Jonah’s descent into the belly of the whale is a sign of the Lord’s
descent to Sheol.
In Luke’s version the mention of the whale is omitted and only this sign
is declared: When the crowds were increasing, he began to say,
“This generation is an evil
generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign
of Jonah. Luke 11:29.
For as Jonah became a sign to the
men of Nin′eveh, so will the Son of man be to this generation. The queen
of the South will arise at the judgment with the men of this generation and
condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of
Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. Luke
11:30-32
The sign of Jonah? Jonah had gone to the Ninevites with the message “Yet forty days, and Nin′eveh shall
be overthrown!” Jonah 3:4.
The Ninevites, led by their King repented, fasted and prayed
and God turned back His intent to destroy them. Simply put the
sign of Jonah is “Repent or Die.” The Ninevites heard Jonah’s
warning, put faith in it and lived, so the people should hear Jesus’ warning to
repent and believe the Good News. They should put faith in His words and live.
If they do not they will meet great punishment.
Here are the basic elements of what
is meant by the sign of Jonah:
- When Jonah was told to go to Ninevah he resisted. He thought they would reject his prophecy and likely kill him or they would heed his message and grow stronger. Ninevah was the mortal enemy of Israel and Jonah had no interest in seeing them strengthened. For if they grew in strength through repentance they would surely gain the capacity to over-run Israel.
- Jonah makes his proclamation of destruction within forty days and Assyria does repent. And in their strength they would become a rod in God’s hand to punish Israel. God would use Assyria to humble and punish His people, Israel. … Isaiah 10:5-6
Deeper meaning of the Sign: That if Israel will not repent, God will take the power and strength
from them and give it to a foreign land that knows Him not. They will
shame and humiliate Israel inflicting God’s punishment. This is
humiliating on two levels. First of all Israel, God’s own people would not repent
but a pagan country would. Secondly they are humiliated by being conquered by a
foreign people.
Understanding the Sign of Jonah to Jesus time and us. In Jesus’ time
the Sign of Jonah means that if Israel will not repent and accept the
Gospel, God will take it from them and given it to the Gentiles. Jesus says: Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God
will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
Matthew 21:43. Further, just as Israel’s ancient refusal to repent led to
destruction by the Assyrians, so now Israel’s refusal to repent in
Jesus’ time means destruction by the Romans which took place in 70 AD.
The only sign they would have would
be the sign of Jonah.
Matthew 12:38-42. Then some of the
scribes and Pharisees said to him, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but
no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah
was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of
man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of
Nin′eveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for
they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than
Jonah is here. The queen of the South will arise at the judgment with this
generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the
wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
When the Pharisees asked for a sign, they wanted a miraculous
sign, some miracle that would prove that Jesus is the Savior
sent of God. Jesus, knowing their hearts, refused to give them a sign. A sign can be a miracle and sometimes it is used of things not supernatural at all. In
Luke 2:12, an angel said to the shepherds, This will be a sign for you. The angel was not talking
about a miracle. The sign will be that the baby is wrapped in swaddling
clothes, lying in a manger. When they see that, the shepherds will know that
the baby is the Savior.
And Jesus said to them, ‘To this evil and adulterous generation,
no sign will be given except the sign of Jonah.’ This means that when Jesus
speaks about ‘this generation’,
He is not just referring to the Jews that He is talking to but to the people
who are wicked. Therefore the sign of Jonah is not only for those standing in
front of Jesus but it is for anyone in this present age in which we live.
Here it says that Jonah is the sign. Matthew 12:39-40.
Jonah was the sign to the people of Nineveh in the same way that the Son of man
is the sign to us in this present age.
Jesus was buried for three days and three nights, and then He rose
from the dead. If the resurrection is a sign, Jesus raised Lazarus from the
dead, He raised the daughter of Jairus, on a third
occasion, He raised from the dead the widow’s son at Nain. So they had already
seen the power of the resurrection that Jesus had. As for Jesus’ own
resurrection, the disciples saw Jesus after His resurrection. What this evil
and adulterous generation do not see cannot be a sign to them.
Jonah was
the prophet who ran away from God after he was called to preach at Nineveh. And
even after his experience of being in the belly of the fish for three days and
three nights, and then being saved, we find that when he did preach to the Ninevites and they repented, Jonah was angry. He was not
happy with the results of his preaching because he knew that God would now
spare Nineveh, a wicked nation.
The comparisons-between
Jonah and Jesus? Let us take Matthew 12:40 and Luke 11:30.
Matthew 12:40. For 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.
Luke 11:30. For as Jonah became a
sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of man will be to this generation.
Notice that
Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites only after
he was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. In the same way,
Jesus would become a sign to this generation, in virtue of His death and
resurrection. And just as Jonah became a sign after the event, so Jesus becomes
a sign to us after the resurrection. Jesus said to His disciples. ‘The world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me John
14:19.’
