Luke 11:29-36  

 

Introduction. In the previous section which we looked at, the Lord Jesus had been dealing with hard hearts, hearts which were so hard and calloused that even though they were eyewitnesses to the exorcism and healing of a mute victim of Satan, they dismissed the miracle out of hand by attributing Jesus power to ‘Beelzebub’ – the prince of demons.  verse 15. and then they asked for a ‘sign’ from heaven. verse 16. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.”  ¹⁶ Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven..   We saw how in response to the first dismissal, Jesus mercifully reasoned with them – showing the illogical folly of their thinking. Then He gave them a grim warning, followed by a warm invitation.   Now He takes up their less strident but nonetheless hard-hearted request for a miraculous sign. The Jews wanted Jesus to do something sensational. They couldn’t see that the greatest sign God ever sent was Jesus Himself.   And so in dealing with their request for a miraculous sign, Jesus brings to their remembrance two famous examples/occurrences in their history, when Gentiles responded to the word – the amazing cases of Jonah and the Queen of Sheba. The first one is about Jonah – who received a call from God to go to Nineveh and preach against it. In fact, he did the exact opposite, catching a ship to Tarshish, a port at the end of the then known world. We are familiar with the story – the heaving sea, the terrified sailors, Jonah’s being tossed overboard and inhaled by a monstrous fish. In his watery tomb he was swept down to the “roots of the mountains” as he described it.” To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit.” Jonah 2:6 There he repented. He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord,    and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.” Jonah 2:2.  After his change of heart, Jonah found himself exploding back into daylight as the fish coughed him up onto a sandy beach. The pagan Ninevites believed Johan’s message when he told how God had miraculously changed his mind about preaching to them. Johan’s experience made him a sign to the Ninevites and “all of Nineveh repented.”   David Gooding says: “It was the miraculous way in which Jonah arrived at Nineveh that gave force to his preaching and made him a sign to the Ninevites.  It would similarly be Christ’s death, burial and resurrection that made Christ God’s ultimate sign to Israel.”   The second example that Jesus uses from the Old Testament is that of the Queen of Sheba and is recorded in 1 Kings 10:1-13 & 2 Chronicles 9:1-12. In her own land of Sheba (southern Arabia, modern day Yemen), months away by caravan, the queen had heard of the ‘fame of Solomon and his relation to the name of the Lord’ (1 Kings 10:1). And so employing a vast retinue at immense cost, she made the long and dangerous journey to see Solomon. ““The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.” 1 Kings 10:6-9.  The Queen of Sheba had gone through considerable discomfort and danger to hear Solomon – and she praised the God of Israel for her encounter.   

A Sign for Hard Hearts
Now with the background of Jonah and the Queen of Sheba in mind, lets see how Jesus responded to those who asked for a sign. “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.  For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.” Luke 11:29-30

The Great Sign.
Jesus says that He would be like Jonah to them – a sign. How does that work? Obviously both Jonah and Jesus were preachers of righteousness and repentance. But the deeper significance of ‘the sign of Jonah’ is in Jonah’s putative death, burial and resurrection when he was tossed to his apparent death in the sea, entombed in the fish and then thrown onto the beach alive. The pattern of Jonah’s seeming death experience was literally fulfilled in Jesus’ death on the cross at the hands of the Romans. His burial by Joseph and Nicodemus and His glorious resurrection. That’s exactly what Jesus said according to Matthew’s account. "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.” Matthew 12:40.   The great and glorious sign that Jesus gives to all and especially to those who think they need miraculous signs in order to believe is the miracle of His atoning death, burial and triumphant resurrection. This is the gospel, this is apostolic preaching! Paul summarised it when he said: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 There is much-needed instruction and correction here for parts of Christianity that have gone headlong in pursuit of miraculous signs and wonders. Its imperative that we recognise that miracles do not automatically guarantee that anyone will believe. This is both implied and explained in Luke 11:16. “Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven” These were people who didn’t want to believe, they were maliciously testing Jesus. That is why they indicted them here in verse 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.” Ten million signs and wonders would not make the world turn to Christ. Belief is a choice – an act of the will, not a convincing of the intellect. Jesus is the sign, He is the gospel.  

 

1. Queen of Sheba: A Great Judgement.

Jesus then explained that the sign would lead to a greater judgement. “The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is here.” Luke 11:31 Solomon at the peak of his powers, was the wisest man ever. The more we understand his Proverbs, the more we are amazed at his wisdom. At the beginning of Proverbs, Solomon writes: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7.  And yet, in Jesus, “one greater than Solomon” is here. Jesus is wisdom.   Paul refers to Him as “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” 1 Corinthians 1:30. Paul also describes Him as “Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” Colossians 2:2-3. Regarding this, Alexander Maclaren remarked: “In Christ, as in a great storehouse, lie all the riches of spiritual wisdom, the massive ingots of solid gold which, when coined into creeds and doctrines are the wealth of the Church. All which we can know concerning God and man, concerning sin and righteousness and duty, concerning another life, is in Him, who is the home and deep mine where trust is stored…The central fact of the universe and the perfect encyclopaedia of all moral and spiritual truth is Christ, the Incarnate Word, the Lamb slain, the ascended King”   So, the point is this → that on the judgement day – the Queen of Sheba will rise as the accuser of the disbelieving Jews because even though Solomon was far inferior to Christ, she left home and palace and risked the dangers of a thousand miles, just to hear what Solomon had to say. Jesus went on to say →”The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here” Luke 11:32 Jonah’s preaching was simple and to the point and the Ninevites, despite their untaught Gentile minds, responded. Jesus’ preaching was also plain and straightforward, yet the Pharisees and scribes did not repent. The Ninevites will bring accusations against these people. Application: we must not try to escape the weight of these words!   The advantages and privileges which we have are immense. We have the Bible’s explicit accounts of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ (in the gospels), we have the writings of Paul, Peter, John and the rest of the New Testament as well as the Old Testament. We have 2,000 years of church history to help and guide us, we have the Holy Spirit’s work around and in us – how great is our responsibility to be open to the Light – to believe in Jesus Christ and to follow Him faithfully and courageously.   What all this reminds us – above all – is that this world is not everything, and that the lives which we live in our mortal bodies on earth is not the only thing we should think about, but that we should think about our souls and eternity. The great tragedy is that so many people neglect their souls, neglect the privileges of worshipping Jesus. These privileges and responsibilities for which we must all answer. 

