Asking versus demanding
This week's study is on Matthew 16:1-4:
We often ask God for signs or confirmation, but when is it okay (like when Gideon did it) and when is it a problem (like when the Pharisees and Sadducees did it?) I think the key is in the words "The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him."
If you look at how Gideon asked God for signs of his sincerity, you can see that he's not testing God. He's not forcing God to meet him on his terms. He's just scared and wants comfort in the form of confirmation. God gives him the sign he asks for because God sees a man's heart and knows his motives.
The Sadducees and Pharisees, being the religious authorities of their day, weren't afraid and looking for encouragement. In their worldview, the state religion of Judaism was their territory, and they wanted Jesus to prove himself to them on their terms. "Oh you're the Messiah? Prove it, chump!" It's an antagonistic demand. By making him justify himself to them, they are trying to put him under their authority rather than submitting to his.
Jesus calls them a wicked and adulterous generation. Wicked, probably because they reject his authority and subvert the truth. Adulterous because they are not allied with him, but with something else. Maybe anti-Roman Jewish nationalism, maybe having control of the hearts and minds of the Jewish people, maybe the narcissistic crack of being looked up to by a nation as the authoritative source of knowledge? Who knows. All that matters is if they weren't allied with Jesus, they were unfaithful.
He talks about weather and reading the signs to know what's going to happen. His point is if they were really following God, and were really experts in the things they claimed authority in, they wouldn't be challenging him to show them his papers. They would already be on board. But Jesus is so full of compassion for them that I think he gave them one last chance to wake up by pointing them at the book of Jonah.
Jonah's story is an awesome story to use as a message for them. In the book of Jonah, the following happens:
But which are we? Are we pre-fish Jonah, with our list of injustices and criteria for who is worthy of God's love and second chances, or are we post-fish, grace-agnostic Jonah, who at least begrudgingly acknowledges that God's love transcends our boundaries, even those we jealously guard?
When we ask God for a sign, or for confirmation, where is it coming from? A cooperative attitude like Gideon had ("I'm with you, but I just really need to be reassured that I'm hearing you right, because this seems kind of crazy") or the uncooperative attitude exhibited by the Pharisees and Sadducees ("What are you doing in my religion, boy? Put your hands where we can see them and show us some ID.")
We can't make demands of someone so much more powerful and worthy of authority than us. But the beautiful thing is that even if we do make such a horrible mistake, he is still willing to take us back, just as he accepted the repentance of the scourge of his people in Nineveh. If you've been wicked and unfaithful, come back to him and you'll be forgiven. You only have to ask.
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.
We often ask God for signs or confirmation, but when is it okay (like when Gideon did it) and when is it a problem (like when the Pharisees and Sadducees did it?) I think the key is in the words "The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him."
If you look at how Gideon asked God for signs of his sincerity, you can see that he's not testing God. He's not forcing God to meet him on his terms. He's just scared and wants comfort in the form of confirmation. God gives him the sign he asks for because God sees a man's heart and knows his motives.
The Sadducees and Pharisees, being the religious authorities of their day, weren't afraid and looking for encouragement. In their worldview, the state religion of Judaism was their territory, and they wanted Jesus to prove himself to them on their terms. "Oh you're the Messiah? Prove it, chump!" It's an antagonistic demand. By making him justify himself to them, they are trying to put him under their authority rather than submitting to his.
Jesus calls them a wicked and adulterous generation. Wicked, probably because they reject his authority and subvert the truth. Adulterous because they are not allied with him, but with something else. Maybe anti-Roman Jewish nationalism, maybe having control of the hearts and minds of the Jewish people, maybe the narcissistic crack of being looked up to by a nation as the authoritative source of knowledge? Who knows. All that matters is if they weren't allied with Jesus, they were unfaithful.
He talks about weather and reading the signs to know what's going to happen. His point is if they were really following God, and were really experts in the things they claimed authority in, they wouldn't be challenging him to show them his papers. They would already be on board. But Jesus is so full of compassion for them that I think he gave them one last chance to wake up by pointing them at the book of Jonah.
Jonah's story is an awesome story to use as a message for them. In the book of Jonah, the following happens:
- A self-righteous, virtue-signaling, grudge-holding religious guy is introduced to grace by God, and runs as far away as he can run.
- After a period of three days he has a change of heart, and is essentially reborn and given another chance to move in God's grace and not his own sense of justice.
- The end result is that horrible people who deserved the wrath of God and would have got it are instead given the chance to start anew.
But which are we? Are we pre-fish Jonah, with our list of injustices and criteria for who is worthy of God's love and second chances, or are we post-fish, grace-agnostic Jonah, who at least begrudgingly acknowledges that God's love transcends our boundaries, even those we jealously guard?
When we ask God for a sign, or for confirmation, where is it coming from? A cooperative attitude like Gideon had ("I'm with you, but I just really need to be reassured that I'm hearing you right, because this seems kind of crazy") or the uncooperative attitude exhibited by the Pharisees and Sadducees ("What are you doing in my religion, boy? Put your hands where we can see them and show us some ID.")
We can't make demands of someone so much more powerful and worthy of authority than us. But the beautiful thing is that even if we do make such a horrible mistake, he is still willing to take us back, just as he accepted the repentance of the scourge of his people in Nineveh. If you've been wicked and unfaithful, come back to him and you'll be forgiven. You only have to ask.
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