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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
After Jesus had sent the crowd away, He got
into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.
The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested Him
by asking Him to show them a sign from heaven.
He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be
fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be
stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the
appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A
wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it
except the sign of Jonah.”
Jesus then left them and went away.
Matthew 15:39, 16:1-4
As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked
generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of
Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be
to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the
people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the
earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is
here. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and
condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something
greater than Jonah is here.”
Luke 11:29-32
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be
to God.
Up to the point when Jesus arrived on the scene, the
Jewish people had enjoyed more than their fair share of great men and women who
God had used for amazing purposes, particularly in the way of leading and
communicating with His people. And yet, no matter how incredible those people
were, they all paled in comparison to Jesus Himself.
Indeed, in Him, someone greater had come. Look again at
today’s verses from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke:
After Jesus had sent the crowd away, He got into the boat and went to
the vicinity of Magadan.
The Pharisees and
Sadducees came to Jesus and tested Him by asking Him to show them a sign from
heaven.
He replied, “When
evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in
the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You
know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the
signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but
none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.”
Jesus then left them
and went away. Matthew 15:39, 16:1-4
As the crowds
increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but
none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the
Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the
South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn
them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom;
and now something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand
up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at
the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here.” Luke 11:29-32
When we left off yesterday, Jesus had just finished
miraculously healing a large number of afflicted people who had brought before
Him on a mountainside near the Sea of Galilee, an opening act for the main
event where He fed more than four thousand men, women, and children with just
seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. The scriptures told us that all
present ate and were satisfied before Jesus sent them home after spending three
days with Him.
As Matthew 15 ends, we read where Jesus got into a boat
and traveled to the vicinity of Magadan, a town on the west coast of the Sea of
Galilee and just to the south of Gennesaret, the place where Jesus facilitated
an astonishing catch of fish for His disciples. He also had performed works of
healing there so the people were very familiar with Him.
We read where Jesus no sooner arrived at Magadan when He
was confronted by a group of Pharisees and Sadducees who asked for one thing,
for Jesus to show them a sign from heaven. This was a rather ridiculous request
because Jesus had been showing signs and wonders from heaven ever since He
started His ministry but the scriptures tell us that the Jewish leaders were
only putting Jesus to the test…again.
Jesus’ response should be of little surprise as we get a
sense He was growing weary with the Jewish religious authorities. Here’s what
He told them according to Matthew’s account:
“When evening
comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the
morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know
how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs
of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none
will be given it except the sign of Jonah.”
And with that, Jesus left the Pharisees and Sadducees and
“went away”.
Here Jesus calls out the Jewish religious leaders for
spending more time interpreting the things of the world and nature than they do
trying to discern and understand the scriptures which had clearly told the
signs of the times. For the prophets of old had told of Jesus’ coming over and
over; He was the foretold Messiah, the long predicted holy one who had come to
save.
God had sent the Messiah to His people, someone evidently
greater than anyone in the history of mankind, and yet they wouldn’t open their
eyes to see Him. Instead, they demanded a sign and so Jesus told them what sign
they would receive:
“This is a wicked
generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of
Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be
to this generation.”
What is Jesus getting at here?
Well, you have to go back to the story of Jonah to find
out.
You remember Jonah, right?
God had sent Him to deliver a message of impending
judgment to the people of Nineveh but Jonah, afraid of how badly he would be
treated if he went to Nineveh, instead went to Joppa and boarded a ship to
Tarshish. Once at sea, a terrible storm raged and the people on the boat
thought they were going to die as the boat capsized. The men onboard sensed
that maybe the storm was no coincidence and cast lots to find out who onboard
was responsible for their predicament. The cast lots pointed to Jonah who
confessed his sin, taking accountability for his actions. He directed the men to
cast him overboard to save themselves and reluctantly, the men did. The
scriptures tell us that the seas immediately calmed and those onboard worshiped
God.
Meanwhile, Jonah was swallowed up by a huge fish and
spent three days and three nights before God showed him mercy and had the fish
spit Jonah out on dry land, giving him a second chance to go to Nineveh and do
as he had been commanded. Jonah followed God’s direction the second time and
his actions resulted in the people of Nineveh repenting before God and
receiving His pardon as He withdrew the punishment He was going to send.
Fast forward to Jesus and the sign of Jonah was simply
this:
First, Jesus’ death on the cross and subsequent placement
in the tomb for three days and nights was symbolic of Jonah’s time in the belly
of the huge fish.
Second, Jesus’ resurrection was akin to Jonah’s exit from
the huge fish, spit out on dry land and resurrected toward accomplishing God’s
purpose. Jesus’ rebirth from the tomb was all about accomplishing His Father’s
purpose of being the Savior of all mankind.
Finally, once given a new lease on life, Jonah led the
people of Nineveh to repentance. Jesus, of course, does the same to anyone who
comes with a willingness to place their faith, hope, and trust in Him. With
their sins laid bare and equipped with the understanding that Jesus died to pay
the price for those sins, a Christ believer is driven to a place of repentance,
confessing their transgressions and vowing to turn away from them to live as
Jesus did instead.
Yes, Jesus came and, indeed, was (and is) someone
greater. For no one on earth can save us and bring us to a life everlasting
with God the Father (John 14:6) except for His Son, the Savior of the world.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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