Scripture Daily

Context No. 3504 of 4322 · Matthew

Context · Reflection

Matthew 16:1-6: in context

1The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2But he answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3In the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you can’t discern the signs of the times! 4An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” He left them and departed. 5The disciples came to the other side and had forgotten to take bread. 6Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

The religious leaders demand a sign from heaven, though Jesus had been doing signs all along, healing, feeding, casting out demons. Jesus exposes the real problem: they could read the evening and morning sky to predict the weather, but they could not, or would not, read the signs of the times, the plain evidence of God at work right in front of them.

It was not a lack of evidence but a hardness of heart. He gives them only the sign of Jonah, pointing to his own coming death and resurrection, and leaves them. Then he warns his disciples to beware the leaven of the Pharisees, the subtle, spreading influence of a religion that demands proof while refusing what God plainly shows. There is a searching warning here about a heart that keeps asking for more evidence as a way of avoiding the response God's evidence already calls for. When we do not want to see, no sign will ever be enough; the issue is the will, not the proof.

Do I read the signs of God's work already plainly before me and respond, or do I keep demanding more proof as a way of avoiding what he is calling me to?

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