The sign of Jonah is here
Have you ever wondered what it would be like inside an aquatic animal? Michael Packard, a Cape Cod lobster diver, knows firsthand, when he was diving off the coast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 2021:
“I got down to about 45 feet…and all of a sudden I just felt this huge bump, and everything went dark. And I could sense that I was moving, and I was like, ‘…did I just get bit by a shark?’ Then I felt around, and…there was no teeth, and I had felt, really, no great pain. And then I realised, ‘I’m in a whale’s mouth, and he’s trying to swallow me.’ I thought to myself, ‘OK, this is it. I’m going to die.’ And I thought about my kids and my wife. There was no getting out of there.” Packard said.
But after about 30 seconds the whale suddenly surfaced and spat him out. “I just got thrown in the air, and landed in the water and I was free and I just floated there. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe I got out of that. And I’m here to tell it.” Packard was pulled out of the water by a crewmate, rushed ashore, and taken to a nearby hospital. In the end, Packard said, he was “all bruised up,” but whole.[1]
When I read Packard’s story, I couldn’t but help make connections with the Prophet Jonah, who was swallowed by a great fish, and like Michael Packard, was confronted with his mortality inside a sea creature.
This Lenten season we’ll be journeying through the Book of Jonah in a series called “Jonah: running into grace—lessons from the depths for the 40 days of Lent.” They are lessons from the depths of fear, the depths of a storm, the depths of the sea, the depths of helplessness, the depths of entitlement, anger and despair…and the depths of God’s grace as Jonah runs into the plans of a loving God when all he wanted to do was run away.
As we engage with this story during Lent we are drawn to reflect on our own relationship with God. Jesus pointed to Jonah when he was challenged by the Pharisees who asked him for a sign. Jesus said: “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” What is Jesus’ talking about? Three significant things that take place in Matthew 12 prior to this point give important context.
The first is that Jesus and his disciples are walking through grainfields and his disciples pluck some
heads of grain to eat. The Pharisees, looking on, said: “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful.” It’s finger pointing par excellence—the Pharisees, who consider themselves righteous, watch on, casting judgement on the disciples for plucking grain, which constitutes work in their eyes. The Pharisees aren’t so concerned about the good and right life of keeping God’s law. Their heart glows with selfish pride and they are more concerned to display themselves as better, and therefore, deserving of God’s favour. They aim to justify themselves by their accusatory finger pointing of others. Jesus recalls words from Hosea: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
The second is Jesus’ visit to a synagogue where there is a man with a shrivelled hand. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, the Pharisees asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” Jesus responds that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” and heals the man, but the Pharisees left and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
The third is Jesus’ healing of a demon-possessed man who was unable to see and speak. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” But the Pharisees said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” (Matthew 14:22-24). That’s what they really thought of Jesus. Their words have revealed what is in their heart towards Jesus—and the Father who sent him. That’s what all the talk of fruit trees is about—you know if a tree has an unseen disease on the inside if the fruit it grows is no good.
The Pharisees and teachers of the law said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.’” And Jesus answered: “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Jesus couldn’t have picked two things that would have been more offensive to say to the Pharisees. They justified themselves as righteous; Jesus pronounces them evil. They asserted themselves as the moral ones; Jesus pronounces them adulterous, that is, they have broken covenant loyalty to God. They are religious on the outside, but their hearts are unfaithful to God. They don’t even know him, otherwise they would know who Jesus is as the fulfilment of the Old Testament scriptures.
They demand a sign. Hasn’t Jesus just shown them signs of his power and authority over all things, healing the man with the paralysed hand, freeing the demonised man? They put Jesus to the test, on the spot; they wanted him to verify his identity to them by some kind of super-duper spiritual revelation—then they will believe him. Except…they won’t, because they will continue to justify their unbelief, even as they had just done: “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” (Matthew 12:24).
The Pharisees don’t really want a sign to help them believe in Jesus—they have already made their minds up about Jesus. They are not children of the Father but a brood of vipers, opposed to Jesus in the same way Satan is. They don’t need a sign…they have God’s word. But they don’t want that either.
That’s the same point Jesus makes in the Parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). Lazarus lived with poverty and suffering, but when he died was welcomed into heaven. The rich man was wealthy and had all good things but then died and was in eternal torment. The rich man begs for Father Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his five brothers so they will not also come to this place of torment. But Abraham replies: ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ The rich man pleads that if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ But Abraham responds: ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’
The sign Jesus will give is the sign of Jonah: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” But the sign is not death. What happened to Jonah after he was in the belly of the fish for three days? He came out, alive! The sign will be Jesus’ resurrection. He is the greater Jonah, who was not expelled from the confines of a fish, but rose from the tomb of death. Jesus came out, alive. He is the resurrection and the life. “Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Timothy 1:10).
