A Greater One is Here

“Warning” - the sign read. “Road Closed Ahead.” I read and saw the sign, but my teenage curiosity and a little bit of stubbornness didn’t believe it. After all, I was in my first pickup, I had 4 wheel drive, a full tank of gas, and nothing but time on my hands.

It was a class four road in the Groton state forest. I knew where it would end up if it was passable, and I knew how to get home from there another way if it was too rough. So i started down the road. I got a few hundred feet and didn’t see anything unusual, so I kept driving. 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, a mile - and as I drove, the road got narrower and narrower, but all was going well so I kept going.

Well, about 2 miles in, that sign that I had read earlier began to mean something. It was late spring to early summer, and the spring runoff had washed away a portion of the road about 10 feet across and 4-5 feet deep. No way around and no way through, at least not with a truck.

So i was forced to turn around - except I couldn’t. The road was so narrow and my truck was not small, so I had to back up for what seemed like an hour. It might have been. But I had learned my lesson. The signs mean something.

Up until this point in Matthew, we have seen Jesus do many many signs, miracles, and works. We usually use that one word “miracle,” but interestingly, there isn’t a word in the Gospels that correlates perfectly with our word for miracle.

The three words in the New Testament that describe what we call miracles, are wonders, power, and signs.

Of all those, the word “sign” is probably the most common. In the Gospel of John, that is especially the most common one used. One of the first places it comes up is in Jesus conversation with the man named Nicodemas.

John 3:2 ESV

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Nicodemas had the right idea - the signs that Jesus was doing were significant. That is, they showed something. We have seen the signs in the text. Healing blindness, opening deaf ears and mute mouths. Restoring mobility to the paralyzed, healing blood-disorders, cleansing leprosy, even raising a dead girl.

In Matthew 12, in all this controversy happening with the scribes and pharisees, it all began with the healing of a man on the Sabbath, and it continued with the casting out of a demon which caused the Pharisees to accuse Jesus of doing that by the power of Satan.

So when we come to verse 38, it is interesting that they ask Jesus for a “sign.”

A sign, to point something out. A sign, to show them something. To convince them. But as we read, we realize that they were really not interested in being convinced at all. They really weren’t interested in paying attention to any sign.

Sign’s always point to a greater reality. That canyon in the dirt road that I came across was much more meaningful to me as a teenage driver than the sign that said “road closed.” But, the sign was still true and important, and ignoring it caused me a lot of frustration.

The same is true with jesus, the signs he did, and the signs that he points to in this passage. They were real, true, and important, but they were not signs unto themselves. The miracles were not wonders for the sake of wonders, they were showing something. But many willingly missed it. They ignored the signs, and by doing so, missed the Jesus that the signs pointed to.

A sign always points beyond itself to something else. To see Jesus’ signs but miss Jesus is to miss the greatest thing possible.

1. Something Greater - Vs. 38-42

The pharisees were religious leaders, and the scribes were religious experts - experts in the Torah. They come together here, as we often see them, to make this challenge.

Jesus has asserted himself to be something significant - something special. Already in this chapter alone, he has said that he is Lord of the Sabbath, greater than the Temple, and that by his works the Kingdom of God has come. Those are remarkable claims - claims that, in the minds of these Scribes and Pharisees, needed further proof.

They had seen signs - as we have already mentioned. What were they looking for? “A sign from you” is the specific request. That is, they wanted specific proof that Jesus was who he said he was. Specific proof, not just that miracles were happening, but that his claims to be God’s promised one were legitimate.

In Mark and Luke’s record of this account, we see that they asked this question to “test” Jesus. It seems from that indication, that they were not looking at all to believe, but rather to disprove.

What sign would they desire? Would any do the trick?

Well, it wouldn’t matter - because Jesus quickly refuses to accommodate them based upon their attitude and their heart condition.

“Evil and adulterous.” Was Jesus saying they were evil based on their request? Simply because they asked for a sign?

No, It doesn’t seem so. After all, many times in the Old Testament God gave signs to his people. He gave the sign of the fleece to Gideon. He have the rainbow to Noah. He gave the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night to the Israelites leaving Egypt. He gave the many wonders worked through Elijah and Elishah. Is it inherently wrong to desire something from God to confirm our faith?

We receive these confirmations in prayers answered, in sickness removed, in people coming to know Christ - all these are signs that God is working. There is nothing wrong in rejoicing to see the work of God and confirm his faithfulness and our faith.

