From the desk of Pastor Ben
Demanding A Sign

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”     (Matthew 12:38)

The scribes’ and Pharisees’ demand of Jesus — “We want to see a sign from You” — was really just an official insistence that He prove Himself to be the Messiah. Their use of “Teacher” was actually sarcastic because they considered Him a heretic and wanted to expose Him as a false teacher. It was also hypocritical because they wanted to put Jesus off guard by flattering Him in front of the crowd.
Matthew 16:1, a parallel verse, tells us, “The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.” Such a sign would be a large and spectacular one, which would be both from heaven and visible across the heavens, such as some unprecedented celestial occurrence or spectacular movement across the skies.
Although most of the Old Testament prophets did not perform miracles or signs but simply confirmed their divine messages by the messages’ truthful content, the Jews had come to expect signs accompanying every man of God, especially Messiah (1 Corinthians 1:22). Perhaps the Jewish leaders here thought Christ would fulfill Joel’s prophecy of turning the moon into blood (Joel 2:31), or painting the heavens some other colors by a mere wave of His hand.
Actually, the Jews did not think Jesus would perform any sort of miracle because their purpose was to discredit Him before the crowd, unmasking Him as one who could not do what they demanded. Such an arrogant demand really only disobeys Deuteronomy 6:16 by putting God to the test and revealing one’s unbelief.

Ask Yourself:
As usual, the Pharisees’ sarcasm and hypocrisy kept them from enjoying a blessed reality — the fact that God loves to reveal Himself and make His ways known to His people. How has He shown Himself strong, capable, and compassionate in your life lately?