The Sign Of Jonah
THE SIGN OF JONAH
LUKE 11:24-32
We see here Christ’s astonishing claims. He is “greater than Solomon … greater than Jonah.” What sort of man is this?
Verses 24-28. The brevity of the narrative sometimes blurs the connection of thought, but consideration will sometimes recover it. The drift of the controversy, with determined wickedness obstinately set on rejecting Christ, suggested the possibility of neutrality. What of the man who is cleansed of the evil in his life, but does not fill the vacuum with Christ? Old sin will reassert itself, the defeated invaders of the soul will sweep back in force. The psychologists sometimes condemn the practice of repression, predicting a more damaging outbreak for evil pressed down and forcibly restrained. Chnstianity advocates no such half-measures. Most evil in the human personality is misdirected good. Beneficent impulses, desires, emotions, are bent and distorted by self-seeking and godless abuse into tyrannous and harmful things. Christianity advocates sublimation, the lifting and restoring of the damaged personality, the restoration of its sanctioned functioning. Christ, and all Christ means, takes control, and fills and purifies.
11:29-32. Two historic instances illustrate the point made in the previous discussion of faith. The choice is often determined by the moral attitude of the person. Men set on evil asked in vain to be convinced. “The sign of the prophet Jonah” was manifest in Nineveh of all places, the stronghold of the grim Assyrians. Sheba’s queen, likewise, the daughter of an alien civilization, came with open mind, seeking for conviction. She found it.
Note, in the same connection, Christ’s astonishing claims. He is “greater than Solomon … greater than Jonah.” What sort of man was this who could claim such eminence and yet leave, as he did undoubtedly leave, the impression of meekness, and an authority which daunted and silenced all opposition?
Notes 11:24-26 had a particular application to the Jews, who had known the blessings of the Old Covenant and were now being called upon to accept the Messiah, following John the Baptist. The next half century provided grim fulfillment of 11:23 and 26. 11:29: Gk. “were gathering thickly.” 11:30: the reference to Jonah is filled out in Matthew 12:40, which also relates to the hint contained in the future tense here. 11:31: “something greater than Solomon”—the Greek pronoun is neuter, NEB translates, “what is here is greater than ….” Jesus is the Prophet and the King.