English
They said to him, ‘Tell us who you are, so that we may believe in you.’
He said to them, ‘You examine the appearance of the sky and the earth, but you do not know the one who is in front of you, nor do you know this time and examine it.’
Interpretation
Jesus laments that people are unable to recognize his importance, as well as the imminence of the eschaton. In Mark, when Jesus’ opponents demand evidence to legitimate his authority, he refuses. Matthew and Luke change Jesus’ response so that he will provide evidence, which he calls the ‘sign of Jonah’. As Luke’s version (and a cursory read of the Book of Jonah) makes clear, this ‘sign’ was Jonah’s journey to the city of Nineveh; his arrival signified that God was about to destroy the city. When Jonah warned the city’s residents, they repented of their sins, which averted the disaster. The ‘sign of Jonah’ which Jesus refers to is not a future event; it is already on display because he is already prophesying about the impending judgment of the eschaton. However, Matthew, as he sometimes does, gives the saying twice. Instead of an allusion to Jonah’s arrival in Nineveh, the first instance of the saying reinterprets it as Jonah being devoured by a giant fish, which foreshadows Jesus being buried ‘for three days and three nights in the heart of the earth’. Saying 91 comes from the older edition of Thomas, but the question asked of Jesus may be a later edition, following the format of other dialogue passages.
Parallels
Mark
8.11–12 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, ‘Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.’
Matthew
12.38–42 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, ‘Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.’ But he answered them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the stomach of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the son of man will be in the heart of the earth. The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here! The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here!’
16.1–4 The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test Jesus they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, ‘When it is evening, you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.” And in the morning, “It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.” You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.’ Then he left them and went away.
Luke
11.16, 29–32 Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. […] When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, ‘This generation is an evil generation. It asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the son of man will be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!’