Sign of Jonah

Mar 8

Read Jonah 2-3

In the gospels of both Matthew and Mark, we read about an interaction between the Pharisees and teachers of the law and Jesus. The religious leaders are asking Jesus for a sign, proving that He is from God. Jesus responds with the following statement:

“A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a 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 judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.” (Matthew 12:39-41)

There are a remarkable number of symbols in the story of Jonah that foreshadow the life and death of Jesus. Like Jonah, Jesus is sent to a faraway land, filled with wickedness. Both stories involve the calming of storms, the casting of lots, and the transformation of unbelieving bystanders. Jonah and Jesus each spend three days in a grave; the words that Jonah prays from the belly of the great fish could very well be prayed by Jesus from the cross:

“In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ The engulfing waters threaten me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit.” (Jonah 2:1-6)

But Jesus points out one of the stark contrasts between the story of his life and that of Jonah. When Jonah preaches to the Ninevites, they repent en masse:

“Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” (Jonah 3:7-9)

The same is not true of the people to whom Jesus is preaching. The Jewish religious leaders will not only reject His message, but they will set about destroying Him altogether. It’s a stunning irony, the people we most expect to embrace the Son of God, end up responding to Him with the wickedness and cruelty that we had expected from the Ninevites. Because of this, Jesus says that even the Ninevites will stand up in judgment against those who fail to respond to the Good News that Jesus brings.