  

2. The Challenge of all Our Hearts.

“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy,^] your body also is full of darkness.  See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”  Luke 11:33-36   Now at this point Jesus teaching took on a broad application, as He used short, almost parable-like statements to drive home the message that we must make every effort to open ourselves to the Light of His revelation. Its all too easy to become gospel hardened to the sign of Jonah, its easy to become hardened by hearing the Word of God too much (become familiar with the things of God)   “A little girl was sitting in her first Good Friday service, and the epic story of the Crucifixion was beautifully read. She heard about Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. She heard about Peter’s denial. She listened to Pilate’s cross-examination of Jesus. She pictured the crown of thorns and felt the beating of the soldiers. Then came the words, ‘and there they crucified him’. The little girl began to weep and buried her head in her mother’s lap. Her sad voice could be heard through the auditorium as she sobbed, “Why did they do it?”   That is how we ought to feel about the Cross, but we’ve heard the story so often – that we can listen to it with virtually no reaction at all! May God keep us from the heart which has lost the power to feel the agony of the Cross, borne for us! Its like watching the violence on TV, we’ve become so used to it and familiar with it that is makes no impact on us anymore! We need to be more like that little girl, soft and tender of heart.  

• Jesus Lamp

  Jesus began this section by describing the effect of His own preaching. “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.” Luke 11:33. The truth of this preaching is evident and must not be hidden. The Light of Jesus is meant to be placed in a prominent place in the house, so that it gives Light to everyone. Jesus’ preaching, His Words – are the Light.  

• Our Lamps

He then uses a second simile in verse 34, which is a bit more difficult to understand. “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy,^[ your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy,^[ your body also is full of darkness” Jesus refers to the eye as the lamp of the body because it lets light in, allowing the mind and interior faculties to comprehend, assimilate and respond to what the light reveals. So if one’s eyes are good, everything can function as it should. But, if they are defective, the body, as it were is ‘full of darkness.’ Everything is adversely affected. What is the Lord Jesus saying here?  He is speaking about our spiritual perception. That if our spiritual eye is good, i.e. open and uncomplicated by sin – it will admit the Light Jesus shines on it and our whole interior being will be illuminated. Here’s an example of what I mean: Listen to Johnathan Edwards describing his experience as a young man alone with his Bible on the banks of the Hudson River; “I had then, and at other times, the greatest delight in the Holy Scriptures of any book whatsoever. Oftentimes in reading it every word seemed to touch my heart. I felt a harmony between something in my heart, and those sweet and powerful words. I seemed often to see so much light exhibited by every sentence, and such a refreshing food communicated, that I could not get alone in reading; often dwelling long on one sentence, to see the wonders contained in it; and yet almost every sentence seemed to be full of wonders.” That’s the way someone who is spiritually healthy reads and hears God’s Word! Paul put it like this: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing Psalm, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16   

  The Challenge of these Words of Jesus.

1. We need to hear and heed the challenge of Jesus in verse 35.

“See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.”. It is so important what we make good use of religious light and privilege. It’s not enough just to hear the word being taught and explained. It’s not enough to hear it and even agree with and admire it. It must be received into the heart and obeyed in life and until this action takes place, the gospel does no more good than it does for a person in the middle of the Brazilian forest and jungle.  

2. As Christians, we must be men and women of prayer, constantly searching our own hearts. We must see to it that we confess our sins and ask God to forgive us our transgressions. We must not be the people who listened to Jesus and could not see His radiant Light. And so, they missed the ‘sign of Jonah’.

They ignored the inconsistencies of their own hearts. Their consciences had become desensitized. So – if the Light is to burn in our hearts, there must be regular confession and a constant asking of God to flood our eyes with light.   Now, for this to happen, we must see to it that we make time to be alone, so that we can meditate and engage in healthy introspection. We must honestly ask ourselves “is the light in me actually darkness?” We need to make every effort to see that it isn’t, asking God to shine His Light upon us. It may be, as I said a moment ago, that the availability of the Word of God, and its regular dissection through Bible studies and sermons has dulled us to the urgency of obeying it.   During the French Revolution, some Christians were crammed into a dungeon where once a day for a few moments, as the sun stood at a particular angle, one of the prisoners who has a Bible would be hoisted on others’ shoulders to a sunlit crack, where he would study the Scriptures. When the light dimmed, he would be lowered down and his friends would say, “Now tell us what you read while you were in the light.” We ought to give quality time and full concentration to the light of God’s Word.   The Queen of Sheba would turn green with envy at our spiritual privilege. Our message is not from a bedraggled prophet fresh from a fish’s belly, but from Jesus who burst fro the grave and gives resurrection life. We must each 'see to it then, that the light within you is not darkness.”   

 Peter Wessels, Minister. 

 St Olav Church