The Sign of the Messiah

Luke 11: 29-30

“29 As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.”

Have you ever misread a sign and ended up in the wrong place?  All of us have at one time or another.  We look for the sign, we read the sign, but we misinterpret the sign.  Sometimes we don’t see the sign at all and we pass through the place we wanted to go.  We want signs, but we don’t always use them correctly.

People were always asking Jesus for a sign that he was the Messiah.  They could not see that the greatest sign that they could have ever received was Jesus himself; that Jesus himself was the sign.  The sign was among them, but they did not see the sign.

Jesus told them that the only sign they were going to see was the sign of Jonah.  Just as Jonah was rescued by God after three days inside a great fish, Jesus would be resurrected after three days in a tomb.  

The primary sign of Christ’s messiahship is his resurrection, and this sign leads us to our salvation.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)