Seeking for a Sign

 In Matthew 12 some Scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus "Master, we would see a sign from thee."  and Jesus answered, "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas." (v. 39) And then he goes on to talk about the story of Jonah.  I addressed the idea of the "adulterous generation" back when we were studying Jeremiah.  As I said then, I don't think that Jesus was thinking about individual marital infidelity here.  He is calling on the idea from the Old Testament, that God's relationship with Israel is symbolized as a marriage, and that when Israel follows other gods, they are being adulterous.  If someone is a believer in the God of Israel, they don't need a sign, but those who are doubting and wandering seek a sign. I don't think Jesus would have used this image if he were speaking to gentiles. 

It is interesting that Jesus uses the story of Jonah as a sign for his own life and mission.  Jonah was not the most exemplary prophet in the Old Testament. When God called him to preach to his enemies, he tried to run away.  It was only after he was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights that he repented and went to Nineveh to preach. So how is Jesus' ministry like Jonah?  

There is a good paper on the BYU studies website  by David R. Scott, that highlights the parallels between Jesus and Jonah. I will just touch on my favorites.  

First, Jonah's name יוֹנָה means "dove".  So when Jesus said, "no sign will be given but the sign of Jonah" he was acknowledging a sign that had already been given at the time of his baptism, when the spirit descended "like a dove" (Matt 3:16).  

We see another connection to the story of Jonah when Jesus calms the sea. In the story of Jonah, the boat was tossed in a storm, but Jonah was asleep.  (Jonah 1:4-5)  Jesus was also asleep in the boat in the storm. Whereas Jonah caused the sea to be calm by letting himself be tossed into it, Jesus calmed the sea of Galilea through the force of his will. 

The similarity that Jesus highlights is that Jonah was three days in the belly of the whale, and Jesus would be three days in the heart of the earth. (v. 40) and just as Jonah would emerge, unharmed, after the three days, Jesus would emerge from death, whole and glorified. Something to remember is that both Jonah and Jesus willingly sacrificed themselves to save others. 

There is a lot more in the referenced paper, but the last thing I want to mention is that when Jonah emerged from the the belly of the great fish, he was sent to preach the gospel to a gentile nation, and they accepted it more readily than anyone would have expected.  After Jesus arose from the tomb, he told his disciples to go into the world, "and teach all nations"  (Matt 28:19).  As history shows, the gentiles accepted the gospel of Jesus more readily than the Jews ever did.

The disciples probably didn't see all these connections at the time.  In fact, they were probably baffled by Jesus' response because they didn't really understand yet what Jesus would have to do to enact the atonement.  Clearly, however, over the years Matthew figured it all out, since most the the parallels I mentioned come from verses in the book of Matthew.