Christ rebukes those who ask for a sign

St Matthew Chapter XII : Verses 38-45

Contents

• Matt. xii. 38-45  Douay-Rheims text & Latin text (Vulgate).
• Notes on the text
• Additional Notes: Sins against the Holy Spirit.

Jesus casts out a devil. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

Matt. xii. 38-45

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying: Master we would see a sign from thee.

Tunc responderunt ei quidam de scribis et pharisæis, dicentes : Magister, volumus a te signum videre.

39 Who answering said to them: An evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign: and a sign shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.

Qui respondens ait illis : Generatio mala et adultera signum quærit : et signum non dabitur ei, nisi signum Jonæ prophetæ.

40 For as Jonas was in the whale's belly three days and three nights: so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

Sicut enim fuit Jonas in ventre ceti tribus diebus, et tribus noctibus, sic erit Filius hominis in corde terræ tribus diebus et tribus noctibus.

41 The men of Ninive shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas. And behold a greater than Jonas here.

Viri Ninivitæ surgent in judicio cum generatione ista, et condemnabunt eam : quia pœnitentiam egerunt in prædicatione Jonæ. Et ecce plus quam Jonas hic.

42 The queen of the south shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon here.

Regina austri surget in judicio cum generatione ista, et condemnabit eam : quia venit a finibus terræ audire sapientiam Salomonis, et ecce plus quam Salomon hic.

43 And when an unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none.

Cum autem immundus spiritus exierit ab homine, ambulat per loca arida, quærens requiem, et non invenit.

44 Then he saith: I will return into my house from whence I came out. And coming he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.

Tunc dicit : Revertar in domum meam, unde exivi. Et veniens invenit eam vacantem, scopis mundatam, et ornatam.

45 Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is made worse than the first. So shall it be also to this wicked generation.

Tunc vadit, et assumit septem alios spiritus secum nequiores se, et intrantes habitant ibi : et fiunt novissima hominis illius pejora prioribus. Sic erit et generationi huic pessimæ.

Notes

Note. — The parallel passage to this paragraph found in St Luke xi. 29-32 agrees very closely, with three exceptions : —

1. There is no explicit reference to Jonas having been swallowed by the whale, but only to his preaching.

2. The order is inverted, and the “ queen of the south ” is mentioned before the “ Ninivites.”

3. The parallel passages to verses 43-45 are placed by St Luke (xi, 24-26) before the second request for a sign.

    38. some of the scribes. From St Luke we gather that these were not those who had accused Christ of blasphemy. Cf. But some of them said : He casteth out devils by Beelzebub the ‘prince of devils. And others tempting, asked of him a sign from heaven (xi. 15, 16).

    Master, we would see a sign, etc. The scribes now renew their question (see St Luke xi. 16). This was a repetition of the temptation in the desert, when the devil endeavoured to persuade Christ to work a miracle to please him. With some who asked for a sign, the motive may have been merely curiosity.

    39. An evil and adulterous generation. Christ addressed these words to the multitudes running together (St Luke) in hopes of seeing some miraculous manifestation of His power in the heavens. The relation between the Jewish nation and Jehovah was often spoken of by the prophets as that of a wife to her husband. The nation was adulterous, i.e. unfaithful to God, because they refused to accept the testimony of the many miracles of Christ as a proof that He was the Messias, and asked for a special sign.

    a sign shall not be given. Christ’s miracles fulfilled the predictions of the prophets. To these, Jesus had referred the disciples of St John the Baptist when they came to Him asking : Art thou he that art to come ? (St Matt. xi. 3).

    the sign of Jonas the prophet. Jonas was a sign in two ways : —

    1. by his preaching.

    2. by his miraculous escape.

    The prophet Jonas was sent to the heathen city of Ninive, the capital of the Assyrian empire, in order to warn the inhabitants that, unless they repented, their city should be destroyed. The prophet, fearing that his message would not be believed, took ship to Tharsis. As a punishment for his disobedience a great storm arose, and the sailors, believing Jonas to have brought this evil upon them, cast him overboard. Jonas was then swallowed by “a large fish,” and after three days he was cast safely on “the dry land.” The disobedient prophet then went and preached to the Ninivites, who repented in sackcloth and ashes, so that God spared their city (see Jonas ii. and iii.).

