29 As the crowd pressed in on Jesus, he said, “This evil generation keeps asking me to show them a miraculous sign. But the only sign I will give them is the sign of Jonah. 30 What happened to him was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him. What happens to the Son of Man will be a sign to these people that he was sent by God.
31 “The queen of Sheba will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen. 32 The people of Nineveh will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent.
God told Jonah to preach repentance to the Gentiles and Jesus was affirming Jonah’s message. As we all know, salvation is for all people, not just the Jews.
Jesus would die and rise 3 days later, just as Jonah was rescued after 3 days in the belly of the fish.
Now, on to the men of Nineveh. They repented when Jonah preached to them. Yes, these cruel, warriors, submitted to God and Jonah didn’t give a rip about them.
The queen of Sheba praised God when she heard Solomon’s wisdom, but Solomon was full of sin.
Jesus, the perfect Son of God came to people that He geniunely cared for and loved and they wanted nothing to do with Him.
People with no evidence believed, but those who listened to Jesus Himself, with plenty of evidence, turned their backs on Him.
Remind you of anyone? Remind you of us?
We have eyewitness reports of the risen Jesus, the awesomeness of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; we have access to His Holy Word (the Bible) and a bird’s eye view of the last 2,000 plus years of Christ’s acts through His church, and we still struggle to believe. Yeah, we say we believe and we shout about it on Sunday, but this is so much more then a weekly ritual. It’s a way of life! Our response to Christ should be more complete and wholehearted then ever before. For we have seen what they had not.
Yet, with all of this knowledge, we still struggle. What we need at this time, more then anything else, is those of us secure in our faith to spread the Word of God. We need to stop feeling “out of place” or feeling like we may offend people with this Message. If the Word of God is offensive to them, then they’re going to have to be offended. Maybe that’s what it takes. It’s not enough to live Christ-like lives, hoping that others will see and follow. Yes, that’s a great start, but you must speak to the lost as they obviously do not recognize the reason for the way you live.
It’s MAD (Make A Difference) Monday. There is simply no better way to make a difference. Throw the excuses out the window today and pick one person….Yes, just one. Ask them if they’re saved and plant a seed. I feel like crud and have a ton of excuses too, but I will find one.
