The Sign of Jonah
- The corrupted influence of the Pharisees is yet again on display
- They have heard of Jesus’ Signs and Miracles
- Seen some for themselves
- Have heard his teachings
- And found no fault in them
- His teachings heighten the meaning of holiness
- He demands everyone to have a close and personal relationship with God
- And calls God Abba.
- Yet they want a personalised sign so that they may believe, they say
- Here we can safely apply the responses of Mary and Zechariah to the Angel Gabriel’s message to them
- One was encouraged,
- The other made mute
- This was so because
- One believed and trusted, and wanted to understand the process
- The other disbelieved because he limited God to what God could do and not do
- How can He and his wife old and baren bear children he thought
- The Pharisees are asking for a sign
- Possibly to trap him
- Or just satisfy their curiosity
- But Christ discourages this attitude of theirs
- He asks them to raise the bar of their faith
- The only sign they would have
- Will be his Death and Resurrection
- Something which prefigured in Jonah
- And they who claimed to know scripture
- And understand it
- Will now have to see and believe.