But that is apparently not what this group was after. Their request was evil because, as Jesus has already stated back in verse 34-35, they were evil at heart. Their intention was not to believe and have their faith strengthened - their intention was to doubt and to have their hatred confirmed.

“Adulterous’ isn’t tied here to any scandal of marital unfaithfulness on the part of these men, but rather it is spiritual adultery. They had left their first love. By their response to Jesus, it became apparent that their hearts were far from God.

Like the story of Hosea, who God called to marry an unfaithful woman to show how Israel was unfaithful to her God, so this generation, while holding an appearance of Devoutness, was evil and adulterous within.

Christian, rejoice when God does something to confirm your faith - but never demand a sign from God, and never take the stance of “disproving” God by lack of signs. He owes you nothing. And Jesus owed these people nothing.

He did, however, offer them something. The sign of Jonah.

The story of Jonah is a fascinating one - one that was a testimony to the Jewish people of God’s deliverance. Most of the references to Jonah in the Jewish writings around Jesus’ time say little about Jonah’s preaching and nineveh’s repentance, and mostly had to do with Jonah’s time in the belly of the fish and being saved from that.

So when Jesus said “Jonah” the thought would have been immediately to that part of the story, the part where Jonah was in the fish for 3 days and then spit upon dry land.

Jesus takes that part of the story, and gives them the sign - the Son of Man will be in the ground for 3 days.

Now, a sidebar to clarify the statement of 3 days and 3 nights. In Jewish language and counting of that day, it was the norm to count any part of the day as a whole day. The saying “3 days and 3 nights” referred to 3 different calendar days, not necessarily meaning 72 complete hours.

This has been a bit controversial over the years, because this is referring to Jesus resurrection - in which he was in the grave, not for 72 complete hours, but on 3 calendar days. These conundrums come up when we seek to apply out modern and western standards to Ancient Mid-Eastern language.

A couple examples show how the terms could be used interchangably. Specifically talking about the resurrection, Matthew says in one place

Matthew 16:21 ESV

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

and in another place

Matthew 27:63 ESV

and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’

So we have three phrases, that in our ears, say three different things - but clearly are intended to convey the same thing. Three days and Nights, after three days, and on the third day were synonymous to Matthew’s audience.

With that out of the way, Jesus is prophesying here unambiguously about his resurrection. He doesn’t explicitly say the word resurrection, but it is implicitly stated so clearly that to miss it would be difficult.

Jonah was in the fish, and then he came out of the fish. He was delivered and saved.

Jesus would be in the grave, and then he would not be. He would be delivered as well. The sign was the sign of resurrection, and Jonah’s story exists, in part, to point forward to Jesus.

But Jesus also brings in the other part of Jonah’s story as a testimony. Because Jonah wasn’t just delivered from the deep, he went on to preach in Nineveh and the whole city repented.

Much like Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom which Jesus said would have repented had they seen the mighty works that Jesus had done, Nineveh in fact did repent - and they saw much less than these Scribes and Pharisees had seen.

In fact, the primary means of Nineveh’s repentance was Jonah’s simple message - 40 days and nineveh will be overthrown. No miracles done, no healings, no casting out demons. Similarly, Jesus’ message of “repent, for the Kingdom is at hand!” was the main thing - the signs were simply signs.

Jesus amplifies his argument by bringing in the Queen of the South.

That is referring to the queen of Sheba, as we read about her in 1 Kings 10.

1 Kings 10:1 ESV

Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions.

That is interesting - Solomon was a great man and a great king, but this gentile queen heard about his fame “concerning he name of YahWeh.” Solomon’s fame, then, was a sign to this majestic woman.

Jesus notes the long journey which she took to meet Solomon - some estimate 1500 miles or more.

She came, and she was driven to admiration and even worship.

1 Kings 10:6–9 ESV

And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard. Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.”

The scribes and pharisees had to expend no effort to see Jesus, to see his signs. They didn’t have to travel, carry their luggage, organize lodging and food. They didn’t even have to leave their own cities and villages - yet, having seen the greatness, they did not believe.

Interestingly, both in the story of Jonah, and the story of the queen of Sheba, the repentant and worshipful ones were those not part of Israel - yet their hearts became tender.

One greater than Jonah and Solomon was in their midst - right there - yet, their hearts were continually hardened.

