Matthew 12:38–50

All right.

Jesus is either the biggest egomaniac to have ever walked the earth, or he's the great Lord who is worthy of building and centering our lives upon.

He's either the, the, the biggest self-centered narcissist ever, or he's the one whom we truly should center ourselves around in the totality of our lives.

Uh, the reason I say that this morning is because in the passage we're about to look at, Matthew is going to record for us the third of three confrontations with the scribes and the Pharisees.

It's kind of like a little miniseries from Matthew, Jesus and the Pharisees, or Jesus and the religious leaders.

And in this third movement, Jesus is going to say something like, "I am the only sign that you need.

I'm better than Solomon.

I'm better than Jonah.

I am the one you need to look to." And he's gonna also say something like, "You need to let me fill the totality of your life, and if you don't, you're actually in grave danger." And then he's gonna say something like, "Because of me, a brand-new humanity and family has been formed that can connect to and know the living God.

And so know me, trust me, believe in me." This is why I'm saying that Jesus is either the biggest egomaniac to walk the earth, or he really is who he says he is and is worthy of centering our lives, uh, upon.

Uh, but like I said, all of these movements we're looking at right now start with a question or a confrontation or a challenge with the Pharisees, and Matthew gives it to us here in verse 38.

So let's start reading our text together.

It says, "Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him," answered Jesus, "saying, 'Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.'" Now, if you're just joining us for the very first time in our journey through the Book of Matthew, you might be assuming that when the Pharisees come along with the scribes, the teachers of the law, and say to Jesus, "Will you do a sign for us or give us a sign so that we can know you are who you say you are?" you might be assuming that up to this point in the Book of Matthew, Jesus hasn't done any miracles.

But that's actually not the case.

We've been studying how Jesus has been casting out a bunch of demons.

We've also seen that Jesus heals sicknesses and i- and injury as grave and as serious as paralysis.

We've also watched him cleanse lepers.

Jesus has worked in miraculous ways up to this point, and the Pharisees come along to that Jesus, who has worked in these miraculous ways, and say, "Show us a sign." Now, I know that one of the v- the favorite things for us to do in the church is to make fun of the Pharisees.

It's a hoot, you know? We can always just really make fun of these guys, you know, and right now we're tempted to do the same thing.

Like, are you serious? He's been working all these miracles, and now you come along saying, "Show us another miracle," you know, kind of thing, "so that we can know that you are who you say you are." But when they ask specifically for a sign, they're probably asking for some kind of on-demand ph- From the heavens, from the sky, celestial event that helps them feel that Jesus is who he says, uh, he is.

Now, I don't know if they missed Jesus' baptism, but I feel like that was kinda one of those moments.

Jesus went into the water, John the Baptist dunked him, he comes out of the water, and the Holy Spirit descends upon him in bodily form like a dove, and the Father speaks from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased." Feels like a celestial, on-demand, from the he- skies, you know, kinda sign to me, but apparently that wasn't enough for the Pharisees.

So good news, we still get to make fun of them a little bit.

But let's see how Jesus responds to these Pharisees, and I think in these three responses we're gonna see him say a lot of things, and in the first response we're gonna see him say something like, "I am enough, so be captivated with or by me." Let's look at his response in verse 39 to verse 42.