“‘你们知道分辨天上的气色，倒不能分辨这时候的神迹。’” - 太 16:3

耶稣在这段经文的教导，成为水手的押韵谚语：“晚起红霞水手乐，朝起红霞水手愁。”（Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky at morning, sailor's warning. ）在早上或黄昏，当太阳光线穿过云层时，天空便泛起红霞 — 光线被云层里的水珠折射，我们便见到橙红色的霞光。

任何一个地区的风暴多是自东向西移动的，若是你看到在东面的云层发红，这表示风暴正朝着你移动，若是你在西面看到，则表示风暴正离你而去。尽管人们现在有更加精密的仪器，然而对很多航海的人来说，懂得观察天色仍然是重要的。

在马太福音16章的开首，我们看到宗教领袖们来试探耶稣、请衪从天上显个神迹给他们看。真想不到他们会这样发问，因为耶稣刚刚行了神迹喂饱一大群人，“除了妇女孩子，共有四千”（马太福音 15:38）。难道这样一神迹还不足够吗？

耶稣的神迹是神的国临近的征兆（马可福音 1:15），可惜只有少数人看得懂这些征兆，所以耶稣便暗示这些批评衪的人要留意。可是他们却固执己见，不肯睁开他们的眼睛看清楚真相。那将要来临的 — 从某些方面来看像是一场风暴 —然而却 是一个好消息：神的儿子耶稣，亲自降临，为每一个人的罪受死，好叫一切相信衪的得蒙拯救。

祷告

主啊，藉着你的死和复活，你赐予我们新的生命，求你教导我们，叫我们一天比一天更认识这个新的生命。阿们。

马太福音 16:1-4

1法利赛人和撒都该人来试探耶稣，请他从天上显个神迹给他们看。
2耶稣回答说：“晚上天发红，你们就说‘天必要晴’；
3早晨天发红，又发黑，你们就说‘今日必有风雨’。你们知道分辨天上的气色，倒不能分辨这时候的神迹！
4一个邪恶淫乱的世代求神迹，除了约拿的神迹以外，再没有神迹给他看。”耶稣就离开他们去了。

Red Sky At Night

"You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times." - Matthew 16:3

The teaching that Jesus mentions in this passage has become a rhyme related to sailors: “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailors’ warning.” The sky appears red when the sun, at morning or evening, shines through clouds—the water particles in the clouds break up the light rays so that we see an orange-red glow.

As storms in the region tended to move from east to west, seeing the red light from clouds in the east meant that a storm was coming toward you, and seeing it in the west meant that it was moving away. Though they have much more sophisticated tools today, a red sky can still mean a lot to seafarers.

At the beginning of Matthew 16, we read that the religious leaders came to test Jesus by asking for a sign from heaven. This question is surprising since it came soon after Jesus’ miracle of feeding a huge crowd of “four thousand men, besides women and children” (Matthew 15:38). Was that not enough of a sign?

Jesus’ miracles were signs of the kingdom of God coming near (Mark 1:15), but few people were reading those signs. So Jesus hinted that his critics should take note of this. But they were stubborn and would not open their eyes. What was coming—in some ways like a storm—was good news: the Son of God, Jesus himself, had come to die for everyone’s sin so that all who believe in him could be saved.

Prayer

Lord, teach us more each day about the new life you give us through your death and resurrection. Amen.