How to understand the sign of Jonah (Matt 12:38-42)
Matt 12:38-42
Knowing that I believed in God, a classmate in school challenged me, ‘Tell God to appear to me and I will believe in Him’. God, however, is not at our beck-and-call to come running, as if we were doing Him a favour to believe in Him in the first place. I am reminded of this incident in the face of the Pharisees’ challenge to Jesus to show a sign (Matt 12:38). In context, they have just heard that Jesus healed a demon-possessed man but dismissed it by attributing the miracle to Satan’s power (Matt 12:22-24). God is more than willing to support people with a sign when they are genuinely seeking Him, when they need reassurance or encouragement (e.g. Judg 6:36-40; 2 Kings 20:8-11). However, He is not in the business of submitting Himself for the mocking inspection of those who have already made up their minds about Him.
Jesus’ sign a riddle
Thus, Jesus’ sign is cryptic and practically no sign at all (cf. Mk 8:11-12). He compares Jonah’s stay in the belly of the fish to His own death, though the latter is enigmatically phrased (Matt 12:38-40). Since it is still in the future from the Pharisees’ perspective, they would be hard put to decipher its meaning. Jesus’ sign, then, is a tease, a riddle. In effect, He is saying, ‘The only sign you will get is my death, make of it what you will’. The clues are there, of course, but it remains opaque unless you know what you are looking for. It is like the incident in The Lord of the Rings where the dwarves stand at the entrance to the Mines of Moria. The sign on the door says, ‘Speak, friend, and enter’. Confidently taking this to mean that a friend needs to speak something, Gandalf the great wizard makes endless, futile attempts to unlock the door. It is the humble little hobbit, Frodo, who spots the riddle and ask, ‘What’s the word for “friend” in elvish?’ The word is spoken, and the door opens.
Jonah’s ‘death’ and Jesus’
Since we recently studied the Book of Jonah, it is worth reflecting this Good Friday on how his story sheds light on Jesus’ death. At first glance, the parallel Jesus makes seems arbitrary given that Jonah was a recalcitrant prophet and Jesus the Saviour of the world. Yet, Jesus’ teaching here follows rabbinic practice in quoting one verse but expecting engagement with the whole of the story. Jonah in a limited sense is a type of Christ in that he offers his life as atonement to assuage God’s wrath and thereby saves the sailors (Jonah 1:12). However, the comparison ends there because Jonah openly rebelled against God’s will and can justly expect punishment, while Jesus is innocent, and his death will be an offering in the place of sinful people. Nevertheless, Jonah becomes a sign of God’s grace because despite his disobedience, he is saved and given new life after three days.[1] He is a testimony to Israel’s creed that the LORD is compassionate and gracious (Exod 34:6; Jonah 4:2). Jesus is raised to life because God accepts His sacrifice and vindicates Him as innocent, yet He is also a symbol of the Lord’s amazing grace in saving sinners.
Jonah – a cautionary tale
These parallels make it clear that the comparison with Jonah is only approximate, yet it is no accident that Jesus cites the example of a prophet (Jonah) and later a king (the wise Solomon) implicitly depicting His ministry as both prophetic and royal but also greater than those human examples (Matt 12:41-42). In fact, both Jonah and Solomon are deeply flawed and reflect something of the problem the Pharisees had. Jonah as God’s prophet should have known better than to disobey God so blatantly. Even when he was shown grace despite his sin, his theology was correct, but his heart was not right (Jonah 4:2-4). He knew what to believe, but his life was not transformed by it. Likewise, Solomon had all the privileges of knowledge and wisdom, yet he was eventually led astray by idolatry (1 Kings 11:9-11). Israel’s religious leaders in Jesus’ time had all the advantages of having God’s revelation, of being taught in the ways of Scripture, of being part of God’s people, loved and called to belong to God. Yet, as in Jonah’s and Solomon’s story, it is the outsiders, both morally (the tax collectors and sinners) and ethnically (Samaritans and Gentiles) who come to Jesus (despite their limited understanding) and fully take hold of God’s grace. Jonah’s story is also a cautionary tale.
The sign of Jonah and the Ninevites
What then is the sign of Jonah? It is his ‘death’ and ‘resurrection’ that exemplifies his own deficiency and sin and God’s surpassing mercy. It is unlikely though that the Ninevites knew anything about this. While many speculate that Jonah’s sojourn in the fish left him with skin that told its own story, who would have understood what it signified when no one had experienced anything like it before? Others conjecture that the sailors told of the survival of Jonah (and that news got to Nineveh), but it is doubtful that they would have even witnessed Jonah being swallowed by the fish let alone his deliverance. It is also unlikely that Jonah himself would have talked about it to the Ninevites, given that he did not want them to have hope in God’s gracious character and repent.
The Ninevites’ repentance
According to the Book of Jonah, the prophet preached a message of judgment, and it is this the people responded to (Jonah 3:4-5). Thus, the story makes nothing of Jonah’s near death and deliverance in relation to the Ninevites’ repentance. Indeed, if they had responded to such a supernatural miracle, then that would precisely undermine Jesus’ point that sign-seeking is not the answer. Rather, Jesus locates the change in the Ninevites (i.e. their repentance) in their response to Jonah’s preaching (Matt 12:41; Luke 11:32), that is God’s Word to them. Likewise, He discourages the Pharisees’ sign-seeking and implicitly suggests that they need to respond to His teaching. Yes, His own death and resurrection will indeed be a sign, but it will only open up in retrospect and only to those who seek the Lord by faith. Even then, it is understood in the context of Scripture and fellowship with the risen Lord (Luke 24:13-35).[2]
The meaning of Jesus’ death for us
Nevertheless, we who look back on the cross and resurrection can appreciate the true meaning of this event, not as a spectacular sign that eliminates doubt, but as God’s message of both judgment and mercy. As we remember Jesus hanging on the cross, we remember that it is because of our sin that He ended up there. Whether we are like Jonah, already claimed by God and having the right theology, the cross reminds us that even then right thinking in itself is not enough. Our heart (attitude) must be renewed whether for the first time or again. When Jesus died, He paid our debt. What we could not do for ourselves, He did for us. And when He rose again, God vindicated Him and affirmed that His sinless offering was accepted. No more condemnation for us! Indeed, His life from the dead is our hope. We have been redeemed from the power of death, and in Him we are raised to new life, too. Thanks be to God for His incredible grace!
[1] The expression ‘three days and three nights’ is often used for an indefinite short period of time in the OT, so it does not necessarily mean exactly 3 x 24 hours. Likewise, Jesus’ three days and nights in death is not literally 72 hours (He died about 3pm on Friday afternoon and was raised by early Sunday morning).
[2] The incident of the disciples going to Emmaus describes how they knew all the facts (crucifixion, resurrection), but these made no sense to them. They could not recognise the Lord until Jesus explained the significance of it all from Scripture (Luke 24:27) and broke bread with them (Luke 24:30-31), a sign of fellowship.
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