As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness. If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.” (11:29–36)

Throughout His ministry the Lord Jesus Christ faced hostility and opposition, primarily from the Jewish religious sect leaders; the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. The Sadducees especially were outraged when, at the outset of His public ministry, Jesus attacked the temple by halting and dismantling their corrupt business operation (John 2:13–22). He would do the same thing again at the close of His life (Luke 19:45–48), so that the two attacks bracket His public ministry. But there were far more private and positive acts by Jesus for which they hated Him. For example, when the Lord forgave the sins of a paralyzed man, they accused Him of blasphemy (Luke 5:21). When He mingled with the dregs of Jewish society at a banquet, they were shocked (Luke 5:29–32). After Jesus healed a sick man on the Sabbath, they sought to kill Him (John 5:18). When He defended His disciples’ breaking of their man-made Sabbath regulations by declaring Himself to be Lord of the Sabbath, they were furious (Luke 6:5). Yet another violation of their Sabbath restrictions, Christ’s healing of a man with a crippled hand, further incensed them (Luke 6:6–11). The scribes and Pharisees also confronted Jesus when His disciples violated the frivolous rabbinic traditions by failing to observe the ritual washings before eating a meal (Matt. 15:1–2; cf. Luke 11:37–38). The Lord’s powerful teaching in the temple, exposing their apostate theology, prompted the desperate authorities to try unsuccessfully to arrest Him (John 7:28–49), and then to accuse Him of lying about Himself (John 8:13). They contemptuously called Him a demon-possessed Samaritan (John 8:48, 52), and then attempted to stone Him when He asserted His deity (John 8:58–59; cf. 10:30–33). The Jewish leaders hated Jesus most of all because He exposed their true condition, revealing them to be hypocrites, displeasing to God, damaging to the people who followed them, and headed for eternal judgment.

Their hostility toward Jesus reached its apex early in His ministry when they decided to murder Him. That commitment ascended in fervor after He raised Lazarus from the dead, as demonstrated when

The apostate religious leaders had long been mounting their case. In Galilee they had accused Him of doing His miracles through the power of Satan (Matt. 12:24). Several months later in Judea they repeated that false and blasphemous claim (see the exposition of 11:14–16 in chapter 6 of this volume). In response, Jesus’ words to the leaders became largely judgmental toward them and all who followed their lead (see for example vv. 29, 42–52; 12:1, 13–15, 49, 58–59; 13:1–9, 15, 24–25, 34–35), though interspersed with offers of grace, mercy, and salvation to repentant sinners.

This passage is a fitting conclusion to Jesus’ conversation with the scribes and Pharisees that began in verse 15. Implicit in their demand that He perform a sign (v. 16) was the allegation that Jesus had not given them enough evidence. Perversely, they placed the blame for their sin-induced spiritual darkness on Him, arguing that He had not given them enough light to see the truth. Supposedly, the sign they demanded would give them the proof they needed that Jesus was from God instead of Satan.

But the issue was not lack of light but lack of sight. The light was everywhere. It shone brilliantly in the unmatched miracles Jesus performed (John 15:24; cf. 5:36; 10:25, 38; 14:11) and the unparalleled teaching He gave (cf. Matt. 7:28; John 7:46). Nothing more profoundly reveals the wickedness of those who rejected Him than the reality that the light was everywhere, yet they refused to see it.

In this passage the Lord pronounced judgment on the willfully blind who rejected the Light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5). These verses reveal the reality of judgment, and the reason for judgment.

THE REALITY OF JUDGMENT

As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. (11:29–32)

The Lord brought home the reality of judgment by making a final statement, giving a final sign, and declaring a final sentence.

THE FINAL STATEMENT

As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, (11:29a)

Luke notes that Jesus made this statement as the crowds were increasing (cf. 12:1). The phrase He began to say indicates that this was something that He repeatedly said (cf. Matt. 12:34, 39; 16:4; Mark 8:38). The more people that collected around Him the more apparent it became that that generation was a wicked one. The use of genea (generation) indicates that Jesus was referring to the majority of people in Israel at that time; what was true of the Galileans (cf. 9:41) was also true of the Judeans.

