TEXT [Commentary]

8. The demand for a sign (16:1-4; cf. Mark 8:11-13)

1 One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, demanding that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.

2 He replied, “You know the saying, ‘Red sky at night means fair weather tomorrow; 3 red sky in the morning means foul weather all day.’ You know how to interpret the weather signs in the sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the signs of the times![*] 4 Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.[*]” Then Jesus left them and went away.

NOTES

16:1 One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, demanding that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority. For the second time, the religious leaders ask Jesus for a sign (cf. 12:38; Mark 8:10-12; 1 Cor 1:22). The NLT’s “one day” tends to obscure the close connection between this episode and the previous chapter. The leaders’ demand that Jesus prove his authority amounts to “testing” him with the assumption that he will fail (cf. 4:1, 7; 22:18, 35).

16:2-3 The words of Jesus in verses 2b and 3 are textually dubious (see NLT mg) because they are not found in many early manuscripts, such as B syrc, s copsa and manuscripts known to Jerome. The verses were likely borrowed from Luke 12:54-56 (for further discussion see Metzger 1994:33; Comfort 2007:[Matt 16:2].

16:4 Then Jesus left them and went away. At this point Jesus walked away from the Pharisees and Sadducees. Perhaps this physical act demonstrates Jesus’ rejection of the leaders of Israel.

COMMENTARY [Text]

The Pharisees were associated with the Sadducees here and in other places in Matthew, evidently because these two normally disparate groups had found a common enemy in Jesus (3:7; 16:1, 6, 11, 12). Their request for a sign was motivated by a desire to test Jesus, which put them in the company of Satan (4:1, 7). That they asked for a sign “from heaven” perhaps refers to something so spectacular that it could not be denied. But again, Jesus had just fed more than four thousand people with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. What more could be done? Jesus did signs to help the needy, not to soften hardened hearts. Seeing does not necessarily cause believing (Luke 16:31; Davies and Allison 1991:583-584).

In these verses, Jesus contrasted the Pharisees’ ability to discern meteorological signs with their culpable inability to discern that his miracles demonstrated the messianic significance of his ministry (cf. 9:6-8; 12:28). They could discern the signs of clear and stormy weather depending on the color of the sky in the morning or the evening, but they were unable to discern the signs of the times—that is, the significance of Jesus’ epiphany as the Son of God on earth.

The second request for a sign was met with the same enigmatic answer here as in the first request, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.” However, the answer here is not explained, as it was in 12:40ff (see comments there).