Jesus said, ‘The Son of man will be a sign.’ Daniel saw one like ‘a son of man who came to the Ancient of Days and was given dominion, glory and kingdom Daniel 7:13-14.’
The church
is the body of Christ. God dwells in the hearts of His people who, together,
constitute the church, the Body of Christ. The Lord Jesus is the head. We are
the body.
Jesus is
saying, ‘I am going to give you a sign. And that sign will be the power of the
resurrection.’ Philippians 3 says, ‘That I may know Him, and the power of His
resurrection.’ What Paul means is this I want to know everything there is to
know about the power of the resurrection.
Paul
wanted to understand and experience the fellowship found in Jesus' sufferings.
Paul wanted to know Jesus thoroughly both in the great things and the difficult
things that Jesus faced. Paul wished to have a common experience of suffering
so that he could experience a bond with his Lord. Our own sufferings give us a
connection with our Savior. It helps us to understand Him, and forges a
fellowship between us and Him.
As we walk
in newness of life, the power of the resurrected Christ is now operating in our
lives. We no longer live according to the things of the flesh. We live a life
of holiness in Christ. People can see the sign of the resurrection in our lives.
The sign of
Jonah is the sign of the resurrection. It is the sign of changed lives. This is
what the power of the resurrection is about. When God transforms a person, He
takes him out of the power of sin where death is, to the power of life, where
righteousness is. He becomes a completely new person.
We cannot
really compare Jesus, in His perfect self, to Jonah. Even
after the transforming experience that Jonah had in the belly of the
fish, he still had much of the old character in him.
When we
talk about the power of the resurrection it simply means we become dead to the
world, to sin, and alive to God. Jonah died to the world when he was in the
belly of the fish. But he became alive to God. There was a spiritual change in
Jonah’s heart. In his beautiful prayer, he offered thanksgiving for his
deliverance from drowning. He was ready to preach repentance to the city of
Nineveh. And there, he became a sign to the Ninevites.
Jonah was swallowed up by the power
of death. If he did not call out to God when he was in the belly of the fish,
he would have probably perished. But God delivered him and Jonah became the
sign to the people of the world, to the people of Nineveh. He became that sign
precisely because he experienced in his own life the power of God’s
resurrection.
ALSO (To become aware of the Lord in the Eucharist. A sign leading to a sign.
The
“fish” symbol refers to the “loaves and fish” miracles of Jesus. The fish reminds people that Jesus
miraculously “multiplied” a few small fish (and a few loaves of bread) to
feed thousands of hungry people,
on two separate
occasions – one time to feed 5,000 people, and another time to feed 4,000
people. Mark 6:30-44 and Mark 8:1-10.
The
loaves and fish miracles were symbolic in significance. The basis of faith is
the resurrection
of Jesus.
Jesus Feeds
5000 with
- 5 loaves
- 12 baskets left over (there were twelve servers and also refers to the 12 tribes of Israel in the old testament)
Jesus Feeds
4000 with (3 days after the miracle of 5000)
- 7 loaves
- 7 baskets left over (the number of abundant completeness).
- The geographical location (Mark's Gospel) suggest that what Jesus did for the Jews He also did for the Gentiles; for the second miracle happens in Gentile territory and the number seven have associations with the Gentiles.
The
multiplication of the loaves in which 5,000 people were fed appears in all four
Gospels, the second is found in Matthew and Mark. The feeding of Israel in the
desert with Manna from Heaven looks forward to the Eucharist by which
Christians are fed with the Bread of Life which is Christ. The Gospel of St.
John makes the past connection with Moses and Manna, in the words of our Lord
Himself:
6:28 Then they said to him,
"What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" 29 Jesus answered
them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has
sent." 30 So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may
see, and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in
the wilderness; as it is written, —He gave them bread from heaven to
eat.'" 32 Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it
was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true
bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from
heaven, and gives life to the world." 34 They said to him, "Lord,
give us this bread always." 35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of
life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall
never thirst.
6:48 I am the bread of life. 49
Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the
bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. 51 I
am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread,
he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the
world is my flesh." 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying,
"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
The
Gospel of St. John makes clear - looks forward to the Eucharist. As Jesus says:
6:51 I am the living bread which
came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and
the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." 52
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us
his flesh to eat?" 53 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to
you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have
no life in you; 54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my
blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in
me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the
Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread which
came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this
bread will live forever."
This
feeding with "Bread" continues, as it does in the Eucharist which is
now Christ Himself, the Bread of Life.
As
explained by Fr. Ashlyn during the Bible Class and on the First Saturday
(December) connected to Metanoia.
Thank
You, Abba Father.
Thank
You, Jesus.
Thank
You, Holy Spirit.
CHRISTMAS message!
The PROMISE
Metanoia
My Christmas Wish. Part 1
My Christmas Wish. Part 2
Please continue with:
CHRISTMAS message!
The PROMISE
Metanoia
My Christmas Wish. Part 1
My Christmas Wish. Part 2
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