Matthew 12:38-42 38Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39But answering he said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, but a sign will not given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold something greater than Solomon is here.
Those blind scribes and Pharisees asked for a sign when there were signs of Jesus’ messiahship all over the place. Miracles never before seen in history were evident throughout Galilee. There were thousands of witnesses and people who had experienced the miracles. These Jewish leaders wanted to fit Jesus into a box of their own creation and refused to heed the drawing power of the Holy Spirit. They were in serious danger of judgment because they refused to accept Jesus’ authority.
The words Jesus uses to condemn them reverberate throughout time. That generation was no better than ancient Israel, which compromised its faith by worshipping idols. The Jewish leaders were committing spiritual adultery by putting their love and commitment in the wrong place. Their religion had become all about them instead of listening to God’s ancient and new revelation. They represented that whole generation that had departed from God’s desires. The message about repentance preached by John the Baptist was desperate needed. The way the spiritual leaders went was the way the people went.
Jesus gives them the sign of Jonah. No one, not even Jesus’ disciples, understood what this sign was until after his resurrection. The symbol of a fish and images representing Jonah were some of the most common images used in Christian burial for the first centuries after Jesus. Jesus’ resurrection would be the greatest proof of the truth of what he said. The way days were counted in that time meant that Jesus would be in the grace for a period of three days.
Jesus then gives the illustration of two peoples who gave the proper response to God’s revelation. As compared to the evil and adulterous generation, the people of Nineveh listened and repented. They turned from their sins (metenoēsen) because they heard the warning of judgment. The generation of Jesus, represented by the scribes and Pharisees, refused to repent and hardened their hearts. The queen of the South was the queen of Sheba who came to visit Solomon mentioned in 1 Kings 10:1-10. She went out of her way at great expense to hear the wisdom of Solomon, which represented the truth of God. Both of these groups were Gentiles. The sad message is that Israel was rejecting its own Messiah. Even today, the truth is plain to people, yet they refuse to accept it and would rather remain in their ignorance, sin, and selfishness.
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