We live in an age when it is difficult to know the veracity of that which we read. Whether we are on social media or news sites, it is difficult to determine if we are reading the truth or if we are reading fake news. Our society is so polar these days that both sides are shouting out their “truth” refusing to give any credence to the other side of the argument.
This was true in Jesus’ day as well. There was a great polarity between the religious leaders and those who followed Jesus. The religious leaders constantly sent lawyers to attack Jesus and find His weak spots, to make Him prove by what authority He spoke and worked. Jesus’ wisdom confounded them time after time. This made them all the more determined to take Him down.
In Matt 16:1-4, we read this interaction between the religious leaders and Jesus.
And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.
They had seen His miracles. They had heard His teachings. They knew the prophets and the law by heart, and yet they could not see what was right before their eyes.
So what was this “sign of Jonah” that Jesus said would be the only sign He’d give them?
In case you don’t know the story of Jonah, he was basically a prophet of God that continually refused to deliver God’s message to Ninevah (the capital of the Assyrian Empire – who was the world power at that time). Jonah went to such lengths to NOT give the message, he left the land of his people, in which the Lord God dwelt, and took a boat to Spain. That was about as far away from Ninevah as he could get. A big storm came on his boat and he told the sailors to throw him in the sea. They eventually did and a big fish came and swallowed him. Three days later, after Jonah changed his mind and decided to obey God, the fish spit him up on the shore and Jonah went and delivered the message to Ninevah. (And then went up on a hill overlooking Ninevah and sulked when God didn’t firebomb the place.)
What does that have to do with Jesus and the sign? When Jonah was thrown into the sea, Jonah pretty much thought that was it. Here comes death. But the fish swallowing him, kept him in a place between life and death. If the fish had carried on in its normal manner, Jonah would have been eventually digested. But the fish spit him out and he was, in a way, brought back to life from death.
Fast forward to another interchange between Jesus and the religious leaders (Luke 16) Jesus told them a parable about a poor man who went to never-ending life at Abraham’s side, while a rich man went to eternal torment. The rich man looked across the great chasm between these two places, and called up to Abraham, asking:
Luke 16:27-31. “I beg you, father, to send [the poor man] to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
Jesus knew that that even His own rising from the dead would not have any impact on their acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. And there is evidence that they understood all these stories were Jesus way of telling them he would return to life three days after dying, for after they finally killed Jesus using the Roman sedition laws, they went back to the Roman governor and asked him for one more favor.
Matthew 27:63-66. “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
So they understood Jesus’ claims and that Sign of Jonah meaning returning to life after three days. But as the Bible tells, on the third day, while the guards were still in place, that Sign of Jonah became reality.
Matthew 28:1-4 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.
The guards were still there. They saw everything, heard everything, and then went to tell the religious leaders who had put them at the tomb.
Matthew 28:11-15 …behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
The religious leaders heard the guards’ report. They heard about the earthquake, about the angel, about the stone rolled away and the empty tomb. They had heard all those times straight from Jesus’ mouth that this is what would happen. They had the sign that Jesus had promised them. But like Jesus called it in His parable, “neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” Instead, they became duplicitous in bribing the guards to lie, and then spreading that lie abroad as much as possible.
Now it is our turn. On whose side will be stand? If we stand on the side of religious leaders, refusing to see the reality of Jesus’ ultimate proof of authority in His return to life after three days, just as He said He would, then we close our ears and our eyes to the clear evidence corroborated by hundreds of eye-witness accounts.
But if we dare to read the accounts, listen to the words of faithful witnesses, to test the veracity of these reports with open minds, we will find them to be true and worthy of believing.
The religious leaders asked for a sign and got it, yet still refused to believe; and theirs will be the fate of the rich man. The disciples, who initially ran away and hid like scared children, came to believe so adamantly that they faced violent torture and death with unwavering resolution, and theirs will be the reward of the poor man.
Your choice to believe the eye-witness testimony, or to call it fake news, will determine on which side of the chasm you spend eternity. Please choose carefully.
Faith Gym 