Matthew 12:38-42 - "The Sign of Jonah"

Christ's ongoing conflict with the Pharisees keeps inching towards its climax. Christ refuses to turn His miracles into a circus act, and so rather than respond to the request for yet another sign, He turns and exposes their unbelief. These men are the guardians of the Scriptures and yet they refuse to see the Christ of those Scriptures. Jesus points to Himself in the account of Jonah and Solomon, and contrasts the high handed unbelief of these insider Pharisees with the repentant faith of those outsider converts. So today it is for us – Christless conservatism cannot save. Trying to be mainstream and middle of the road cannot save. Imitation forms of pursuing justice cannot save. Leftist and progressive schemes for utopia cannot save. Morality apart from the glorious gospel of grace cannot save. At the resurrection, do you want to be judged and condemned by those that you think are more wicked than you? If not, then you must hold fast to Christ. He has offered the terms of peace. He is happy to justify generational insiders and longtime outsiders; but regardless of which group you come from, He will only do it one way. He only has one people – and that one group of people, as varied as they are by age and ethnicity and background are those who lay down all forms of pride and presumption and self-righteousness and humbly reach out the empty hand of faith to receive all the promises of Christ.