Luke 11:29-32 | Antonius Wierix | Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites

Luke 11:29-32   Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites

Jonah cast on shore by the Whale, Engraving by Antonius Wierix (1555-1604), after Maarten de Vos (1532–1603), published by Gerard de Jode (1516/17–1591) in “Thesaurus Sacrarum Historiarum veteris testamenti' Printed in 1585 © Christian Art Today The crowds got even bigger, and Jesus addressed them: ‘This is a wicked generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. On Judgement day the Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here. On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.’   READ MORE     Reflection on the Copper Plate Engraving What exactly is the sign of Jonah which Luke describes in his reading today? Well, Jonah (whose name in Hebrew means 'dove, bringer of peace') had gone to the Ninevites with this message: Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed (Jonah 3:3). In response, led by their king, the Ninevites repented, fasted, and prayed. Upon seeing these actions and sacrifices, God did not destroy them. So to put it harshly, the sign of Jonah is the message: 'repent or die’. Just as the Ninevites listened to Jonah’s warning, and put their faith in what he said, and thus were spared, so were the people who lived during Jesus’ time asked to put their faith in Christ and in His warning to repent and believe the Good News. If they did not, great disaster would follow. One of the temptations we have when reading such passages in Scripture, is to tell ourselves ‘Ah yes, those words were relevant 2,000 years ago, but not so now. We have moved on and are wiser now’. And yet, those rather harsh words of today’s reading are as relevant for our times as back then.  So for each of us, interpreting the sign of Jonah calls for a special discernment where we try to be aware of God’s presence. Out of that awareness Jesus is not calling us in today’s reading to be able to predict the future, or make accurate forecasts; but what He is calling us to do is to develop wisdom so we can take appropriate measures in light of any social, political or even religious realities around us. To experience the full mystery of God, we should not only focus on our own interior lives, but have an awareness of what is going on politically and socially around us, and to live out our Christian lives there, thus influencing the world around us…In our engraving, we see Jonah climbing out of the whale, with the town of Nineveh in the background. by Patrick van der Vorst