阅读经文 

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。

在马太福音十六章的开首，我们看到宗教领袖们来试探耶稣、请祂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”。（参太 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，（参可 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祂的人要留意。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，好叫一切相信祂的得蒙拯救。

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.