As the crowd pressed in on Jesus, He said, “This evil generation keeps asking Me to show them a miraculous sign. But the only sign I will give them is the sign of Jonah. What happened to him was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him. What happens to the Son of Man will be a sign to these people that He was sent by God. The queen of Sheba will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen. The people of Nineveh will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent.
Luke 11:29-32
- Is this something that happened, and Luke has added it to the other events he described here, but without connection?
- Has he simply gathered a bunch of unrelated things, and put them together without purpose?
- Or is there something behind all of this, which connects it together?
Remember what Luke did with the “prayer” and “bread” segments. Luke’s arrangements tend to have purpose behind them, by virtue of the fact he is writing “an ordered account” for you, Lover of God.
So does what is recorded here connect to something else, or is it just one of a series of unrelated things? I will leave you to test that out for yourself.
Here are some other questions to bear in mind as you look at this passage:
- Who does Jesus call an evil generation and why?
- What is wrong with asking for a sign?
- What is meant by the sign of Jonah?
- How is the sign of Jonah, a sign related to the Son of Man?
- Who is the Son of Man?
- Why is the Queen of Sheba used as an example against this “evil generation”?
Notice the repetition used!
Now that’s enough for today. All questions and no answers. Some won’t be happy about that. But sometimes our Bible study turns up more questions than answers. A bit like life really.
You can learn from ANYONE if you ask wise questions.
“Good advice lies deep within a person’s heart & the wise draw it out”
Proverbs 20:5
Life is less a matter of getting the right answers and more a matter of asking the right questions.
Anon
Being a Christian is not cutting yourself off from real life, it is entering into it more fully. It is a journey into the heart of how things really are.
Rob Bell
The purpose in life is not to find yourself. It’s to lose yourself.
Dave Brooks
Don’t twitter away your life! Go find the answer to some of Life’s questions.
Ian Vail