The word for “one” or “something” is not in the original language. It is simply “a greater than Jonah” or “a greater than Solomon.” Both of those stories were great, but Jesus says they actually point forward to the greater reality.

Jesus is the greater Jonah, who completely obeyed His Father. Jesus is the greater Solomon, who had all wisdom but never used his greatness for evil. Jesus is the Greater David, who is king forever and never failed or sinned. Jesus is the greater Moses, the intercessor and deliverer of his people without ever acting in the flesh. Jesus is the greater temple - the place where men forever come to meet God, and the only way to the Father. Jesus is the greater sabbath - the only place in which we find true rest.

That is who the pharisees and scribes were missing out on. And that is who you are missing out on.

2. Something Worse - Vs. 43-45

This next section is a little cryptic. Perhaps not as hard as the section on the Unforgivable Sin, but still a little difficult to wrap our heads around.

Part of the difficulty is that while the Bible certainly acknowledges that evil spirits are real, and we see where Jesus has been casting them out, we don’t have any information in scripture teaching us how they operate, how common they are, or anything. So when we read or hear about demons or evil spirits, we have to believe they are real but we are a little clueless as to their activity.

Jesus’ audience seemed to be a little more familiar with their existence and operation. Were they more prevalent in that day? Its hard to say. But with our limited understanding, we can still glean from these words.

Jesus seems to be speaking of an evil spirit that goes out of a person voluntarily, to find rest. Rest from what? From whatever evil spirits do, I suppose. It says he goes into “waterless places.” That phrase can seem a little spooky or austere. “demons in waterless places.” Where is this waterless place? Well, the most basic undestanding is the desert. Why the desert? The desert is imagery of lack of blessing, lack of God’s presence and provision. There are a couple passages in Isaiah that seem to indicate the desert as a place of this kind of uncleanness.

But lets start to compile the imagery. The Demon is seen as restless, and he goes into the emptiness and wasteland to find rest, but there is none.

Keep those images in mind - emptiness, restlessness, waste.

Well, then Jesus describes the man that he leaves. The demon calls the man he left “his house.” And he returns to his “house,” and finds the man “swept, and put in order.” Now, initially that sounds good. It sounds like a real improvement and reform.

But notice, the demon finds it “uninhabited” or “empty.” that is, the place which the evil spirit would occupy remained empty while the man experienced some kind of moral reform.

This seems to be a picture of works-based religion, or moral-reform, without the presence of God, still exhibiting emptiness.

The man was freed from the demon, and he seemed to clean himself up a bit, but he was still empty and therefore susceptible to evil coming in.

And we see that - the evil spirit brings with him 7 other spirits, even worse than the first, and the final state of the person is worse than when he had the demon to begin with.

A clean but empty person is an open target for Satan. A clean but empty generation is one that is susceptible to evil infiltration.

Jesus is telling this parable in reference to the Scribes and Pharisees evil attitudes and requests. The scribes and pharisees were morally clean and put together. You could say they were “ordered and swept.” By the letter of the law, they were elite and noble.

But cleanliness and tidiness of life apart from the fulness that Christ brings is to be no better off.

The moral fortitude of the Pharisees wouldn’t do them any good. In fact, in their controversy with Jesus, we are watching their downward spiral into spiritual ruin.

We can apply this to our day as well in two ways.

Individually, a person who is morally upright, but who doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, is a person who is empty and just as prone to attacks of the Devil as the worst murderer on death row. We need not merely moral reform, but filling that only christ can provide.

Romans 8:9–11 ESV

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Believers in Jesus have this promise, that the Spirit dwells within us. This is part of our regeneration, part of the new birth, part of the fulness and peace and blessing that only comes through Christ. Does Christ want us to be righteous in our actions? Of course, but he wants us to be filled with his fulness though the Spirit.

That is what the Pharisees lacked - they had all the religion and morality in the world, but none of God’s fulness and indwelling.

We can broaden this out as well to society. We could easily say that there have been periods in our Nation’s history in which people were generally more “moral” in terms of a Judeo-Christian standard. We have that as sort of our mooring and foundation.

So we could ask the question, what has happened? Well, I would submit that a large part of the downfall of societies is religion and morality without the Holy Spirit.

A Society that is morally upright but spiritually empty is a society that is doomed for Chaos - and that is where we are. A generation that behaves itself but does so independent of God’s Spirit brings no more glory to God than a riotous and depraved society.

