Monday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 24, 2023

Matthew 12, 38-42

Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” He said to them in reply, “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here. At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here.”

“Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”  The scribes and the Pharisees ask a strange question.  It is strange because they would have asked for “a sign” from any other teacher: teachers explained signs; they did not make them.  The nature of the sign they wish to see they leave unclear.  The Greek can mean both a simple sign or a miracle, which could also serve as a sign.  Now, the Lord performed many miracles and very many scribes and Pharisees had seen them.  They wish to see some identification the Lord would give to prove that he was the Messiah they awaited, the leader to defeat the Romans and reestablish the independent kingdom of Israel.  This proof would be something more than the healing of a blind man.  Perhaps they wanted a sign of some kind in the sky.  They may have understood from the Lord’s reference to himself as the Son of Man that he indeed was making the claim to be this Messiah, and they were asking for a sign, as Gideon long before had asked God for a sign, before going into battle (cf. Judges 6, 36-40).

“An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign.”  The Lord implicitly compares the present “generation” to the generations of Israelites who fell away from the Covenant to worship idols.  In this case, the scribes and Pharisees believe themselves to be righteous, but in reality they are not because they egregiously misinterpret the Law and the Prophets to suit themselves, and so they construct a Messiah at odds with what the Prophets promise.  We might think of the Lord saying this loudly and as though amazed that the evil generation has enough sense to ask for a sign.  

“No sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.”  The Lord came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets and here he states that he will complete the “sign of Jonah”.  We should understand this as Jonah’s self-sacrifice for the (Gentile) sailors, telling them to throw him overboard during the storm to save themselves.  Jonah then is saved, spending three days in the belly of a giant fish.  Thus, the Lord sacrifices himself for us all and enters the “belly” of death for three days, then to depart from it in safety.  The scribes and Pharisees would only understand the sign after it had been accomplished, much as with the case of the sign given to Moses: “This you shall have for a sign that I have sent you: When you shall have brought my people out of Egypt, you shall offer sacrifice to God upon this mountain” (Exodus 3, 12). 

“At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it.”  This brings to mind the Lord’s warning to the cities where he had preached and healed: “Woe to you, Corozain! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the mighty works that have been wrought in you, they would have done penance long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes” (Luke 10, 13).  How will the Gentiles of Nineveh do this?  “Because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here.”  The fact that Jesus was greater than Jonah is attested by his miracles, st the very least.  Likewise, “At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here.”  The “Queen of the south” is the Queen of Sheba (the Horn of Africa or present day Yemen) who came to hear Solomon’s wisdom.  The Lord is greater than Solomon in that his wisdom is far superior to his, as is his power: “All power is given to me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28, 18).

As Christians we do not possess signs but Reality and we look forward to the fullest possession of that Reality in his kingdom.