Introduction
Three times in the gospel narratives we find mention of
the sign of Jonah. In Matthew 12:36-41 and 16:1-4 and then also in Luke
11:28-32.
This repetition in Scripture would indicate that this is important and that we should try and understand what it means when Jesus talks of the sign of Jonah.
EVIDENCE
By far the best way of validating an argument is to have proof. No
court case can be won without evidence and reliable witness. And no judge
or jury can maintain credibility if they ignore the facts.
All three passages in which Jesus refers to the sign of Jonah start with a demand from the religious leaders of the day for a miraculous sign, such as in this account where I have added my own emphasis:
"The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested
him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, "When
evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,'
and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red
and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but
you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous
generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except
the sign of Jonah." Jesus then left them and went away. (Matthew 16:1-4)
In the stage musical The Music Man, Mayor Shinn of River City sends his men out to get travelling salesman Harold Hill’s credentials. Similarly, the authorities of first century Israel wanted to see Jesus’ credentials. Did he have the qualifications to teach, and what was the source of his authority? Was he genuine or another impostor? After all Jesus had been stirring things up so much, making outrageous claims about himself, and pushing what to them seemed like a revolutionary message. In the Luke passage Jesus has been accused of using satanic powers and sleight of hand by the investigators. They want incontrovertible evidence to support Jesus’ claims.
So the request for a sign might seem quite prudent at first sight, but Jesus responds by calling them wicked and saying that just one, albeit important sign will be given, and not at their bidding but in the future. Jesus then talks to them about The Queen of the South and the Men of Nineveh in both the Luke and the Matthew 12 passage. Here’s Luke’s account:
He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it." As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgement with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. (Luke 11:28-32)
We might well ask what is so significant about the Queen of Sheba and the history of Jonah’s ministering to the Ninevites. Luke tells us in verses 31 and 32 that Jesus is greater than Solomon (who was wise) and greater than the prophet Jonah (whose life was full of the miraculous). Both Solomon and Jonah preached about God before the gentile queen and city, people without the special Jewish relationship to God and yet these gentiles believed and turned to God, without making such a big thing out of the matter of credentials.
The obvious implication is that since Jesus is greater than the two Old Testament heroes and he is preaching the same message to the Pharisees, so they should likewise respond to God’s message with repentance and belief. His preaching should be quite enough evidence for them.
But Jesus had also been miraculously healing lepers, raising people from death, feeding thousands from a few loaves and fish, calming the wind and waters at will, teaching like no one had ever taught before. If only the Pharisees looked properly they could see all the evidence they wanted. No, their demand for a fresh sign was not for want of proof. Despite the fact that they were the church people of the day they were actually opposed to God! In John 15:23-25 Jesus says this:
He who hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles , and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfil what is written in their Law: “They hates me without reason.”
In Jonah’s time the Israelites who should have known better, ignored the message, but their enemies didn’t.
Perhaps you don’t believe they were deliberately opposed to Jesus, or
at least to God. Then at least we can say they were walking around with
their eyes shut. Bishop Wallace Benn tells of when he interviewed potential
Readers for the Church of England (lay preachers). One year he asked all
the applicants whether they thought Jesus to be the best way to God or
the only way to God. Every single person said ‘the best way to God’!
We are shocked at the stupidity of the Pharisees but Bishops Benn’s
cautionary tale tells us that we too have no room for complacency. Jesus
confronted the professing church of his day and found it wanting in its
discernment of the facts. It is no different today.
Respond to the Word
Jesus has a message for the world. "Blessed rather are those who hear
the word of God and obey it." (Luke 11:28). There are two responses to
God’s word, obedience and disobedience. The first will result in God extending
his grace and mercy, but the second will result in God extending his judgement.
The modern world is just as much in danger as ever the Jews of Jesus’ day were. We have Bibles in many translations. We look back at a completed ministry, and at 2000 years of church history. Modern people have all the evidence they could want, and yet how many people out there, either outside or inside the church, are looking for a supernatural experience, either as a substitute for real spirituality or are looking for a ‘reason’ to banish the importance of Jesus from their lives?
