Matthew 12:38-42 NRSVue
38Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. 41The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and indeed something greater than Jonah is here! 42The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and indeed something greater than Solomon is here!
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Some thoughts on this scripture
Reflection
Jesus resisted the Jews’ repeated demand for a sign that would show he was
from God. They wanted to see something abnormal. Jesus brings them back to
the normal, to the man Jesus whom they saw and knew. /I am the sign of
God’s presence to men. What do you think of me?/ From the beginning of his
public life, those who did not believe in Jesus’ preaching or his miracles
discerned nothing of the divine in his features. Undoubtedly he was like many
people whose beauty, at once very secret and very striking, dazzles some and
escapes others; this is especially true when beauty is of the spiritual
order. Like all creatures, Christ is transformed by the person who is
attracted to him.
Reflection
If I was a Pharisee and I met this wandering healer-prophet, perhaps I would
ask for a sign too. Many Christians look for signs like miracles, voices from
heaven, Mary's image on rose petals, bleeding stigmata. Jesus points us away
from spectacular signs. It is our faith in the person of Jesus that keeps us
going. He points these Jewish men to the faith and perceptiveness of women
and gentiles.
Reflection
The opponents are looking for divine signs from Jesus. Something as
outlandish as the splendour of the queen, or the miracle of Jonah. Jesus
slides away from these demands. His divine sings are the compassion and
especially the forgiveness of God. He was criticised because only God could
forgive sins, and he claimed to do so. For saying he was equal to God he
would be killed.
Reflection
When we hear of Jonah we remember he was a reluctant prophet and he was also
the one who resisted the call of the Lord to speak to the Gentiles, to enter
into the world of the other, the foreigner, the ones who are not like
ourselves. Jesus was like that - the one whose heart and words, love and
truth are for all.
Reflection
Signs from God sometimes seem desirable – and even reasonable to expect.
Jesus reminds me that, if I want them, I may be looking in the wrong
direction. I pray that I may see and appreciate where God is already at work
in the events and relationships of my life.
Reflection
My prayer time can train the eye of my heart to recognise God at work in my
life. As I become more familiar with and trusting in God’s Spirit, I need
less proof and am able to rely on what I have learnt. God trusts me. I learn
to trust God’s spirit in me.