Jonah 1:17
17 Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Matthew 12:38-41
38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.
God acts! God uses storms, sailors and a fish to save Jonah in order to save Nineveh. God does not give up on his reluctant servant. Through his servant’s salvation, God has the salvation of many people in mind.
While visiting the catacombs in Rome, I was struck by the symbol of Jonah and the fish on Christians’ graves. Do you recall Jesus’ reference to Jonah’s three days in the belly of the fish? When asked by the Pharisees and teachers of the law for a sign as to his own significance, Jesus answered, A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:39-40)
In Jesus’ understanding, Jonah is a sign pointing to Jesus’ resurrection.
If God is God, then resurrection life is real. In the words of Martin Luther, Let God be God. Enormous historical evidence points to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and this in turn points to God. Belief in God who is the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land (Jonah 1:9) leads to resurrection faith.
God of Life, in the power of your Holy Spirit may my life be a sign to all around me of Jesus’ resurrection life. Amen.
