Give us a sign to say yes to change?

Matthew 16:1-12; Mark 8: 11- 21

Mark 8: 11- 13

11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. ¹²And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, ‘Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.’ ¹³And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.

Jesus of the Nazareth sermon has revealed Himself as the source of renewal: physically, socially, psychologically and environmentally. The stories we have considered together demonstrate Jesus as being concerned with our holistic experience and the impact on our experience of wellbeing. Jesus, and the Kingdom He inaugurates is concerned with the personal, communal, the political and the economic circumstances of life. His birth story, the short encounter with the theologians at the age of twelve, His baptism and ministry narratives all point to a person engaged with life in its fullness and entirety. The gospel that Jesus preached was personal and social both at the same time. It all mattered; it was and is all spiritual. The sigh of Jesus and the exasperation that it reveals is His frustration with reductionism, that is reducing the Kingdom He is announcing to one ‘sign’. In fact this reductionist way of thinking  in our passages today is seen as dangerous and self-destructive In Mark’s account Jesus states: ‘⁵And he cautioned them, saying, ‘Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.’’.  The Pharisees reduced life to religious ritual and separation from the contamination of the gentiles and especially Rome. The Herod party reduced everything to the compromise with the powerful elites of the day and were characterised with their enthusiasm for Hellenisation and cultural syncretism. Jesus Kingdom is neither a separation nor a compromise; it’s a new and interdependent way of being in the world based on the ethics of inclusion and the recognition of the needs of holistic human beings. It is not Greek nor is it anti Greek; it is the fulfilment of the promise of the Creating, sustaining and redemptive God. Syrophoenician women are invited to participate as are centurions, the physically sick, the economically poor, and the hungry; even some Pharisees who come at night and acknowledge that Jesus is sent from God (John 3:2) are invited.  All of them state that the signs point to inclusion; we all get the invitation to participate in the life transforming Kingdom.  The sign that is being asked for by the ruling elite is really a sign that ‘conforms’ to their authority. They are asking Jesus to ‘confirm’ He and the Kingdom He is inaugurating is no threat to them. Jesus stated that this is the need of a whole generation of people; everyone wants their needs confirmed and met their way; but this is exactly the sign that will NOT be given.  It’s time for change; the time to conform is over; it’s a new age and God is demonstrating it in the works, teachings and the places where Jesus is journeying. God’s preferential option is in favour of: the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed. Jesus is proclaiming in His words and practices (the only signs that will be given) ‘the year of the Lord’s favour.’ And as for you and me, we are at the crossroads of decision again!