That Jesus characterized the people of Israel as wicked is shocking. After all, He was not speaking of idol-worshiping pagans, or godless lawbreakers. The generation He referred to was, by normal human standards, extremely moral, religious, and God-conscious. The Jewish people were fanatically devoted to keeping the law of God and observing their religious traditions, as Paul’s life before his conversion illustrates (cf. Acts 22:3; Gal. 1:14). But though they outwardly appeared to be righteous, inwardly they were filled with wickedness (11:39; Matt. 23:25–28). In that state, they were in more danger than those who were openly immoral. Devoutly religious people, confident that their self-righteousness has earned them favor with God, are self-satisfied. The gospel message that people are wretched sinners (Eph. 2:1), in whom is nothing good (Rom. 3:10–18; 7:18), who are utterly unable to please God (Rom. 8:8), and are spiritually poor, blind, oppressed captives of sin (Luke 4:18) shocks and outrages them, and they vehemently reject it (vv. 28–30). The gospel also teaches that salvation comes only to those who humble themselves, acknowledge their spiritual poverty, mourn over their sin, while hungering and thirsting (Matt. 5:3–6) for the divine righteousness that comes only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:22; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9), and those who reject that truth cannot be saved. The sobering reality is that those who rely on their self-righteousness, external morality, legalism, and religious rituals merely make comfortable homes for demons (see the exposition of Luke 11:24–28 in chapter 7 of this volume).

Throughout our Lord’s ministry, it was the moral, self-righteous, religious people who resisted and hated Him. When, as noted above, He described the synagogue crowd in His hometown of Nazareth as spiritually impoverished, blind, and oppressed (Luke 4:18), they were so outraged that they tried to kill Him (vv. 28–30). After his call to salvation and apostleship, Levi (Matthew) gave a reception at his house in Jesus’ honor (Luke 5:27–29). He invited his friends who, like the tax collector he had been, were the despised outcasts of Jewish society. Appalled that the Lord would associate with such riffraff, “the Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?’” (v. 30). Overhearing them, “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance’” (vv. 31–32). Like all self-righteous people, the religious leaders did not see themselves as sinners and therefore cut themselves off from salvation; there was no point in calling them to repentance, since they did not believe they had anything for which to repent. Both the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18–27) and the prodigal son’s older brother (Luke 15:25–30) illustrate the truth that religion, morality, and legalism deceive people into thinking that they are rightly related to God and worthy of His favor. But the truth is that God does not accept superficial self-righteousness, like that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 5:20); only those to whom God imputes righteousness through faith (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:5) will enter His kingdom.

Amazingly, the reason Jesus gave for calling that generation wicked was not any of its thoughts and outward vile behaviors that He could have named, but because it looked for a sign. At first glance there does not seem to be anything wrong with that request, certainly not enough to qualify those making it as wicked and deserving of divine judgment. But as noted above, by demanding a sign they were claiming that Jesus was to blame for their rejection of Him because He supposedly had not given them enough evidence. That, in their minds, justified their conclusion that He was a servant of Satan, not of God.

There have been various suggestions as to what type of sign they were seeking in addition to the countless miracles Jesus had already performed over the course of His ministry. Some speculate that they expected Him to move stars, or rearrange the constellations; others that they wanted Him to move a tree, or reverse the flow of water in a stream, or fly up into the air and spin around. The truth is that they had no particular sign in mind; they were merely taunting Him (cf. 11:16). They were in essence daring the Lord to do something that would change their minds about Him.

The issue was not lack of evidence, but self-righteous moralism. That wicked generation hated Jesus’ diagnosis of their sinful hearts, and no amount of evidence would convince them to accept Him if He did not change His diagnosis—not even His resurrection (cf. Matt. 28:11–15). But their knowledge of Jesus’ miracles—the reality of which they never denied—rendered them profoundly guilty of rejecting inarguable evidence and hating both Him and God His Father (John 15:24), since no one can love the Father while hating His Son (v. 23). That firsthand knowledge, which other generations were not privileged to see, also marked that Jewish generation as singularly wicked for rejecting Jesus. The greater light they received brought with it greater potential for judgment (cf. 10:13–15; Heb. 10:26–31).

In spite of their protests, the people of Israel would justify Jesus’ characterization of them as a wicked generation a few months after this incident. Just days after euphorically, enthusiastically hailing Him as the Messiah at the triumphal entry, they would turn on Jesus and scream for His execution.

