NOTES for Luk 11:29-33
Jesus firmly refuses the Pharisees who demand miracles from Him to prove His messiahship. Why? After all, miracles were not in themselves objectionable; they were simply a means of recognizing the true Messiah, a kind of agreed identifying sign that helped those in the know avoid making the wrong choice. But this was only one side of the matter. The other was that any system of such identifying signs is always bound up with particular theological ideas to which the Messiah must conform.
So it turned out that the Pharisees needed signs proving not merely Jesus' messiahship, but also that it was the “right” kind, from the standpoint of those who had devised the system of signs—in other words, the Pharisees themselves. In effect, Jesus was being asked not simply to prove that He really was the Messiah, but to demonstrate His willingness to play by the Pharisees' rules. He could not, of course, make such a concession: the Pharisees' ideas about the Messiah were quite far removed from the meaning of the Savior's earthly ministry.
To the Pharisees demanding signs, Jesus holds up the example of pagans such as the inhabitants of the kingdom of Sheba and of Nineveh: the former were able to recognize a bearer of God's wisdom, the latter a bearer of His revelation, although they possessed no tradition, no special knowledge, and certainly no theological system that could help them see the truth. The Pharisees, however, who had everything needed to see and recognize the Messiah if they wished, did not wish to do so. It is no surprise that, under such circumstances, tradition becomes a reproach and a condemnation for those who bear it: on the Day of Judgment, those who did not possess it will be able to say that, without any tradition, they succeeded where the Pharisees failed—Pharisees who were so proud of their tradition, yet never managed to make use of it.
The situation seems paradoxical, but on reflection there is nothing surprising about it: tradition has value and meaning only when those who lay claim to it are spiritually no lower than those who formed it. Otherwise, we are dealing not with the assimilation of a spiritual tradition, but merely with its imitation. Such an imitation may look impressive against the background of a world not yet transfigured by the breath of the Kingdom, but on the Day of Judgment all such imitations will look ridiculous and foolish.