Morality alone is simply a constant balancing of “doing right versus doing wrong.” or “sinning versus not sinning.”

Morality without the filling of Christ is like plugging a hole in your boat with your thumb - it keeps the water out as long as your thumb is in the hole, but as soon as you let off, you sink.

Furthermore, Moral reformation without the Spirit often leads to complacency and arrogant self-sufficiency. And isn’t that exactly what we see in the Pharisees? They were so independently moral that they missed their need of the redeemer and Messiah, and they missed the Messiah.

Don’t miss Jesus by your morality. Don’t miss Jesus because you are able to keep yourself clean, so to speak. It is more than your morals that need deliverance - it is your whole being, as we saw last week, beginning in your heart.

Christians, while we are not in danger of being overtaken by an evil Spirit, we are in danger of developing a self-sufficient attitude and disregarding the filling of the Spirit of Christ. May we be ever aware of that need, of that restlessness without Him. Like St. Augustine said so famously, “O Lord, you have made us for yourself. And our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.”

3. Something Wonderful - vs. 46-50

Jesus ends what we have as chapter 12 with another call discipleship. In chapter 11, the call was “come to me.” Here in chapter 12, the call is “join my family.”

We often hear the phrase “Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship.” Well, that’s not entirely true - it is a religion. A true religion when followed well.

But we understand the sentiment - that its not merely religion. Its not simply ritual or belief, it is life and faith and following a person.

And it is relational, as Jesus says here.

We begin by asking the question, why do Jesus’ mother and brothers need to speak to Him? We aren’t told in this passage. But a reference in Mark gives us some insight.

Mark 3:21 ESV

And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

Were Jesus’ mother and brothers among that crowd that though Jesus had gone a bridge to far? Perhaps. We are certainly told that Jesus’ brothers did not believe in him until after his resurrection. What about Mary? She seems to have a softer heart in scripture, but that doesn’t mean as an earthly mother that she didn’t have moments of frustration or misunderstanding.

After all, most likely Joseph was dead at this point - and Jesus, being the eldest son, was to be in charge of her care. Were she and her other sons trying to reign Jesus back in to some more family involvement? Did they think he had gone mad?

Either way, they wanted to talk to Him - and he used their request as a teaching moment that has particular sweetness to us.

Being a blood-relative of Jesus didn’t guarantee entrance into the Kingdom.

In fact, even Mary herself was not saved by her motherhood of Jesus - rather, she referred to her need of a Savior even in her prayer of thanksgiving when she was told she would give birth to Him.

Was Jesus’ statement here disrespectful? I don’t think so, but I do think it was a statement of priority. Jesus didn’t give any priority to his relatives in his mission. And, further than that, he opened up the door to closeness and intimacy to anyone.

Who is the family of Jesus? Anyone - all - who do the will of God the Father.

And we can quickly extrapolate from the teaching we just read, that simply obeying the moral law does not equate “doing the will of the Father.” Otherwise, the Pharisees would have fit the mold.

No, doing the will of the Father firstly and primarily means believing in and following the Son, Jesus Christ. Doing the will of God is joyfully accepting what He sends forth. Jesus had no trouble at all reaching the tax collectors, sinners, the prostitues. When faced wit their sin, they forsook it and followed Jesus.

But the Pharisees? They held on to their morality while forsaking God’s Son. That is that same spiritual adultery that Jesus referenced earlier.

But do you see this invitation? To be part of His family? To be part of God’s family?

1 John 3:1–2 ESV

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

We are God’s children because of the Love that God sent and showed in Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:14–17 ESV

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

We are adopted as sons and daughters, and we can rightfully call God our “abba” our father! And we are joint-heirs with Christ in eternity - full members of the family.

Ephesians 2:18–19 ESV

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

We have been brought from afar - like the queen of Sheba, or the gentiles and pagans in Nineveh, and brought into the household of God by faith.

Hebrews 2:10–18 ESV

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.” Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

As christians, we are called brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as His siblings,

he saves us

he sanctifies us

he shares in our sufferings and knows our deepest needs

he helps us in our moments of weakness and temptation.

That is the tenderness of Christ, the Messiah. That is why we cannot simply have morality and religion without His Spirit. That is why we cannot miss his signs, and ignore the word of God that points us so boldly to Him.