Luke 11
29As the crowd pressed in on Jesus, he said, “These are evil times, and this evil generation keeps asking me to show them a miraculous sign. But the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. 30What happened to him was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him. What happens to me will be a sign that God has sent me, the Son of Man, to these people.
31“The queen of Sheba will rise up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, because she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And now someone greater than Solomon is here—and you refuse to listen to him. 32The people of Nineveh, too, will rise up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And now someone greater than Jonah is here—and you refuse to repent. (Luke 11:29-32, NLT)
The Daily DAVEotional
In this passage of Scripture, Jesus is responding to “others” from Luke 11:16 who were trying to test Jesus by asking “for a miraculous sign from heaven to see if he was from God.”
A similar incident occurs in Matthew 16, which I wrote about here. The summary in that passage as in this passage, is that Jesus says that those who demand a sign are evil. This is because all of the evidence needed to determine that Jesus is from God has already been given. I unpack this more in my blog post “When Someone DEMANDS Evidence!”
What’s interesting to me about this passage in Luke is what Jesus says about Jonah that is not in the Matthew passage.
Jesus says that “What happened to him [Jonah] was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him.”
I’ve read this statement from Jesus hundreds of times without realizing the significance of what Jesus is saying here.
So what’s he saying? Why is this significant?
Coincidentally, my men’s group just recently went through a short Bible study on the book of Jonah, which is only 4 chapters long with a total of 48 verses.
Click here to see a A Comprehensive List of Blog Posts Based on Bible Passage Reference
The summary of Jonah is as follows:
God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, and announce God’s judgment against the city.
Jonah rebels against God’s directive and flees by getting on a ship that is headed in the opposite direction from Nineveh.
God gets Jonah’s attention by causing a great storm that threatens the safety of those on the ship and Jonah gets thrown overboard by the other passengers as a way to quell the storm and save themselves.
As a result of the storm abating, these passengers, who all worshiped pagan gods, end up worshipping Yahweh and making vows to Him.
Jonah gets saved from drowning by being swallowed by a big fish. He’s in the belly of the fish for 3 days before being spit up on some unknown beach.
Some time after this (we don’t know how long exactly), God tells Jonah once again to go to Nineveh and announce God’s judgment against the city.
This time Jonah complies.
When he gets to Nineveh, Jonah once again announces God’s judgment with a very brief message.
The text of Jonah 3 says that the whole city repented, including the king. I’ve always thought their response was interesting and out of character given the haughty and braggadocious attitude of the Assyrians. At the time, the Assyrians were the biggest baddest dudes on the block and were not afraid of any foreign deities or any other regional powers.
2 Kings 18 gives the account of the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, in which Sennacherib’s representative said:
“Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria! 29This is what the king says: Don’t let King Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you from my power. 30Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the LORD by saying, ‘The LORD will rescue us! This city will never be handed over to the Assyrian king.’
. . . .
“Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he tries to mislead you by saying, ‘The LORD will rescue us!’ 33Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? 34What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did they rescue Samaria from my power? 35What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? Name just one! So what makes you think that the LORD can rescue Jerusalem?” (2 Kings 18:28-30, 32-35, NLT)
The Assyrians were certainly NOT afraid of the God of Israel. To them, Yahweh was as weak as every other regional deity.
So how is it that in the account of Jonah, the Assyrians are so quick to repent?
Jesus’ words in Luke 11 give us additional insight as Jesus says that what happened to Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him.
Did you catch that?
The Assyrians had already heard of what happened to Jonah by the time he arrives with his message of impending doom. Somehow, the ordeal on the boat, in which Jonah’s God, Yahweh, had immediately calmed the storm, got back to the Assyrians. It seems most likely that the other passengers on that boat, the ones who ended up worshipping Yahweh and making vows to Him, told their story and the word quickly spread.
This scenario reminds me of the Israelite’s deliverance from slavery to the Egyptians, in which God not only demonstrated His power and sovereignty through the various plagues, but who also delivered the Israelites by parting the Red Sea while destroying the Egyptian army who attempted to follow.
When the Israelites finally arrived at the edge of the promised land, the multiple nations they would eventually displace had all heard of God’s great acts of deliverance, causing the Israelites to be greatly feared.
Tha Assyrians had gotten word about this powerful God, so much so that when Jonah finally arrives on the scene, he needs no introduction and barely has to say a word to convince the Assyrians that God means business.
The result is that this world empire that had seen themselves as invincible, were now on their knees begging the God of the universe not to bring impending disaster upon them.
Jonah’s rebellion led to a divine encounter for a group of pagan seafarers, whose story got back to the very nation Jonah was supposed to warn. So when Jonah finally gets to the destination to which God had sent him, the people are amazingly ready to respond.
Jesus’ message to those who want a sign is this: the Assyrians heard about Jonah so that when Jonah showed up, they knew he had been sent by God.
In the same way, what happened to Jesus would be THE sign that Jesus was sent by God.
What was it that happened to Jesus?
He was crucified and dramatically rose from the dead.
If the resurrection is not enough evidence for someone who demands a sign to know if Jesus really was sent by God, then no amount of evidence will do.
Did you enjoy this post? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to like, leave a comment below, and share it with your friends or on social media if you found it helpful or interesting. Your support keeps the conversation going!
Reflection
Are you a person who needs evidence, or a sign that Jesus is God? If so, what evidence would convince you?
Why do you think Jesus says that people who require a sign are part of “this evil generation?”
Many people have a hard time believing the story of Jonah, particularly the part where he is swallowed by a great fish. How does Jesus mentioning Jonah in this Luke passage add credibility to the story of Jonah?
Jesus says that He is greater than Jonah and yet people refuse to listen to Him. Why do you think people refuse to listen to Jesus? What steps can you take to ensure that you don’t stop listening to Jesus?
Photo by Francesco Ungaro: https://www.pexels.com/photo/majestic-whale-tail-above-ocean-waters-34392859/
The Lowedown 