Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Oct 22

22 October 2019

Text: Matt 16:1-12

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

We are all guilty of the desire for a sign from heaven.  Sometimes we genuinely don’t know what the will of the Lord is, and we must discern it.  But we are by nature impatient and unclean, and we want to know right now.  “If you want me to buy the Camaro, O Lord, make a bird fly past the window.”  Such seeking for signs might take the form of fortune-telling – which as we know from the catechism, is actually breaking the commandment not to misuse the Lord’s name.

A desire to know that which God hasn’t revealed is a sinful intrusion upon the hidden will of God.  Everything He needs us to know He has revealed in His Word.  He has not authorized us to practice divination – as was the practice of the Pagans of old.  We are to be content with the Word, and to use prayer, reason, and wisdom in concert with His Word to discern His will.

The Pharisees and Sadducees took this sin even further.  They wanted Jesus to know that they really didn’t believe Him – which is why our text says that they came “to test Him.”  They are essentially saying, “If you are the Messiah, do a trick for us.”  It is not unlike the impostor king Herod who mocked Jesus when Pilate sent Him over for trial.  Jesus didn’t respond to the repulsive Herod’s command to jump through hoops, and neither does He do so for the Pharisees and Sadducees.

“You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times,” He tells them.  Plain reason testified that Jesus is the Messiah: His miracles, His preaching, His fulfillment of prophecy.  As our Lord said, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign.” 

And the only sign you’re going to get, says our Lord, is the sign you’ll find in Scripture, the “sign of Jonah,” who was contained in the belly of the fish, and on the third day rose again.  And Jonah then preached to the Gentiles, and they heard the Word of God, and were saved by the Word.

If you want a sign, dear friends, read the Word.  Pray the Word.  Study the Word.  Hear the Word.  For it is God’s sign, and the sign of the Word points us to the Word Made Flesh.  All that we need to know about the revelation of God is found in the Holy Scriptures – for they all point us to Christ, to the cross, to the tomb, and to eternity – an eternity without sin, suffering, and Satan – an eternity without death.

Let us confess our sinful desire for a sign, and let us be content with the sign of the cross, the sign of forgiveness, the sign of Jonah, the sign of our Lord Jesus Christ – now and even unto eternity.  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.