Matthew 16:1-4: No Sign but the Sign of Jonah

An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign,” Jesus to the Pharisees and Sadducees, Matthew 16:4

“Even if a miracle should be wrought in the open marketplace before a thousand sober witnesses, I would rather mistrust my senses than admit a miracle.” (French atheist Voltaire)

“If I look up at the stars tonight and say, ‘Rearrange to say, I am here’…then I would say maybe there is something to this.”  Atheist Lawrence Krauss commenting on what kind of evidence it would take for him to believe there is a God.  (In a debate with William Lane Craig on a youtube video: “Life, the Universe and Nothing: Has science buried God?” Pt. 1)

Chapter 16 is a turning point in Matthew’s gospel.    In this chapter we have Peter’s great confession, “You are the Christ” (v. 16), as well as Jesus beginning his turn toward Jerusalem where He will be crucified, buried and raised (see v. 21).  This chapter begins with Jesus being confronted by those who resist him the most. 

The Pharisees and Sadducees  (v. 1) were usually at odds with each other.  But since both parties represented the religious leadership of Israel, they both felt threatened by Jesus’ growing popularity and miracles.  They laid aside their grievances with each other and came together against Jesus.  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” the saying goes.

They asked him, Jesus, to show them a sign from heaven (v. 1).  No longer content with just any sign (see 12:38), now they want a sign from heaven.   At the first reading one may think, “Go for it, Jesus, and show them who you really are!“ 

Instead Jesus appeared to change the topic and talk about the weather. However, if one reads the previous chapters of Matthew’s gospel, it reveals that Jesus has just done a full compliment of miracles.  These were not just signs in the sky but miracles of compassion toward hurting people: miracles of healing (14:35-36; 15:28; 15:30-31) and food (15:32-38).  If the Pharisees and Sadducees really wanted to know Jesus, then they had all the miracles they needed.   And if Jesus did do a miracle, that would not satisfy them; they would either dismiss it or ask for even a greater miracle still. 

The root issue was that they came to test him, (v. 1).  They had the same evil intent that Satan had when he demanded a sign from Jesus (see 4:5-7) or when the passerbys taunted him on the cross (27:39-44).   Jesus was not a street performer doing miracles by request.  Jesus “sighed deeply” (Mark 8:12) and chose instead to comment on their hearts: “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And 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. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given…(v. 2-4).” 

Miracles are certainly a part of Jesus’ plan as he reveals himself to the human race (see John 4:48, Matthew 9:6-8).  But miracles will be done on God’s terms, not man’s.   Jesus does, however, promise one Granddaddy miracle: “the sign of Jonah,” (v. 4).    The first time Jesus mentions “the sign of Jonah” was at a similar confrontation in 12:39.  There Jesus explained the sign:  “for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,” (12:40).    

Jesus is saying, “If you really want a sign, then wait.  For when you kill me, three days later I will be alive again.”   To rise from the dead is what sets Jesus apart from all other competitors to Truth.  Other Truth claims may contain smaller miracles, but no one has ever risen from the dead!  His rising is at the very core of our faith (see 1 Corinthians 15:17).

From here Jesus left them and departed (v. 4) to the other side of the lake, away from the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.   However, when Jesus returns to earth they will get their sign in the sky: “Then will appear in the heaven the sign of the Son of Man,” (24:30).  But by then it will be a sign of judgment and not a sign of proof.  Examine the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.   There you will find that Jesus is “The Christ, the Son of the Living God,” (v. 13).