THE FINAL SIGN

and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. (11:29b–30)

No sign of the kind that wicked generation was demanding would be given to it. The Lord would, however, work a miracle sign that would point unmistakably to Him as God, Messiah, and Savior, which He identified as the sign of Jonah. Earlier in Galilee Jesus had described this sign in more detail:

The story of Jonah, the reluctant prophet from a small village near Nazareth (2 Kings 14:25) was well-known to Jesus’ hearers. Commanded by God to go to Nineveh and proclaim its impending judgment (Jonah 1:1–2), he instead fled in the opposite direction. Boarding a ship bound for Tarshish (probably a city in what is now Spain), Jonah intended to get as far away from Nineveh as possible rather than bring the message of salvation to the hated Gentiles. But the Lord intervened and stirred up a powerful storm. Acknowledging that his disobedience was the cause of the storm, Jonah urged the sailors to throw him overboard. God provided a large sea creature (perhaps a whale or a whale shark) to swallow Jonah and save him from drowning. Jonah repented, went to Nineveh, and his preaching resulted in a massive revival.

Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites because of his miraculous deliverance from certain death, which convinced them that he spoke for God. His experience is analogous to that of the Son of Man, who would be a similar sign to His generation. Both proclaimed judgment and called for repentance. Jonah was swallowed by a deadly sea creature; Jesus was swallowed into the grave. Jonah was miraculously delivered from certain death; Jesus was actually raised from the dead. Jonah’s deliverance from the clutches of death ushered him into a great and powerful ministry, as the Lord’s resurrection did for Him.

The final and greatest sign, then, was Christ’s resurrection. But even this most powerful and convincing sign, like all the rest the Lord performed, failed to persuade those whose hearts were hardened against Him (John 12:37). The final sign highlighted the wretchedness of sinful unbelief. The leaders of Israel, who knew He was dead and came to life, bribed the soldiers to lie (Matt. 28:11–15).

THE FINAL SENTENCE

The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. (11:31–32)

Two historic Old Testament figures symbolically stand in judgment on the wicked generation that rejected Jesus. The Queen of the South, known in the Old Testament as the Queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:1–13), will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them for a number of reasons. She made an arduous journey of several weeks from the ends of the earth (Sheba was located in southwest Arabia, more than a thousand miles from Jerusalem), her purpose being to hear the wisdom of Solomon, while the wisdom of Jesus was readily accessible to the people of His generation. She was a pagan idolater, with no knowledge of the true God, while they were steeped in the Old Testament. They were invited to come to Jesus (Matt. 11:28–30), while there is no indication the she was invited to visit Solomon. Yet she was saved from her sin after believing what Solomon told her about the true God, while they rejected salvation truth from the King infinitely wiser and greater than Solomon. That is a damning indictment of that wicked generation.

The men of Nineveh will also stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it. Like the Queen of Sheba, the Ninevites had far fewer privileges and much less information than the generation that rejected Jesus. The messenger who came to them, Jonah, was a foolish, rebellious prophet, while Jesus, the messenger to Israel, is the sinless Son of God. Jonah went to Nineveh to proclaim the city’s doom (Jonah 3:4); Jesus came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Jonah performed no miracles in Nineveh, while Jesus performed countless miracles throughout Israel. Yet the pagan idolaters of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah while the ultra-religious people of Israel rejected the one greater than Jonah. Their rejection proved that they deserve the sentence to eternal punishment that awaits them at the Great White Throne judgment.

THE REASON FOR JUDGMENT

No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness. If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.” (11:33–36)

The universal experience of light and darkness in the physical world provides a doorway into understanding the concept of light and darkness in the spiritual world. Here light is a metaphor for understanding divinely revealed truth, since light reveals (Eph. 5:13) but darkness conceals (1 Cor. 4:5). Failing to understand and apply the truth of the gospel is the reason unrepentant sinners will face judgment. In this illustration Jesus gave three reasons why the generation that rejected Him faces eternal judgment for rejecting His light: the possibility of sight, the problem of sight, and the pretense of sight. He then concluded His illustration by pointing out the preciousness of sight.

THE POSSIBILITY OF SIGHT

No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. (11:33)

It would be pointless for someone, after lighting a lamp, to put it away in a cellar or hide it under a basket. Since the purpose of light is to reveal, the logical thing to do after lighting a lamp is to put it on the lampstand, so that those who enter the room may see the light. As noted above, the Lord’s opponents had accused Him of not providing enough proof for them to believe in Him. The point of this illustration is that it would have been foolish for Him to have withheld evidence. In reality, they had plenty of light, far more than what had been available to either the Queen of Sheba, who believed, or the people of Nineveh, who repented.

