The proud religious law-keepers and a religious group of people who believe no one will be raised from the dead came to Jesus. They asked Him to show something special from heaven. They wanted to trap Jesus. ... The sinful people of this day go after something special to see. There will be nothing special for them to see but the early preacher Jonah. [Matthew 16:1,4 MSG]
So often Jesus speaks with veiled speech seemingly teaching in innuendo.
It is easy for us, two millennia later, to understand what Jesus' teachings.
Jesus had already spoke about Jonah (possibly to another group of people) saying:
For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.Yet even that had to confuse the ones who intently listened to his words.
The Pharisees heard things literally and the Sadducees rejected raising folks from the dead.
Who amongst them could have imagined Christ's resurrection or related such an event to Jonah?
Do you ever think about our preoccupation with the signs of the sky?
Many embrace astrology and look to the stars for guidance.
I sometimes seem addicted to the predictions of weather forecasters.
And all the while so many of us miss all of the signs that are evident in creation.
When I look around around I see the fingerprints of God in every beautiful tree.
In every sunrise and sunset. In the face of a newborn child. I see evidence of God.
Signs of God's presence are all around us if we choose to see such things that way.
Lord, please open my eyes to the signs of your presence all around me.
... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.
love this last sentence.....God's presence are all around us if we choose to see such things that way.
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