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From: Matthew 12:38-42

The Sign of Jonah

[38] Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him (Jesus), “Teacher, we
wish to see a sign from you.” [39] But he answered them, “An evil and adulte-
rous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign
of the prophet Jonah. [40] 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. [41] The men of Nineveh 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. [42] 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.”

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Commentary:

39-40. This sign the Jews were asking for would have been a miracle or some
other prodigy; they wanted Jesus, incongruously, to confirm his preaching —
given with such simplicity—by dramatic signs. Our Lord replies by announcing
the mystery of his death and resurrection, using the parallel of the case of Jo-
nah: “No sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” Jesus’
glorious resurrection is the “sign” “par excellence”, the decisive proof of the di-
vine character of his person, of his mission and of his teaching.

When St. Paul (1 Cor 14:3-4) confesses that Jesus Christ “was raised on the
third day in accordance with the scriptures” (words which later found their way
into the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, the Creed used in the Mass), he
must have had this passage particularly in mind. We can see another allusion
to Jonah in the words our Lord spoke shortly before his ascension: “Thus it is
written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead”
(Lk 24:45-46).

41-42. Nineveh was a city in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) to which the prophet
Jonah was sent. The Ninevites did penance (Jn 3:6-9) because they recognized
the prophet and accepted his message; whereas Jerusalem does not wish to
recognize Jesus, of whom Jonah was merely a figure. The queen of the South
was the queen of Sheba in southwestern Arabia, who visited Solomon (1 Kings
10:1-10) and was in awe of the wisdom with which God had endowed the King
of Israel. Jesus is also prefigured in Solomon, whom Jewish tradition saw as
the epitome of the wise man. Jesus’ reproach is accentuated by the example
of pagan converts, and gives us a glimpse of the universal scope of Christianity,
which will take root among the Gentiles.

There is a certain irony in what Jesus says about “something greater” than Jo-
nah or Solomon having coming: really, he is infinitely greater, but Jesus prefers
to tone down the difference between himself and any figure, no matter how im-
portant, in the Old Testament.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.