Matthew 12:38-42 and Luke 11:29-32
“Notice what you notice.” Asking for a sign… There is one major difference between Matthew and Luke with respect to Jonah. Both writers focus on the repentance of the men of Nineveh. However, Matthew also added the three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish (v. 40). It’s surprising that Luke would have left that out, given that it was Jesus’ prophetic insight into His own resurrection. Which brings me to wonder, how much did Jesus, in His humanity, truly understand about his death and resurrection? Clearly in this Matthew passage He knows something about His resurrection. Later in Matthew 16:21 Jesus again foretells his death and resurrection to His disciples (repeated in Mark and Luke). But in detail, how much did He know? And did His knowledge of His future resurrection affect His going to the cross? Could He endure the cross better knowing that the cross was not the end for Him? Does our own “resurrection from the dead” – into Jesus’ presence when we die – affect how we live our lives today? …or how we share with those around us? Interesting.
There is something else futuristic in these passages that I had not seen before. Matthew and Luke both write that the “men of Nineveh” (~750 BC) and the “queen of Sheba” (~950 BC) …will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it (Mt. 12:41-42; Lk. 11:31-32). Jesus here is speaking of the Last Judgment, but He makes it clear that this Judgment will be universal in both space and time. I fear for what Jesus would have to say today about our own evil and adulterous generation (Mt. 12:39), which will also participate in the Last Judgment.
Slava Bohu!