Matthew 12:38-42

Matthew 12:38-42 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  We all want a sign.  We want some evidence that what we believe is not some crazy idea that has somehow persisted for thousands of years and isn't actually true.  We want to be certain that this bedrock beneath our lives is actually solid -- that we have chosen wisely, invested in a certain thing, that we have hope beyond this life.  Otherwise, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, we are to be the most pitied.  If our faith does not lead us into a greater life beyond this one, than we are fools.
  So while we want a sign, our faith is just that -- belief in something ineffable that cannot be grasped.  This side of heaven, we will never have certainty.  The scribes and Pharisees were requesting a sign because they doubted that Jesus was truly the Messiah, so they were asking him to prove himself.  We don't need a sign today -- Jesus has already proven himself by dying and rising from the tomb.  The miracles he performed were proof enough -- he wasn't going to show off for the sake of the scribes and Pharisees.  He has shown us enough -- now it is our turn to believe, to put our faith in him and live by faith, trusting that he is who he says he is, and that our lives are safe in his hands.