Anchor My Faith

The Sign of Jonah

Scripture: Matthew 12:38-40; Luke 11:29-30

With the previous lesson we closed the section devoted to the seriousness of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. As a related point, we looked at the importance of what we allow to dwell within our hearts and how it affects our speech and our behavior. With this lesson we begin a new section about the sign of Jonah that Jesus gives at the request of the scribes and Pharisees.

^{Mt 12:38} “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”’

The scribes and Pharisees had just attributed to the devil the power Jesus displayed in casting out a demon. Jesus corrects them and cautions them about blaspheming the Holy Spirit. They now respond by asking Jesus to give them a sign to verify his power. In asking for a sign they were asking him to perform a miracle that would validate his power. Since Jesus has already done this numerous times their request was therefore not for a display of power that validated his messianic identity, but they were instead seeking a sign they could use against him.

^{Lk 11:29} “[As] the crowds were increasing, ^{Mt 12:39} [Jesus] answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”

This evil generation that is with Jesus is described as “adulterous” which refers to spiritual adultery or unfaithfulness to God. The relation of the Jews to God was often represented as a marriage contract in which the husband was God and the wife was the Jewish people. Their apostasy and idolatry were often represented as adultery as they were evil and unfaithful to the covenant or to the commandments of God. There is also evidence that they were literally an adulterous people.

The miracle they were seeking for was not going to be performed, but in relationship to their unfaithfulness, Jesus reminds them of Jonah who God sent to Nineveh with a message of repentance, but he disobeyed and got on a ship and travels west on the Mediterranean Sea. Because of his disobedience the ship encounters a severe storm. Determining that Jonah’s disobedience has caused the storm and thus a threat to their lives of those on board, Jonah is thrown overboard, somewhere between Joppa and Tarshish, and consumed by a large fish provided by God. Within the fish God provides a miracle and preserves Jonah for three days and three nights and then had the fish deliver him near the shore where God again sends him on to Nineveh. This rescue by God was a sign to the people of Nineveh that the message Jonah brought was from God. This sign of the prophet Jonah of being in the great fish for three days and three nights would be paralleled by Jesus in a different way.

^{Mt 12:40} “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ^{Lk 11:30} For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.”

What if Jonah was thrown overboard on Thursday. Thursday would be day one, Thursday night would be night one, Friday would be day two, Friday night would be night two, Saturday would be day three and Saturday night would be night three. Assume the fish delivered Jonah to the shore just before sunrise on Sunday morning, ready to start his journey to Nineveh. Thursday to just before daylight on Sunday morning would be three days and three nights.

Jesus said he would be in the earth three days and three nights like Jonah in the great fish. Is it possible that tradition placed the death of Jesus on Friday when it really was on Thursday? I have thought about this for some 30 to 40 years and then when I looked at the last week of Jesus in the harmonization schedule, I found no events on Wednesday. How is that possible? It will be another two years before we get to that point in our journey with Jesus, but when we do, I will have further comments as to why I believe the crucifixion occurred on Thursday and that Friday was established through tradition.

Conclusion

Just as Jonah was kept alive for three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish, Jesus was kept alive for three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jonah went on to Nineveh to fulfill his assignment and Jesus, having finished his work, ascended back to heaven to be with his Father.