12:38–42 A while later, some scribes and Pharisees and teachers “answered” recent events by asking Jesus, whom they respectfully call “teacher,” to perform a miraculous sign for them (v. 38). The request seems absurd, hypocritical, or manipulative, since Jesus has just healed a man with a withered hand and a man blind and mute due to demonic activity. The reader wonders if Jesus’ foes will accept anything as a sign that might move them to believe. Parallel passages in Mark 8:11 and Luke 11:16 relay that the petitioners are testing him, and in a similar event at Matthew 16:1, Pharisees and Sadducees seek a “sign from heaven.” This probably means they desire a sign so dramatic that it would compel the conclusion that God himself had given it (see below). But the report that they are testing Jesus reminds readers of 4:6, where Satan tempted Jesus to perform miracles as spectacles that would compel belief.

Jesus refuses, explaining, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign” (12:39a). This labels the scribes and Pharisees as a whole, calling them spiritually unfaithful. Signs are merciful gifts; Jesus never performs one on command (cf. Introduction: Preaching from Matthew: Interpreting Miracles). When Israel demanded water from Moses, he said that they were quarreling with God and testing him (Ex. 17:2, 7).

Jesus continues, “No sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah” (Matt. 12:39b). The syntax allows “sign of Jonah” to mean one of two things. It could be a sign that Jonah gave (a genitive of source) or a sign that is Jonah himself (an epexegetical genitive). The book of Jonah makes the sense clear. Jonah gave no signs, worked no miracles, in Nineveh. He simply preached impending judgment. In the narrative, Jonah is himself the sign. He is a sign because he lived three days and three nights in the belly of a sea monster (or “great fish,” Gk. kētos; v. 40) and emerged alive in Nineveh. He gained a hearing in that godless place, and so proved he was God’s messenger.

Like Jonah but greater, the resurrected Jesus is and ever shall be a sign. When Jesus emerges alive after “three days and three nights” in the earth, his presence signifies that he is God’s Son (v. 40). He offers himself to the scribes and Pharisees, but he is not the sign they seek. It is a cryptic sign, essentially invisible to them, for they want indisputable proof, at their word, that Jesus’ works come from God himself. But as long as they refuse the testimony of the Spirit, as long as they close their eyes, they will never see a sufficient sign (vv. 31–32; 13:13).

Therefore, as Tyre and Sodom will judge Galilee for their failure to respond to Jesus (11:21–24), so will the men of Nineveh judge Israel’s leaders for the same thing. For Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, but the scribes and Pharisees see miracles and hear preaching, yet will not repent (12:41). From one angle, the “queen of the South,” the queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:1–10), is the reverse of Nineveh: the Ninevites received Jonah, but she pursued Solomon on a long, arduous journey. She went to hear a man with great wisdom, but Jesus has greater wisdom, yet Israel’s leaders spurn him.

Why do the teachers and Pharisees resist Jesus and his miracles? What more could they want? The best answer is that nothing will satisfy them. They are envious of Jesus’ popularity and power and think he might supplant them (Matt. 27:18; John 11:47–48). There are softer explanations of their torpor. Perhaps they seek a sign with no human recipient, since humans can be manipulated. Or perhaps they believe Jesus fits the criteria for one who beguiles the people, per Deuteronomy 13.201 In fact, no one specifically accuses Jesus of leading the people to worship other gods, but the Jews defined the offense broadly in Jesus’ era. Anyone who led individuals or communities away from God could be a mesith, a deluder of the people. If Jesus was a sinner due to his disregard for the law (cf. comment on Matt. 12:22–30), then his words and deeds led the people astray. As D. Neale points out, the treatment Jesus receives in the Gospels fits roughly (not perfectly) with what law and tradition said a mesith should receive. Jewish leaders repeatedly try to entrap Jesus in his word, which the Mishnah permits in the case of a mesith (Sanhedrin 7:10). The absence of precautions to protect the innocent at Jesus’ trial is similar, for a mesith was to be treated without pity. Finally, the language Jesus uses in Matthew 10:19–21 to describe the persecution of his disciples sounds similar to the mesith passage, Deuteronomy 13:6, 9. Even if this were in the minds of the scribes and Pharisees, however, it would not exonerate them.

12:43–45 The last paragraph returns to earlier themes: Nothing but the power of Christ can drive out evil spirits (v. 28). When he is at work, neutrality is impossible (v. 30).202 The paragraph is best seen as a short parable that imagines an unclean or evil spirit voluntarily leaving a man. Suppose a spirit leaves, or if a spirit leaves a man, for whatever reason, what happens next? It goes to “waterless places”—the desert, a fitting place for demons (Tob. 8:3; Matt. 4:1). It finds no rest, since it can wreak no havoc in uninhabited places.203 Meanwhile, the original host sits like an empty house. Nothing has taken the place of the demon, so it sits unoccupied, prepared for a new resident. The original demon, seeing an easy and attractive target, recruits a full complement of seven additional demons, all more evil than itself, and they take up residence there.204 So the man’s plight is worse than ever, because he failed to receive a new master. But if Jesus had entered and the home’s proper king exercised his sovereign reign there, Jesus implies, he would have prevented this final tragic state (Gk. ta eschata). The passage warns everyone, but especially the crowds, that halfhearted reform and faith will never suffice. If partial reform drives out a demon, the house must not “stand empty. A new master must take up residence,” and a new light must shine there. Then he will be free.205

The last line, “So also will it be with this evil generation,” returns to Matthew 12:39 and shows that Jesus is warning the scribes and Pharisees. They resemble a house occupied by seven wicked spirits. This is why they do Satan’s work. Like Satan, they tempt Jesus to perform spectacular signs and avoid the cross (4:5–6; 12:38; 16:1). Like Satan, they plot to kill Jesus (12:14; 21:45–46; 23:32–35). They are “full of greed and wickedness”; it controls them (Luke 11:39), and they are sons of hell (Matt. 23:15).