Luke 11:29-32

Do you remember learning about Jonah and the whale in Sunday School? A man named Jonah was swallowed by a whale, lived in his stomach for 3 days and nights, and was spat out on account of God saving him. However, were you ever taught the full story? Do you know where Jonah was going, and from where he was running away from? In Luke 11:29-32, Jesus references a lesser-taught aspect of the story of Jonah in response to the townspeople who asked for signs. Signs would have instantly revealed Jesus’ divine nature, so why didn’t He do it? I will attempt to address some of these questions in this blog, so let’s open up to our Luke passage, as well as our copy of Take Every Passage to Prayer, Volume 2- The Gospels by Charles Wagner to pages 214-18.

Jesus previously gave the crowd the definition of a life that is blessed: to hear and do the word of God. Jesus sharply contrasts this definition by pointing out how the crowd expects Jesus to bless them in a different way, namely through miracles (Wagner 218). The crowds, and sometimes us modern readers, expect blessings to reveal themselves through radical healings and gifts. Jesus flips the script by addressing those that expect signs and miracles in place of true blessings. He says that the Son of Man will be a sign to those around Him, instead of radical healings (although he does perform those!). Jesus points out that in the Old Testament, we have the example of Jonah, who became a sign in himself. If at this point in the paragraph you are confused, that is okay! These four verses are very theologically dense, so we are going to unpack this slowly!

In Jonah chapters 1-3, we learn that Jonah tries to run away from the calling God has for his life. God called Jonah to head to Nineveh to preach and prophesy, but Jonah had other plans. He sets sail on a ship to Tarshish, gets caught up in a rainstorm, and is thrown overboard by his shipmates in order to stop the storm. While underwater, a whale or large fish swallowed Jonah, rendering him stationary for 3 days and nights. Jonah repents from running from God while in the digestive system, so the whale spits him up, and he returns to God’s will of preaching in Nineveh. Although Jonah’s experience was personally formative for his own relationship with God, his story became a sign for the Ninevites that he was preaching to. That is what it means for Jonah to “become a sign in himself.” Jonah’s experience of running from God and being called back to his will is parallel to the Ninevites’ experience of straying from God, thus rendering Jonah a sign to the Ninevites.

Focusing back on Luke now, Jesus is comparing Himself to Jonah here, claiming that his appearance on earth is the sign itself. He is directing our attention away from the physical and upwards towards the spiritual. We should not be concerned with healings and exorcisms as much as basking in the presence of God incarnate! God incarnate, or Jesus, is a sign in Himself because He set aside a portion of His divinity to walk among humans. His will is that He will die on behalf of all sins so that He might have a chance of restoring a relationship with YOU! That is the greatest love story ever told, and the crowd is asking for a SIGN? 

When you look at The Sign of Jonah this way, you can almost imagine the intensity in Jesus’ face. I picture Him red-in-the-face, passionate tears streaming down His cheek, as he uses Jonah as an example. Wagner points out some of these similarities between Jonah and Jesus on page 218.

• Jonah was drowned almost to the point of death, just as Jesus will be beaten almost to the point of death.
• Jonah spent 3 days in the belly of a whale, just as Jesus will spend 3 days in Hades as a result of the crucifixion.
• Jonah initially refused to repent, just like the crowd standing in front of Jesus. Jonah pleaded for mercy in the wilderness, just as Jesus will plead for mercy in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Jonah was the sign. My love is the sign. I am the sign. 

 Jesus specifically uses Jonah as almost a prophetic example of himself, and seeing the overlap, I think it is far too often skipped over in this passage. Jesus briefly compares Himself to another Old Testament figure: Solomon. If Solomon was the wisest human to ever live, how much more wise is the Son of God incarnate? Wagner discusses on page 218 that the Queen of the Southern Kingdom traveled a far way to speak to Solomon, but the inquisitive crowd stood right in front of Jesus, and was too afraid to ask a question! Moreover, Jesus Himself is the sign the crowd is looking for. Let us kneel before our Father and acknowledge Jesus as the Sign.

Father, we acknowledge you as Creator, Jesus as Redeemer, and Spirit as Advocate. Lord, thank you for your Son, and that you would give us a physical sign on earth such as the sinless life of Jesus Christ, so that we might observe your holiness and righteousness. We request that you continue to have Jesus be the sign in our lives, illuminating our pathways and filtering our decisions. Help us to avoid false teachings and keep our focus on your will. In your Son’s name I pray, Amen.