John 20:29 says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” The proof is in Scripture and we must look there, understand and then obey. For me, becoming a Christian was looking soberly at the claims of Christ without bringing any preconceived prejudices, and as the evidence of Scripture came to bear so I found I had to respond. It would have been an act of great folly to deliberately go back to a position that I could no longer defend intellectually. The evidence of the truth of the gospel and about Jesus Christ was just too overwhelming. To this day I continue to respond in repentance and faith.
FISH/TOMB
If people know anything about Jonah, then it is about him being swallowed by the giant fish. Matthew 16 stresses this aspect of Jonah’s story:
The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, "When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,' and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah." Jesus then left them and went away. (Matthew 16:1-4)
Jesus refers to the sign as a future event. That event will of course be his death on the cross and his resurrection from the tomb. Jonah was in his watery grave version of Sheol, the Hebrew world of the dead, Jesus will lie dead in his funeral clothes, but God saves them from these supposed irreversible situations. Jesus is foretelling his listeners what will happen to him well in advance, and telling them to look to the book of Jonah for an explanation. We’ve already seen that Jesus did in fact perform many miracles for the Jews, but when he talks of giving them only this one sign he is saying in effect, ‘this is the one that is really important’.
Let us see why the sign of Jonah is so important and why we must understand the lessons of the book of Jonah.
JUDGMENT AND MERCY
The significance of the cross is that it is a sign of condemnation,
of judgement, and of damnation. As Paul reminds us in Galatians 3:13, “Cursed
is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
The significance of the resurrection is that it is a sign of deliverance,
of salvation, and of vindication. Jonah’s fish was such a sign of deliverance.
When Matthew raises the sign of Jonah in Ch.12, the context in which he does so is one of judgement (v36), condemnation and acquittal (deliverance) (v37) , and in verse 41 judgement, condemnation, and repentance. Read it for yourself:
“ But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you." He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.” (Matthew:12:36-41)
The description that Jesus makes of his hearers that is common to
all the passages where he speaks of the sign of Jonah is, ‘wicked and adulterous
generation.’ We should note that ‘adulterous’ in the Bible is usually used
to mean ungodly. It would seem that Jesus is not just talking of the Jews
of his day but to unbelieving mankind in general.
As Jesus points to the story of Jonah and to his work on the cross, Jesus is delivering a hard message:
‘All people will be judged by God and either delivered or condemned. You like the Israelites and Ninevites of Jonah’s time are sinful and presently stand condemned. You deserve death. But if, like the Ninevites and unlike the Israelites, you repent, and if you believe in me, my message, in the cross and resurrection, you will be delivered.’
Why is God prepared to deliver us from our deserved death? Because as Jonah says, quoting Exodus 34, God ‘is a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love. A God who relents from sending calamity’ (Jonah 4:2) He’d rather deliver than condemn.
JEW AND GENTILE – CHURCHMAN AND UNBELIEVER
Wallace Benn, who we mentioned earlier, a Church of England Bishop, says he attends many conferences where it is almost impossible to talk of a personal relationship with the living Christ because the Church is so caught up with ‘theological’ and practical issues, and matters of tradition. Even the clergy are like the Pharisees - enemies of Christ, resistant to God’s Messiah. And what of their congregations? Outwardly they attain Christian moral values in their lives, but they have no personal relationship with Christ.
Jesus’ reference to the Ninevites upset the Pharisees so much because by it he indicates that these hated outsiders are right with God whereas they, God’s church, are not. The Ninevites were gentiles, not Jews, not God’s chosen people.
The consequence of Jonah’s ministry to the gentile Ninevites was that they were saved, and in 722 BC God gave up the Israelites to them in war. The Israelites had in contrast to their enemies, not repented at the preaching of Elisha, Jonah and Amos.
The Shock
In the light of this historical precedent, Jesus was indicating to
the Pharisees something that would have made him extremely unpopular indeed.
History will repeat itself, Jesus says. Again it will be the gentiles who
will respond to God’s message and salvation will pass to them, and they
will be used as instruments of oppression against the Jews.
As soon as 70AD, Jerusalem had been crushed by the Romans, who had destroyed Herod’s Temple in their anger. The Jewish nation was scattered in the Diaspora. Under Paul and other believers the gospel message passed to the gentile peoples of the Roman Empire.
And where is the Church of God today. It is largely in gentile keeping. The sign of Jonah has long-reaching shadows indeed.