NOTES for Mat 16:1-6

The Pharisees and Sadducees approach Jesus and ask him to show them a sign from heaven. The word used here is semeion, a sign, which also means ‘proof’. This is what they are asking: prove to us unmistakably, by some special act, that you are the One who is to come. In reply, the Lord says something very important. He points to the Pharisees' ability to draw conclusions from the simplest observations of the weather. This requires neither special knowledge on the observer's part nor special ‘acts’ in the sky, only observation and the ability to draw the simplest logical conclusions.

But the Pharisees, who are undoubtedly capable of this, should also be capable of equally simple conclusions about life, their times and themselves. If they demand proof, this is a phenomenon not of spiritual history but of their religious psychology. They simply do not want to accept the obvious, which is why the Lord calls them hypocrites. What matters for us is to understand that God reveals himself to us, and grasping this requires only the simplest inferences. Our failure to see God is chiefly due to unwillingness, not inability. The blind regain their sight, the lame walk, and the poor joyfully proclaim the good news: for an impartial person, this is enough to draw the conclusion that the apostle Peter will express in the following verses of this chapter: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’

In practice, this means that to meet him, what we need first and foremost is not mystical illumination from God—that depends on his will and call—but the ability to see life, people and events as they are.