NOTES for Mat 12:38-45
Those around Jesus repeatedly asked him for a sign that would prove he was the Messiah. They were apparently asking for one of the signs that, according to the traditional ideas of the time, the Messiah was expected to give as proof of his messianic identity. Jesus, as we know, made no attempt to conform to popular messianic expectations. Now he once again refuses the request of those around him, speaking only of ‘the sign of the prophet Jonah’, plainly alluding to his death on the Cross and his resurrection. Why does he refuse them? Certainly, not least because fulfilling the people's expectations would have meant distorting his own mission: he would never do what the Messiah was supposed to do according to the commonly accepted ideas of the time, so any signs he gave on those terms would, in effect, have been a deception. Yet this would not have been the most serious deception. Something else would have been worse: such signs would have turned people away from the Kingdom he had brought into the world. And Jesus' principal task was precisely to bear witness to that Kingdom. Those around him, however, wanted a Kingdom of their own design, and associated their ideas about the Messiah above all with such a Kingdom. In their understanding, the Messiah was the one who would establish an earthly Kingdom built according to the laws of this world. Such a Kingdom could indeed have consoled those who longed to assert themselves on earth—perhaps not personally, but no less destructively in spiritual terms, for collective pride, whether national or religious, often proves more terrible than individual pride. No spiritual efforts directed towards personal righteousness could change anything while this remained the overall direction. Personal righteousness did not, in itself, change a person radically; it merely prepared them to be ready, at the right moment, to take a step into the Kingdom. But if, instead of stepping into the Kingdom, a person stepped in another direction, towards a mirage they mistook for the Kingdom, the result was tragic: personal righteousness untouched by the breath of the Kingdom could easily become fertile ground for the most terrible sins, above all for ruthless religious fanaticism, which a few decades later played a fateful role in the destiny of Judea and God's people. Jesus, of course, foresaw this course of events. And he did everything possible to prevent it.