Some scribes and Pharisees wish for Jesus to show them a sign to proving who He is. Yet we know from what Jesus says later to Saint Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (John 20:29). He calls them an “evil and unfaithful generation” because He knows they are not asking for a sign in order to help their belief, but to satisfy their curiosity, for He knows even something amazing that would dazzle their eyes will not move their hearts. For by this point in Matthew’s Gospel, they have seen or at least heard how Jesus has performed exorcisms and driven out demons; how He made withered hands whole, healed a blind man, and gave speech to a mute person; how He gave sight to two blind men, raised a little girl from the dead, and healed the bleeding woman; how He recruited a tax collector into the ranks of His closest followers, healed a paralytic, delivered the Gadarene demoniac, and calmed the storm at sea; how He healed the centurion’s servant without even being near the sick servant, cleansed a leper, delivered the great Sermon on the Mount to a huge crowd, fasted forty days in the desert without food or drink, and more. What sign could He possibly show them that would move their hearts? The scribes and Pharisees will one day receive the sign of Jonah, but even Jesus rising from the dead will not convince them all, nor even most of them.
Instead of hearts that are hard and unbelieving, may we have hearts that are like that of Saint Peter: “Blessed are you, Simon . . . for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father” (Matthew 16:17).