Daily Devotions
Matthew
Strange Bedfellows
Text: Matthew 16 : 1 - 12
If the scribes and the Pharisees were to team up together, no one would think that strange or unlikely. These two groups of people shared many common beliefs and practices. Not all Pharisees were scribes, but all scribes were of the sect of the Pharisees. Matthew noted that they got together on one occasion and they asked Jesus to give them a sign.
“Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying,
‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.'”
MATTHEW 12:38
On the other hand, if the Pharisees and the Sadducees were to team up together, that would have been quite extraordinary. The following known differences serve to highlight the problem.
1. Social Standing
Sadducees: They belong to the aristocratic class. Many of them were powerful landowners. Many of them were members of the Sanhedrin Council.
Pharisees: Not many were rich and powerful as their rivals. Some were members of the Sanhedrin too.
2. Doctrinal differences
a) With reference to the Law
Sadducees: They believed in the Written Law
Pharisees: They believed in the Oral Law as well.
b) With reference to the doctrine of the Resurrection
Sadducees: They did not believe that there was any resurrection.
Pharisees: They believed in the resurrection
Matthew noted that members belonging to both sects came to Jesus together to raise a theological issue with Him.
“Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came,
and testing Him asked that He would show them
a sign from heaven.”
MATTHEW 16:1
How serious could this line of inquiry really be? If the Sadducees believed only in the Written Law of Moses, why would they even ask for a sign from heaven? They would subject what Jesus did to spurious and endless dispute! The scribes and Pharisees had already asked Him for a sign and they did not go very far then! Would Jesus give them a better answer now?
NOT TAKEN IN
Would Jesus be taken in by a fresh delegation of people? Did the adversaries really think that they could trap Jesus by this rather crude attempt to appeal to the vanity of Jesus? Would He give a sign from heaven on request?
“He answered and said to them,
‘When it is evening, you say,
‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red;’
and in the morning,
‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’
Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky,
but you cannot discern the signs of the times.
A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign,
and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet
Jonah. ‘ And He left them and departed.”
MATTHEW 16:2-4
Jesus had answered the scribes and Pharisees on the subject of a special sign (Cf. Matthew 12:38-41). He felt that there was no need to dignify this question from this group made up of rival sects who usually do not get along very well together. What would be the reasons why Jesus refused to entertain their question?
1. Their “inability” to discern the signs of the times!
a) With sarcasm
Reading the “face of the sky” was a common skill. The weather for the day was fairly predictable.
How was it that they could not understand the sign-miracles that Jesus was performing every day, in every region He set His foot on? If they could not discern the obvious, how would they understand the “sign from heaven”? On what basis would they interpret the sign they asked from Jesus?
b) With discernment
Jesus knew that the question raised by the Pharisees and the Sadducees masked their hypocrisy. They did not raise questions as His disciples did, because they wanted to learn deeper lessons! Hypocrites were not sincere learners. As a Teacher, He had the prerogative to answer or to ignore questions raised!
2. No sign but Jonah
Did the scribes and Pharisees understand what He meant when He spoke about the sign of Jonah in that previous dialogue? Probably not! If Jesus were to raise the question of the resurrection with the Sadducees, there would be endless debate on the subject. He had no time to waste on debating issues that the Sadducees were pretty dogmatic about!
Jesus was right when he left and departed from them as He did.