Have you ever tested God? Most of us would say, "of course not!" But if we are truly honest with ourselves, there have probably been times in our life where we bartered with God to some extent, asking Him to confirm His presence with a sign, or to reveal the proper path on which to proceed. Asking for wisdom and insight from God is certainly acceptable, even commendable! And yet, sometimes what we are doing is less asking for insight, and more trying to commandeer God's agenda so as to make it look more like our own. When we ask for signs to confirm God's presence, it's usually a sign that we have forgotten the story of God's work in our world.
That's what the Pharisees were doing when they asked for a sign. Even though Jesus had just fed 4,000 people, they want a sign to specifically confirm that Jesus' is indeed who He claims to be. What's so wrong with that you may ask? Many of us are asked to confirm our identity every day, sometimes multiple times a day. Why would it be so hard for Jesus' to simply give the Pharisees what they want? To start with, the Pharisees were asking for a form of I.D. that would prove nothing. If you dig back in your Old Testaments to Deuteronomy 13, you will see that God tells the Israelites that the ability of a prophet to give a sign is not grounds for accepting his message. A prophet who performs a sign, but then advocates the worship of other gods is to be opposed (read executed). In other words, the final word on the validity of a prophet's message is not the ability to do signs. Jesus knows this, and so he refuses to fall into the Pharisees trap. In fact, in denying their request Jesus' uses language that draws comparisons between the Pharisees, and the generation of the exodus. He asks "why does this generation demand a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." It doesn't seem like much on the surface, but the only time the word generation is used in the Bible is when it is referring to a particularly faithless generation. In referring to the exodus generation, the book of Deuteronomy says "they have dealt corruptly with him; they are no longer his children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation." (Deuteronomy 32:5) In Psalm 95:10 it is said that for forty years God loathed that generation because "they are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways." Now, by referring to "this generation", Jesus is drawing attention to the similarities between His contemporaries and that faithless group of Israelites from the exodus.
That exodus generation, despite their lack of faith, was promised a new prophet like Moses. When speaking to Moses, God said "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die." (Deuteronomy 18:18-20) As Jesus hung on the cross on that Friday the Pharisees and His other opponents, indeed the entire world, thought that Jesus had been exposed for who He truly was, a false prophet. Little did they know that Friday's false prophet would become Sunday's Messiah, as God in a twist of irony would use His resurrection to prove- using the Pharisees own logic- that Jesus' message was more than true, it was the very word of God.
So how could they get it so wrong? How could the Pharisees ask for a sign after Jesus' miraculously feeds 4,000 people? How can the disciples fails to understand who Jesus is after not one, but two miraculous feedings? Jesus' warning to avoid the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod is a reference to their constant desire for a sign, it's a warning against a faith based on miracles. We can see with our eyes and hear with our ears, but if the message never makes it's way to our heart, then faith will never take root. The imminent preacher and New Testament scholar Fred Craddock once remarked, "the longest distance is that from the head to the heart." I'm not sure if Craddock came up with that on his own, I suspect he didn't, but it aptly illustrates what Jesus is trying to say here. The words of Israel's prophets show that this wasn't just an issue in Jesus' day. Jeremiah would say, "hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but see not, who have ears, but hear not." (Jeremiah 5:21) The word of the Lord came to prophet Ezekiel saying, "Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house." Finally, God commissions Isaiah saying: "Go, and say to this people, 'keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." (Isaiah 6:9-10)
The words to the prophet Ezekiel are the ones I find ringing in my ears, "for they are a rebellious house." God's story is forever unfolding before us, if only we have eyes to see. By asking for a sign, the Pharisees were ignoring the story and instead going in search of a sign. They were rebelling by seeking to make God work according to their agenda. God's work in our world is much larger than one event, however miraculous it may be. The disciples lived the story, but failed to recognize it's significance. It wasn't until Jesus' resurrection that we see them finally beginning to understand the scope of what was playing out before their very eyes. We may know the story, we may have read our Bible cover to cover several times over, but do we grasp it's significance? More importantly, do we understand that God is continuing to write page after page of the story, all the while longing to see us play our part in the drama as it unfolds according to His plan?
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