So the One greater than Jonah stands before them, in flesh and blood. Jesus is the One greater than Jonah and Solomon. The Queen of Sheba sought after King Solomon and came to test him, but ended up rejoicing at the wisdom God had given him and praised God for it (1 Kings 10). Jesus is saying he is greater than Solomon, filled with divine wisdom from heaven.
When the people of Nineveh heard Jonah, they repented and believed the message from God. When the Queen of Sheba heard Solomon, she repented and rejoiced in God.
Lent is a particular time for our repentance too. For we too, in our natural condition are like those in Scripture. Finger pointing is not a Pharisee thing. It’s a human nature thing, like 5-year-olds arguing in the playground: “They started it” or “He stole my toy so I stole his” somehow making their wrong right. A sense of entitlement is not a Pharisee thing, it’s a human nature thing. Efforts to appear righteous before God and others is not a Pharisee thing, it’s a human nature thing. Opposition to Jesus and making demands of him is not a Pharisee thing, it’s a human nature thing. Avoiding true Sabbath rest—by coming to Jesus and listening to him in the word—is not a Pharisee thing it’s a human nature thing. This is what Jesus has come to save the world from: a Pharisaical heart which we are all born in bondage to; a heart that beats with the “I’m better than others entitled to favour, deserving of blessing, ruler of my own life, demanding things go my own way” kind of self focus.
But, brothers and sisters, we have been born anew. That’s why for us, the sign of Jonah is so important—Lent does not end with Jesus’ burial, but with the light of Jesus’ resurrection in the power of the Holy Spirit. We too are people of the resurrection. Our bodies have also been raised with Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit in Baptism, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. We have the Spirit that contends against the evil deeds of the flesh, that we might daily drown the sinful nature in repentance, and that day after day a new self should arise to live with God in righteousness and purity forever.
The Good News is that the One greater than Jonah is here, for you, tonight. The One greater than Solomon is here, for you, tonight. That’s the basis for repentance—not out of fear to avert punishment, but because the Kingdom of God is here in the Person of Christ, waiting with grace from heaven to lift our heavy burdens from us. It is a heavy burden to have to carry guilt. It is fatiguing to continually try to conceal our shame. It is hard and futile work always self-justifying, trying to present righteously before God and others. It is back-breaking toil to continually seek to protect our pride and win the approval of others.
Jesus does not want us to deal with sin our way, because then it is not dealt with, and that’s not good for us. He wants us to give it to him so that it can be taken away. And so Lent is not about giving up chocolate, coffee, alcohol, red meat, screen time, but a time to focus on what in our hearts needs to be handed over in submission to Jesus.
Lent is a season in which to rend our hearts, not our garments, that we might receive grace and mercy in our need. Confession is not a good work from us, but prepares us to receive God’s good work for us in Christ. Luther wrote that confession consists of two parts. “The first is our work and act, when I lament my sin and desire comfort and restoration for my soul. The second is a work that God does, when He absolves me of my sins through the word placed on the lips of another person. This is the surpassingly grand and noble thing that makes confession so wonderful and comforting.” (Large Catechism)
Like Michael Packard, and Jonah, who were both confronted with their mortality inside a marine animal, God’s word confronts us with our mortality and therefore our complete dependence on him. We confess God’s judgment on humanity is true by receiving the mark of the ashes on our forehead; a personal reminder and visible witness that we are frail and sinful people; dust (or ashes) we are, to dust we shall return. This is actually liberating, because it points us to again recognise that there is nothing within ourselves that can avert God’s judgement…so we look to outside help…the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. That’s why the ashes are applied in the shape of the Cross.
The mark of the Cross declares to you that you have been redeemed not by works or might, but by Christ crucified, to be God’s very own, reconciled to him by Jesus’ precious blood, ransomed from hell and death by his death. But the sign of Jonah did not end with death. The Cross and the Tomb are not the end. Jesus rose again, to be the risen, living Lord. That is why the One greater than Jonah is here, for you, tonight. So return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity (Joel 2:13). Thanks be to God! Amen.
[1]https://www.9news.com.au/world/cape-cod-lobster-diver-eaten-by-whale-and-spat-out/e8779c7f-9613-412f-8b92-cddba4f41797?ocid=Social-9NewsA last accessed Feb 18 2026 5:13pm
Pastor Tim Ebbs
St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Glenelg
Ash Wednesday, 2026
