Often the enemies of Jesus would approach him with trickery and ignorant questions. They had no desire to receive a true answer. Always, they were seeking to back him into a corner so that he would show himself to be a false Messiah. Every time, they failed.
The event recorded in our text is only mentioned once in the Bible. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were by practice and theology at odds with each other. Their mutual hatred of Jesus tore down the barriers between them. What is not mentioned in the Scriptures are the many times they held secret meetings among themselves for how they could defeat Jesus. It was not until their own frustration grew to a maximum level that they decided the only choice they had was to murder him.
While they were setting themselves up in so many ways to attack Jesus, he likewise grew frustrated with them. Part of their allegiance was flawed. In the case of our text, they said they wanted a sign from heaven. Of course, we know that he himself was the sign of the Heavenly Father’s love for mankind. It is baffling why they made these demands on many occasions when they witnessed the miracles that he performed. They ignored these miracles, not because they were unreal, but because if they recognize them, it could put them in an awkward situation in which they had to accept him as the Messiah.
As in many cases, Jesus did not address the specifics of his attackers. They wanted a sign from heaven. However, Jesus pointed out that they already could tell signs from heaven by detecting if the weather would be good or bad in the next 24 hours. They wanted a sign from Jesus, but he accused them of not being able to discern the signs of the times. And what were those signs? It included John the Baptist as the forerunner of Jesus. His wonders continued on through his ministry of healing, teaching, and delivering people from demons.
The signs of the times were of no concern to the enemies of Jesus. If they embraced the signs of the times, they would be in the same situation that eventually caused them to murder Christ. Supposedly, they knew Old Testament Scripture that prophesied about the coming of the Messiah. In their own day and time signs were galore.
Jesus questioned his enemies by asking how is was possible that they could detect the weather by the redness of the skies. Even 2000 years ago people would know if the sky was red in the evening, the next day would be fair weather. If the sky was red in the morning, they already knew that the weather would be adverse that day.
There is a modern-day saying. “ Red at night sailors’ delight. Red in the morning, sailors take warning.” This has been true for thousand years. The next time you see the sky displaying red, recall this verse.
Jesus called his enemies for what they were. They were hypocrites. They were wicked. They were an adulterous generation. His reply was not what they expected. He told them to reflect back to the time of Jonah in which he was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. Even at that, they did not understand nor accept what would be the consequences of their murder of Jesus. He prophesied to his disciples, to his followers, and also to his enemies.
Think about the Bible verses in the Old and New Testament that records the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The enemies could not grasp the idea of Jonah as an example. He simply walked away from them. The question for us is whether or not we can determine today’s signs of the times. We know Jesus gave great detail in Matthew and Luke about the future of the world including the great tribulation. It is not necessary for us to go into great depth individually about what’s going to happen. All we need to do is to see the signs of the times on television and in newspapers and magazines. My friend, it is always a question if we will be ignorant like the enemies of Jesus. Can the world get much worse? Can immorality be ignored any longer? Can the relationship between people, between family members, between nations get any worse? The worsening of situations is in itself a sign.
We are living in a precarious time. If we could tell the weather by the color of the skies as Jesus instructed his enemies to do, are we willing to be honest about how bad the situation truly is in our world? Granted, there are people who like the way things are just like the enemies of Christ liked the way things were then. Vagueness, ambiguity, situational ethics all grow out of the permeating sin of most of the world. As Jesus pointed to the skies for his enemies, so does he point to the skies for us believers. It will not be long till he appears in the skies and gathers up the dead and living who were believers to take them to their heavenly home.
Christian Writer 