Are you like the Ninevites or the Pharisees? Matthew 12:38-42

The Sign of Jonah

38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

The Pharisees really didn't want to see a sign, they were just trying make Jesus look bad.  

“Had not Christ shown them signs enough? What were all the miracles he had wrought in their sight? They either speak this out of a further idle curiosity…or else they speak it in direct opposition.” (Poole)

39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 

Though Jesus was certainly not against showing the people signs, and manifesting the power of the kingdom, he was against being manipulated by these hypocritical leaders.  He knew that if they did not believe what he was already doing there was no point in doing more.  He would not be their pawn. 

Jesus uses the example of Jonah, the Old Testament prophet to the city of Nineveh, who tried run from God's call on his life. As we will see in the next verse, his life was an example which pointed to the future death and resurrection of Jesus.  

40 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. 

Jesus now connects Jonah being in the belly of the whale for three days with his own death and being in the grave for three days.    

"Yet we should not miss the central point here. “You are asking for a sign – I am God’s sign. You have failed to recognize me. The Ninevites recognized God’s warning in Jonah; the Queen of Sheba recognized God’s wisdom in Solomon.” (Barclay)

41 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. 

Even the nation of Ninevah repented after hearing Jonah preach about God's kingdom.  The Pharisees had someone much greater than Jonah in their presence, they had the Son of God himself.  Jesus' preaching, teaching, and miracles were in every way greater than Jonah's, yet the teachers and the Pharisees failed to repent.  

The King of Nineveh repented and the king called on every man and beast to be covered with sackcloth.  Jonah 3:5  The king of this Gentile nation was emptied of pride, yet the Jewish leaders, full of pride, rejected Jesus. 

42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.

Here is another example of someone in the world and far from God who is more responsive to God's word than God's own people.  For Jesus to allude to the fact that He is greater than Solomon is no small matter.  Solomon is the son of David, the greatest king of Israel.  

"We again are impressed by the greatness of Jesus’ self-claim. To stand in front of these religious leaders and claim to be greater than Israel’s richest and wisest king was audacious. Yet the seeming audacity of Jesus was well justified." Guzik

How are you like the Ninevites?  How are you like the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law?  Do you think there are higher expectations on those who know Jesus to be responsive to God's voice?  How does God speak to us today?  Through prophets? 



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