    40. so shall the Son of man, etc. Jesus here promises a sign, not from heaven, hut from the heart of the earth. By coming forth alive from the tomb after three days, Jesus would prove His Divinity.

    In the words heart of the earth, some of the Fathers see a reference to Hades or Limbo. Jonas, cast out by the whale, went to preach to a Gentile nation ; Jesus, when He arose from the grave, sent His apostles to convert the world. The numbers of Jews and Gentiles converted after His death and Resurrection, shew that the promised “ sign ” was at last accepted as a proof of His divine mission (see Acts ii. 41, iv. 4, vi. 1, 7, xvi. 5, etc.).

    41. The men of Ninive. There is a triple contrast in these verses between—

    (a) the queen of Saba : — the unbelieving Jews.

    (b) an inhabitant of the ends of the earth ; — the inhabitants of Palestine.

    (c) Solomon : — the Son of man.

    shall rise in judgment. Either to bear witness against or to accuse Israel. Jesus holds up Gentiles here as examples to the Jews, as He had done on other occasions, e.g. —

    (а) In the synagogue at Nazareth (St Luke iv.), when he referred to the widow of Sarephta and to Naaman the Syrian.

    (b) When He said. It shall he more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, etc.

    (c) In the parable of the good Samaritan.

    they did penance. Yet Jonas only preached. He worked no miracles.

    42. the queen of the south. A reference to the queen of Saba. The queen of Saba having heard of the fame of Solomon in the name of the Lord, came to try him with hard questions (3 Kings x. 1). Solomon answered all her questions, and the queen confessed that his wisdom and works exceeded even his reputation for learning and greatness.

    Saba is a province of Arabia Felix, the modern Yemen, south-east of Palestine. Josephus states that she was a queen of Ethiopia, and that she was “ named after Saba, a town of Meral, an island in the Nile, whose queens were afterwards called Candace, The kings of Abyssinia count her among their ancestors.”

    from the ends of the earth, — i.e. from a great distance: — from the southern limit of the known world. Cf. I will give thee . ... the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession (Ps. ii. 8).

    greater than Solomon. Note the following words of Christ : —

    (a) there is here a greater than the temple.

    (b) behold a greater than Jonas here.

    (c) behold a greater than Solomon here.

    Solomon represented the manifestation of divine wisdom in the Old Testament, Jonas the divine power. In Jesus these two attributes are united and manifested with a plenitude hitherto unknown. If, therefore, Jesus Christ is greater than either Solomon or Jonas, how great is the sin of Israel, who refuses to hear and believe Him, when even pagans have listened to and obeyed the voice of God, though He revealed Himself to them so imperfectly. .

    43. is gone out of a man. This is a lesson to the Jews as a nation. They had given way to idolatry, and as a punishment were exiled to Babylon. On their repentance, God restored them to His favour, and now they were rejecting the Messias, and preparing for themselves a greater judgment. The parable also applies to the individual soul that relapses into sin.

    dry places. The deserts were believed to be the abode of evil spirits.

    44. swept. Void of God’s grace, an abode well-pleasing to the devil.

    “The meaning is, that he finds it no longer filled with the Holy Ghost and sanctifying grace, though it is still ‘swept,’ or free from grosser crimes, and ‘garnished,’ or ornamented with the gifts which remain even after relapse into sin.”

    According to Maldonatus, these gifts are —

    (a) the experience of God’s mercy. 

    (b) the memory of the pleasure felt in the divine service.

    (c) an intimate knowledge of the mysteries of religion.

    (d) a very deep sense of the malice of sin.

    At all this the devil rejoices, because, although intended for man’s good, these gifts, when disregarded, will serve to bring about the relapsing sinner’s greater condemnation (Ryan, vol. i. pp. 275-6).

    45. seven. The number “seven” is used for “many.” He brings other spirits to help in the work of destruction and to inhabit the soul permanently. St Mary Magdalene had been possessed by seven devils. St Luke omits the primary application of the parable : So shall it he also to this wicked generation (St Matt.). The demon of idolatry had been exorcised, but he had returned as “ the worship of the letter,” and with it, the demons of covetousness, hypocrisy, spiritual pride, uncharitableness, faithlessness, formalism, and fanaticism.”

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.