sign of Jonah: as Jonah was three days in the belly of the fish, so the Son of Man will be three days in the heart of the earth. Then he warns that the men of Nineveh and the Queen of the South will rise at the judgment and condemn this generation, for they responded to far less.

Those demanding a sign already stood before the very sign they were asking for, Jesus himself, and would not believe. He points to two unlikely responders from the past: pagan Nineveh, which repented at the preaching of Jonah, and a foreign queen, who traveled from far away to hear Solomon's wisdom. They responded to a mere prophet and a mere king; and here, in Jesus, is one greater than both, standing in front of people who demand still more proof. Often the problem is not a lack of evidence but an unwillingness to respond to the evidence already given.

Am I demanding more signs from God, when what I already have, Christ himself, is greater than anything I am waiting for?

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