God’s person provides light. He “is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). He “dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Tim. 6:16; cf. Dan. 2:22), and in His light we see light (Ps. 36:9). God’s Word also provides light. In Psalm 119:105 the psalmist wrote, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” But the most significant manifestation of God’s light is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the “true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man” (John 1:9; cf. 3:19); the “Sunrise from on high” (Luke 1:78; cf. Isa. 42:1–7; and the “Light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5; 12:35–36, 46). Through Him the light of the glory of God was revealed (2 Cor. 4:6)

THE PROBLEM OF SIGHT

The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. (11:34)

This statement reveals the heart of the issue. The problem was not lack of light, but lack of sight. The light of the truth was everywhere, but the spiritually blind refused to see it. The Lord Jesus Christ had for all intents and purposes flooded Israel with the truth concerning His deity and messiahship. His miracles further demonstrated His divine and absolute mastery over death, the forces of hell, and the physical world. But having seen all those miraculous works that pointed unmistakably to Jesus’ deity (John 5:36; 10:25, 37–38; 14:11; 15:24) the religious leaders, along with the majority of the Jewish people, rejected Him. They could not accept His indictment of their external, ritualistic, legalistic religion. Stubbornly clinging to their self-righteousness, they sought to explain away Christ’s miracles by attributing them to the power of Satan rather than God. Though they considered themselves guides to the blind (Rom. 2:17–19), they were themselves blind guides (Matt. 15:14; 23:16, 24) willfully blinded by their hatred of Jesus and His message (and by Satan’s deception [2 Cor. 4:4]). In the words of Jesus, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:19–20).

Since the eye is the lamp of the body, the ability to see depends on its condition. When it is clear, the whole body also is full of light. Light enters the brain through the eye, bringing comprehension of all that the light reveals. Therefore when the eye is bad, the body also is full of darkness. Haplous (clear) has the basic meaning of “single,” “open,” or “holding nothing back.” A related word can be translated “generosity.” When their eyes are wide open, people see everything. On the other hand ponēros (bad) describes eyes clouded by sin and evil. Those whose eyes are bad are spiritually blind and cannot see the light of the truth. The light of the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6) is completely obscured to those whose eyes are blinded by sin.

THE PRETENSE OF SIGHT

Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness. (11:35)

Knowing that they would indignantly deny that they were blind, the Lord issued this warning. Skopeō (watch out) could be translated, “keep a watchful eye on,” “note carefully,” “pay attention to,” or “be concerned about.” This strong warning was a call to careful self-examination. The danger that what they thought was light in them could actually be darkness was very real. Such self-deception marks every false system of belief apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tragically, those lost in the darkness of such systems imagine themselves to be enlightened. Sinners who think the darkness they are in is light are in a deadly dangerous situation. As the apostle Paul notes, they have become “futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart [is] darkened…. Professing to be wise, they [have become] fools … For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen” (Rom. 1:21, 22, 25).

The frightening reality for those who persistently refuse to repent is that God may judicially confirm them in their hardened condition. Those who persistently refuse to repent may eventually be unable to do so (Matt. 13:13–15; cf. Isa. 6:8–10; 29:10; 44:18; John 12:39–40; Acts 28:26–27; Rom. 11:7–8). Because he knew that “now is ‘the acceptable time … now is the day of salvation’” (2 Cor. 6:2), Paul pleaded with unbelievers, “We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20).

THE PRECIOUSNESS OF SIGHT

If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays. (11:36)

For those willing to repent and turn from the sin that blinds them, the gift of sight opens up limitless vistas of blessing. The Lord’s language is expansive: Your whole body is full of light, He declared, with no dark part in it … as when the lamp illumines you with its rays. Becoming a believer means having one’s spiritual eyes opened to the truths revealed in God’s Word (Ps. 119:18, 105, 130; 2 Peter 1:19). Having been “called … out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9) Christians walk in the light (1 John 1:5–7), are children of light (Eph. 5:8; 1 Thess. 5:5), and enjoy fellowship with the Light of the world (John 8:12). They are, and eternally will be, grateful for the light that floods their souls through God’s grace.