Then We Will Believe

Scripture Reading: Matthew 27:32-44

The soldiers who carried out the crucifixion, the thieves who were executed with Jesus, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of Israel all joined in the chorus of derision of our Lord. They sarcastically repeated back to Jesus His claim to be the King of Israel, the Son of God, and the Savior. They mocked His trust in His Father and reasoned that they would expect that a man with such a close relationship with God would be delivered by Him.

They claimed that if Jesus were to either be miraculously delivered from the cross by God’s intervention or if He could set Himself free from the nails that held Him fast if He could perform a display of power separating flesh from iron and wood; well, then they might just believe in Him.

They were setting the conditions under which they would believe.

It has been a long-standing idea that we have the right to set the rules by which God must prove Himself. “Show us a sign!” “Send someone back from the dead!” “Do this one miracle!” We set the parameters and blasphemously expect the Sovereign Creator to bow to our whims and wishes. We play the tune and ask Him to dance.

As Abraham said, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”