Looking for a sign
There is a little wooden church building standing beside the main road on the way to Hemet in California. The large notice board outside is easy to read while driving past. One Sunday it read 'Are you looking for a sign? - This is it!'
'Give me a sign and I'll believe.' is what some people still say today. They have signs; a great outpouring of signs, because all the acts of Jesus during his public ministry were signs. Every act pointed to God and God's divine intentions. The men who challenged Jesus to prove himself, had not seen those signs, and would not have recognised them if they had. Signs have to be read. Actually these men hoped that Jesus wouldn't do anything that convinced them about the truthfulness of his statements.
Well, they got what they wanted, the opposite to the thing they asked for. Jesus refused to do signs for them, but told them to look for the sign of the prophet Jonah. Jonah, you remember, was the man who was three days in the belly of a great fish and who was eventually heaved out of the fish onto the beach. How could that story be a sign? I can only imagine the triumph and the self-congratulation of those men who would report the encounter and say that Jesus had not been able to convince them.
The coming to life of Jesus three days after his death and burial is the greatest sign that all humanity could ask for. The resurrection is a sign to all people that what Jesus said was true. God himself gave the confirmation. Jesus worked no magic, he was truly dead, even the Romans confirmed it He died as dependent upon the goodness of God as we shall die. It was God who reached down to the dead body and made it alive. This act of God was God's great sign that Jesus spoke the truth. It is also a sign to all humanity that we too shall live. God will raise us up to encounter him.
So the men who challenged Jesus got more than a sign, they got the great sign. But they probably weren't looking. They were part of the group that paid the grave-side guard to say that someone stole the body of Jesus away. The men who challenged Jesus weren't in the right place to see the sign. They were not sitting in a locked room with 11 other people when Jesus stood in the midst of them. They were not in Galilee with five hundred other people when Jesus showed himself to them. They didn't hear Jesus call out Mary's name in the cemetery. They didn't want to believe and they took care to keep company only with others who didn't want to believe. Too much was at stake.
It is still so; so much is at stake when a person receives the sign that confirms the truthfulness of Jesus. If those men had believed, it would have cost them their position in the religious society they lived in. They were already praying people, God respecting people, diligent about keeping their religious laws, but they had shaped faith to their own convenience. God frequently challenges mistaken faith and only the brave can face the challenge. For the rest there is too much at stake.
Matthew 16:1- 4 Revised Standard Version. The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test Jesus they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2He answered them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' 3And in the morning, 'It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." Then he left them and went away.
'Give me a sign and I'll believe.' is what some people still say today. They have signs; a great outpouring of signs, because all the acts of Jesus during his public ministry were signs. Every act pointed to God and God's divine intentions. The men who challenged Jesus to prove himself, had not seen those signs, and would not have recognised them if they had. Signs have to be read. Actually these men hoped that Jesus wouldn't do anything that convinced them about the truthfulness of his statements.
Well, they got what they wanted, the opposite to the thing they asked for. Jesus refused to do signs for them, but told them to look for the sign of the prophet Jonah. Jonah, you remember, was the man who was three days in the belly of a great fish and who was eventually heaved out of the fish onto the beach. How could that story be a sign? I can only imagine the triumph and the self-congratulation of those men who would report the encounter and say that Jesus had not been able to convince them.
The coming to life of Jesus three days after his death and burial is the greatest sign that all humanity could ask for. The resurrection is a sign to all people that what Jesus said was true. God himself gave the confirmation. Jesus worked no magic, he was truly dead, even the Romans confirmed it He died as dependent upon the goodness of God as we shall die. It was God who reached down to the dead body and made it alive. This act of God was God's great sign that Jesus spoke the truth. It is also a sign to all humanity that we too shall live. God will raise us up to encounter him.
So the men who challenged Jesus got more than a sign, they got the great sign. But they probably weren't looking. They were part of the group that paid the grave-side guard to say that someone stole the body of Jesus away. The men who challenged Jesus weren't in the right place to see the sign. They were not sitting in a locked room with 11 other people when Jesus stood in the midst of them. They were not in Galilee with five hundred other people when Jesus showed himself to them. They didn't hear Jesus call out Mary's name in the cemetery. They didn't want to believe and they took care to keep company only with others who didn't want to believe. Too much was at stake.
It is still so; so much is at stake when a person receives the sign that confirms the truthfulness of Jesus. If those men had believed, it would have cost them their position in the religious society they lived in. They were already praying people, God respecting people, diligent about keeping their religious laws, but they had shaped faith to their own convenience. God frequently challenges mistaken faith and only the brave can face the challenge. For the rest there is too much at stake.
Matthew 16:1- 4 Revised Standard Version. The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test Jesus they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2He answered them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' 3And in the morning, 'It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." Then he left them and went away.
Labels: Jesus, Religious signs
posted by Jessie Coates at 3:26 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home