The Sufficient Sign

By Pastor Dan Hickling

“Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.’ He answered, ‘A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.”—Matthew 12:38–41 (NIV)

If you just read the verses above without knowing some backstory, you could come away a bit confused. I mean, here are some religious leaders asking Jesus for a sign to authenticate who He is. This sort of seems like they’re giving Him an open invitation to reveal His identity so they can believe in Him. But Jesus replies by calling them a wicked and adulterous generation (or people). Then, He goes on to talk about Jonah and the judgment that would befall them. Why the harsh response?

There is a backstory, however. In actuality, this wasn’t a case of sincere seeking. In fact, there had been many points up until this one where Jesus openly declared His identity and performed a multitude of miraculous signs to authenticate it. The issue wasn’t a lack of evidence on Christ’s part but a lack of openness on the Pharisees' part. They had heard and seen all a person could ever need in order to believe, yet they chose not to. There was no intention of following through on anything Jesus may have done and knowing that, He refused to jump through their hoop.

So, what’s with all the Jonah talk? Jesus wasn’t going to cater to their insincerity by performing a sign on the spot for them. Instead, He pointed them to a sign to come that would serve as the ultimate proof of who He was and what He’s done: His resurrection! He alludes to the resurrection by comparing His three days in the grave to Jonah's three days in the great fish.

Just as Jonah was eventually expelled from the fish’s stomach, after three days Jesus would rise out of the depths of the grave. This would eventually happen, and if it didn’t convince these people to believe in Him, nothing would! Even the pagan people of Nineveh in Jonah’s time would have responded to a sign like that. But as for these Pharisees, their state of deliberate unbelief could only be judged!

What are we to take away from all of this? Sometimes people (perhaps even us) say things like, “If only God would show me this or that . . . then I’d finally trust in Him.” In our minds, we think, “There’s just that one little blank in our faith that needs filling in. Once He does that, then I’ll finally have what I need.”

But is that what really needs to happen? Is the issue a lack of evidence on God’s part or a lack of openness on our part? While we’re looking for something yet to happen, is God pointing us to something that has already happened? What if the sign we’re waiting on is the very sign He was pointing the Pharisees to? Is the fact that Jesus rose from the grave enough for us to trust Him—not just for our eternal salvation but for every earthly struggle? If not, what is?

At some point, we all need to admit that God has already given us all we could ever need in order to believe in Him. If we don’t believe, it’s not a deficiency on His part but on ours. The sooner we come to admit this, the sooner we come to experience His sufficiency in every aspect of our lives.

Pause: What was really going on with the Pharisee’s request for a sign?

Practice: Are there areas of your life where you relate to the Pharisees? Spend prayer and reflection to determine how to correct these areas.

Pray: Lord God, You have been so gracious and faithful to give us all we need to put our trust in You. Yet, we often find ourselves still struggling. We want You to do this or that when You want us to focus on what You’ve already done because that’s enough in and of itself. Help us to remind ourselves to return to the reality of Your resurrection when we waver and want more evidence from You. Amen!