Daily Devotion, October 23, 2022

 

Devotion:

Read Matthew 12:38-42.

It’s the ones who supposedly know the Bible the best who are requesting the sign. “The Pharisees and teachers of the law” are those who have committed themselves to not only studying and knowing the Scriptures, but to living them in their everyday lives and teaching them to other people. Jesus is not fulfilling their understanding of who and what the Messiah would be and do. They have hardened their hearts and minds to any new understandings. They refuse to believe he is the One. They call him “Teacher,” the title usually used by non-believers (his disciples called him “Lord”). Jesus refers to them and others as “adulterous” not because they had broken their marriage vows, but because they were being unfaithful to God. God, the Messiah, was standing right in front of them, yet they refused to believe in him.

Matthew includes this reference from Jesus to the “sign of the prophet Jonah” because he is also aware of unbelievers in his own time (decades later). That “sign” is the resurrection of Jesus. Miraculous as it was, it still did not convince people at the time or later that Jesus was who he said he was.  

Have you ever noticed that when people have their mind made up about somebody or something, they often refuse to change their mind even when “proof” for the need to change has been given to them? Perhaps you have done that as well.

What if you and I could be a “sign” that helps other people come to believe in God and follow the way of Jesus Christ? Maybe, by our devotion to living his way, we could be just that. Yes, there will still be those who stubbornly refuse to follow this way. But that need not stop us from offering ourselves to help others know and follow our Lord.

Personal Worship Option:

What will you do today that will be a “sign” that Jesus Christ is alive and working in your life?