Matthew12::Signs and Wonders

Why did Jesus perform miracles?  For many reasons, perhaps.  Jesus loved every person he healed, and certainly did so out of concern for them personally (v.11-13).  But he didn't heal every person, even though he loved every person, so there must be more to the story.  Large crowds gathered when he performed miracles, and that certainly was a reason to do them (v. 15).  But there is at least one more important motive.  Miracles were believed to be the calling card of the Messiah, and by performing them Jesus was demonstrating that he was who he said he was.

But miracles only went so far.  They were a "proof" that he was the Son of God, but not all the people who witnessed them became his followers.  Some just chose not to believe what they saw with their own eyes; it wasn't logical, after all.  Some believed, but lacked the courage or the desire to become true followers.  Others believed, but opposed.  Ironically, the people most convinced that Jesus was the Son of God may have been his enemies.  If they thought he was just another Messiah wannabe, they probably wouldn't have felt so threatened by him.

So when they came asking for a miracle, for proof of his messianic credentials, Jesus refused.  He knew their hearts, that nothing he could say or do would soften them.  So he named the witnesses who would testify against them on Judgment Day:

1. The Ninevites, who responded to Jonah's message after he had spent three days in the belly of a fish;  the Pharisees would not even respond after Jesus spent three days in the grave and rose again.
2. The Queen of Sheba, who listened to Solomon's wisdom; the Pharisees would not listen to the wisdom of God in the flesh, standing before them.

He then pronounced perhaps the worst judgment on them.  All their efforts to be religious, he said, had merely created a vacuum in their lives, an empty house now filled with a gang of evil spirits.  It was not miracles they needed, it was new hearts.

When you and I come to Jesus, what are we looking for: a miracle or a new heart?  I am so often convinced that I need a miracle, but Jesus knows better.  Signs and wonders won't make a dead heart beat again, but a new heart is life and hope and joy.  A new heart is the greatest miracle.  There is no argument against it, no rebuttal.  It defies logic or explanation, except to say that Jesus has changed a person's life.