Matthew 12:39

Matthew 12:39, in plain English

Jesus calls them a wicked and faithless generation for demanding signs. The only sign they will get is the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Why it's here

Jesus refuses to be a miracle-performing entertainer. He points to something far more significant than a spectacular show: His own coming death and resurrection.

Who's speaking

Jesus responds to the demand for a sign.

Where it sits in the story

Jesus will not audition for skeptics. He offers one sign -- the greatest one of all -- foreshadowed by Jonah's three days in the fish. It points to His own resurrection.

The scholarly reading

Jesus characterizes the generation as 'wicked and adulterous' (genea ponera kai moichalis) for demanding signs, and offers only the 'sign of the prophet Jonah' (semeion Iona tou prophetou) -- a veiled reference to His death and resurrection.

Language and setting

The term 'adulterous' (moichalis) draws on Old Testament imagery of Israel's spiritual unfaithfulness to God (cf. Hosea 1-3). The sign of Jonah is the only sign Jesus offers, pointing to the ultimate vindication of His ministry.

Voice

Jesus responds to the sign-seekers.

Significance

Jesus refuses to perform on demand, labeling the sign-seekers as spiritually adulterous and pointing instead to the one sign that will truly matter: His own death and resurrection, foreshadowed by Jonah.

37For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

38Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

39Jesus replied, “A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

41The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.

Read all of Matthew 12 — Grain fields on a Saturday spark a furious confrontation. Jesus claims an authority that makes the Pharisees begin plotting his death.