Friday, September 10, 2010
Jesus sent the multitudes home and traveled by boat to the border of Magadan. There, the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test him, asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
He answered, "When it is evening, you say, 'The weather will be fair, because the the sky is red.' And in the morning, you say 'The weather will be foul today, because the sky is red and lowering.' You know how to read the face of the heavens, but you cannot read the signs of the times.
An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign. No sign will be given to it, except the sign of Jonah."
And with that, he departed.
Christ has now attracted the attention of both the main parties in Israel's chronic civil war: the Pharisees, who had the upper hand at the time, and the generally more conservative Sadducees, who were weaker at the time but still had great influence in Jerusalem. Despite their enmity, neither of them wanted to see the ascendency of a strong third party which might contend for religious and political control of Judea.
Christ repeats his earlier message, this time curtly. The only "sign" he will give these inquisitors is to be given up for dead (like Jonah) for three days and then return. See the comment on Matthew 12:38-41.
"Red sky at morning, sailor take warning; red sky at night, sailors' delight" is an old seaman's saw; those who enjoy sailing will be amused to hear that it was used 2000 years ago by Hebrew fishermen.
Magadan is not known today. It apparently was a small area south of Generassat, on the left shore of the Sea of Galilee.
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