Monday Scripture: Matthew 16
Signs of the Times
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The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’
and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’
You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
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This was unusual. The Pharisees and Sadducees didn't hang out together as a rule.
The Sadducees were all about the temple. So much so, that they didn't even believe in heaven or eternal life. If it didn't happen in the physical structure of the temple, they thought God wasn't interested.
The Pharisees get a lot of bad press, but they were the first evangelicals. They baptized people into the Jewish faith. They built the synagogues wherever they went. That synagogue system kept the Jewish faith alive when Jerusalem fell, and made it possible for the Jesus movement to spread through the known world.
Then there was a third group.
They believed that the worship of God was a spiritual thing. They did not have a temple building. Instead, they felt closest to God in the mountains. Elijah--the greatest of the prophets--was one of their own.
These were the despised Samaritans.
Jesus promised the Samaritan woman at the well that soon all those divisions and barriers would be swept away. It took his death on the cross and the cataclysm of Rome's destruction of Jerusalem--but Jesus was right.
I wonder what divisions we hold dear today that are being swept away by the corona cataclysm? Could God use our crisis to bring God's people together as never before?
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Lord, show us the signs of the times.