This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
Some people genuinely seek to know the truth and actually stand to benefit when a sign is given. Ahaz was not one of these. He was told to ask for a sign from the Lord, even one which was "deep as Sheol or high as heaven" (see Isaiah 7:11). The reason he refused to ask was because he didn't want to see such irrefutable evidence. But in spite of one stubborn individual God promised to give the sign anyway because his plans would not be derailed by one individual's lack of faith. There were other times when a sign was part of God's plan. The charismatic gifts functioned in such a way as to be signs, sometimes for people who are already believers, and sometimes for nonbelievers (see First Corinthians 14:22). And it was clear that the apostles "regularly" performed "many signs and wonders" as the early Church was built up (see Acts 5:12). There was, therefore, a context in which signs were not only valid but useful.
There was also an unhealthy desire for signs that was demonstrated by the "evil generation" who refused to receive Jesus. They claimed to want and in fact demanded a sign. But they gave no indication that any sign would be sufficient for them. They were more than ready to contradict the apparent power of Jesus as being derived from the devil. In their case, asking for a sign was really a way to avoid listening to Jesus. Once one sign was given they would find reasons why it didn't meet their criteria and then request another. It was a way for them to keep Jesus safely under control and prevent the power of its word from reaching their hearts. It had the pretense of being rational and cautious, but it was really rebellious, just as the generation that escaped from Israel refused to listen to God or to Moses. This ability to never be convinced was not unique to the Jewish people. They were unique in that they preferred to require endless signs. But Greeks at the time of Paul similarly preferred to engage in endless disputes about wisdom and philosophy, not to arrive at the truth so much as to avoid it. What was God to do in the face of such a hard hearted response to his Son?
At the judgment
the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation
and she will condemn them,
because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
and there is something greater than Solomon here.
The queen of the south and the people of Nineveh were surprisingly able to hear the word of the Lord and repent. The people of Nineveh heard the not terribly impressive preaching of Jonah and repented almost immediately. The queen of the south was drawn from the ends of the earth to her the wisdom of Solomon. These outsiders readily accepting the word of God when insiders were rebellious functioned as a sign. It was meant to make everyone stop and take note. They could then realize there was more what God was saying than they had guessed and hopefully break out of their defensive patterns of thinking. Jesus had already suggested it ought to have worked that way for those who heard John the Baptist:
For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him (see Matthew 21:32).
Jesus was greater than Jonah, Solomon, or John the Baptist. This meant there were even greater stakes in the choice to believe in him or reject him. It meant that the temptation to close one's mind and heart to him would be even greater than in the case of past prophets and wise kings. But it meant the reward for recognizing him would be greater still. And we have seen that God would find those who would recognize his word wherever they might be. However unlikely those who did recognize him may have been, however unimpressive, they would still function themselves as signs pointing toward the power of Jesus, calling all, even people who initially rejected him, to repent.
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are (see First Corinthians 1:27-28).
Let's open ourselves to what Jesus wants to tell us, to signs he may in fact want to show us, so that, unlike the evil generation to which God sent Moses, we may at last come into the promised land.
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