Matthew 15:39

‘And he sent away the crowds, and entered into the boat, and came into the borders of Magadan.'

After the feeding the crowds are sent away and He enters a boat with His disciples and come to the borders of Magadan, which is in fact unknown. But that it is on the west shore is confirmed by the scene that follows. The fact that the crowd was ‘sent away' indicates how reluctant they were to leave. But Jesus knew when He felt that they had had sufficient teaching for the time being.

The Pharisees and Sadducees Seek Proof of His Authority By Requiring a Sign From Heaven (Matthew 16:1).

The weight of the opposition begins to grow. To the Pharisees and their Scribes are now added the Sadducees. This suggests that the Pharisees in Galilee, determined to bring Him to account, have swallowed their pride and taken common cause with the Sadducees at Herod's court so as to call Him to account (compare Mark 8:15). Alternately it may signify that the whole of the religious element in the Sanhedrin have united to come to call on Him, either to prove His credentials by some God-given sign or cease preaching. As Paul tells us later from his own experience, the Jews were famed for ‘asking for signs' (1 Corinthians 1:22). They remembered Moses. They remembered Elijah and Elisha. They remembered other occasions when God had done wonders. (They conveniently forgot that David and many of the prophets performed no signs). And while they acknowledged that Jesus had performed many miracles of healing and cast out evil spirits they dismissed such things, probably on the grounds that others did similar things.

But had they watched carefully they would have realised that He not only healed in abundance, and but also, unlike the others, never failed, and the reason that they did not do so was because their minds were set. Nor, because He had performed such miracles only among responsive and believing crowds, had they seen the miracles of the loaves. They only had that on hearsay. So they wanted Jesus to perform to order. (This was something that neither Moses, nor Elijah and Elisha, had ever done. They only performed to God's orders, not men's). It was this casual use of ‘signs' as wonders to be performed to satisfy men who demanded them, something that had never been done before, that Jesus refused to have anything to do with. It was one thing for God to choose to reveal signs, it was quite another for men to demand them, and decide what suited them and what did not.

Analysis.

a And the Pharisees and Sadducees came (Matthew 15:1 a).

b And trying him asked him to show them a sign from heaven (Matthew 15:1 b).

c But he answered and said to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the heaven is red'. And in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the heaven is red and lowering' ” (Matthew 15:2 a).

c You know how to discern the face of the heaven, but you cannot discern the signs of the times” (Matthew 15:3 b).

b An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will no sign be given to it, but the sign of Jonah (Matthew 15:4 a).

a And he left them, and departed (Matthew 15:4 b).

Note that in ‘a' the Pharisees and Sadducees come, and in the parallel Jesus leaves them and departs. In ‘b' they ask for a sign from Heaven, and in the parallel he gives His view on those who ask for signs. In ‘c' He illustrates the use of signs, and in the parallel points out that while they know how to use physical signs, they are unable to discern spiritual signs.