Matthew 12:38-42 in a tercet
Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
©️2021 Gloria M. Chang
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” He said to them in reply, “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here. At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here.
Matthew 12:38-42
Three Days, One Truth
Whether cast as history or parable, the tale of Jonah ripples with truth: a reluctant prophet, swallowed by a fish, emerges after three days to preach repentance to a wayward city. Against the backdrop of tradition, Jesus rises, pointing to Jonah as a sign of his own death and resurrection—a profound deliverance, a greater call to turn toward God. The story, fact or symbol, unveils divine mercy that seeks even the farthest heart, echoing through time to challenge us all.
Jonah curled up in the whale,
Jesus shrouded in earth’s veil—
That’s a sign and no tall tale!
Traditional Chinese Translation
《約拿和耶穌》
約拿蜷縮在鯨魚中，
耶穌纏裹在地裡的紗布中——
這是一個異象（標誌），並非什麼荒誕的故事！
Love your trinity of tulips. As Jonah was in the belly of the whale….so Christ was 3 days in the tomb. Yet Christ was not swallowed up by earth because unlike Jonah, he accepted his mission to “Go and preach” the Gospel. A bit of difference there?
Desperate sailors reluctantly throw Jonah overboard
to calm the storm raging around them, leading to the immediate cessation of the tempest. The sailors acknowledge the power and authority of the one true God.
In the minds of sea-faring men, having disobedient Jonah on ship was a bad omen. In film production of Outlander, the 18th century ship is caught in the doldrums where there is no wind. The ship stands still, goes nowhere. Talk of a “Jonah” on board circulates. They accuse one sailor of neglecting to touch the lucky horseshoe before the ship sailed. Quite a tense scene. An example of how Biblical events influence life a long time afterwards.
Jonah and Jesus are culture makers,
Cosmic shakers and illusion breakers.