Smoodock's Blog

Worldviews are difficult to give up. If I hold a particular worldview upon a matter, and my worldview is opposed by another, I don’t need a sign from heaven to show me I’m wrong, if my opponent proves my worldview is unsupportable thorough logical reasoning. For example, in an earlier study in this series, we found out why there couldn’t be an “unpardonable” sin, because if that’s so, God couldn’t be almighty, because it would be impossible for him to forgive what man has done. If God is almighty, he is able. The logic is: God is able or he is unable. He can’t be both. Therefore, as this argument applies to the subject at hand, why would Jesus need to do a miracle to prove he is correct, if we know of a certainty that, what we had believed to be true, has been proved false?

Proving a worldview is false is not as difficult as having to give up one’s false worldview. It has been my experience that people most often hold something is true, because they “feel” it is true. Perhaps, at one time they thought they “proved” their worldview was correct, but after their initial acceptance of their fundamental doctrine, they hold onto it in the face of logical opposition, because the “feel” they are correct. They have no logical response for the attack on their belief system, but they continue to believe their fundamental beliefs, because they “feel” they are correct and, although they have no proof, their opponent **must** be wrong. This is the case before us in our study of Jesus’ debate with his opponents, the Jewish authorities, vis-à-vis the scribes and Pharisees of his day.

Years ago, when I struggled to understand if I would have enough income to retire, my cousin, Michael, asked me, “When is “enough” enough? His words forced me to consider if I would always vacillate on that fence we labeled “enough.” Long-story-short, I retired, and I never looked back. That was over 24 years ago. It seems I had “enough” after all, but I was afraid to run with it. I was afraid to give up my security blanket of a job that made things seem safe.

Basically, this is where we’ve come in Jesus’ argument with the Jewish authorities. They had been proved wrong by Jesus’ logic. They had been shown in a language they could understand that their position was indefensible. Yet, they wavered between an illogical, unsupportable faith and the obvious truth. Instead of acting with courage and abandoning their false understanding in favor of accepting Jesus as he presented himself, they demanded a sign (Matthew 12:38), further assurance that he was correct. Obvious truth wasn’t enough; they wanted a miracle.

How should Jesus react? There comes a point in life, if one is to grow, one must act. The job won’t get done, if we don’t take on the task. The journey will never get completed without the first strep. Therefore, Jesus told them that an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign (Matthew 12:39). In other words, Jesus had already given them enough. Now, they needed to decide. Anything more than enough, such as a heavenly sign, would be tempting God. Signs were already given (Matthew 12:22; cp. 12:9-14). Why would they need a “sign” to show that the “heavenly sign” was real? When would “enough” be enough? Therefore, no sign (read “additional sign) would be given, except for the sign of the prophet Jonah! (Matthew 12:39)

According to the text Jonah had been in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights. Jesus used Jonah’s experience to tell the Jewish authorities how long he’d be dead and buried, due to their unbelief, and this would prove he was correct, and they were wrong (Matthew 12:39-40; cp. 28:11-14). Yet, the “sign” of Jesus’ resurrection still wasn’t enough for them to take courage and change their worldview. The sign Jesus gave them would come too late for them to repent and accept their Messiah and save their nation from judgment, because a desire to have a miracle prove the miracle God had already given, is to show one does not have the courage to change, no matter what the circumstances.

Why Jonah? Jonah was Israel’s most successful prophet. He preached to Nineveh and Nineveh repented! All the prophets that the Lord sent to Israel failed to cause Israel to believe their report (Isaiah 53:1). Therefore, Nineveh would rise up with this generation of Jewish unbelievers and condemn them, because they repented before Jonah’s preaching, but these men refused to repent before the great miracles of the one greater than Jonah (Matthew 12:41). Moreover, the queen of the south (Ethiopia) would also rise up to judge this evil generation, because she traveled such a great distance to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and he left her breathless (1Kings 10:5). Yet, these men, the Jewish authorities, refused to bow to Jesus’ words, the words of the one who was greater than David, and therefore greater than Solomon, as well (Matthew 12:42; cp. Psalm 110:1 and Matthew 22:42-45).