Matthew 12:38-42
Chapter 12
38
The Sign of Jonah
Then, some teachers of the law and some Pharisees spoke up: “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”39
Jesus answered them:
“An evil and unfaithful people seek a sign; but no sign will be given them except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40
Similarly, as Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so the Son of Man will spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41
At the judgment, the people of Nineveh will rise up with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah—and there is someone greater than Jonah here.
42
At the judgment, the Queen of the South will stand up and condemn you. She came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and here there is someone greater than Solomon.
Commentaries
The Sign of Jonah.
This invitation to perform an extraordinary sign presents a new temptation to manipulate Jesus’ power. The allusion to the sign of Jonah has been understood in different ways: Jesus’ death and resurrection, preaching to the pagans, and their conversion. It’s possible that the evangelist meant both meanings when addressing Christian communities facing the contradictions of proclaiming the Good News: the poor and the pagans accepted Jesus’ message, while the wise and the proud rejected it. There is none so blind as those who refuse to see.