Who Are You?

Who are you?

Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

Luke 11:29   Now as the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it demands a sign, and so no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 “For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 “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 listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32 “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.

What a strange question to ask: "Who are you? In Luke chapter 11, verses 29 to 32, Jesus spoke about the prophecy to Nineveh that Jonah gave, and he mentioned the Queen of Sheba. First, let me refresh your memory: the sign of Jonah is considered the three days that Jonah remained in the belly of the big fish. It’s important for us to examine what the sign of Jonah means and why Jonah was in the belly for three days. Jonah was called by God to deliver a message to the Ninevites that they had to change their ways or else God was going to destroy them in the same way that he did Sodom and Gomorrah.

Jonah did not want to go to see the Ninevites. This was because the Ninevites were an enemy of Israel, and we know in the course of history the Ninevites were actually also called Assyrians, and they did destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Jonah did not want to go to his enemy but did tell them that God wants them to become good and that he would spare them. Of course, we can understand that because even before the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, they did harass the people who traveled on the caravan roads.

Why would you want to go to your enemy and say to them that God will spare you if you stop doing all the evil things you've been doing? So, Jonah got on a boat and tried to get as far away from Israel as he could. As the story goes, God sent a storm upon the Mediterranean Sea, which almost capsized the boat that Jonah was in. To save the crew, Jonah jumped ship and into a large fish. I know many people think it’s a whale, but actually the Hebrew says it’s a big fish that comes up from behind Jonah and swallows him. He spends three days in the belly of this large fish, and he prays to God to help save him and that he would do whatever God told him to do without any question. The large fish spits out Jonah, and he makes his way to Nineveh, and he tells the people about the prophecy from God.

The king of Nineveh instructs all the people of the city to repent from all the sins that the people have done. However, we know from history that the Ninevites, who are also called the Assyrians, might have stopped their evil ways for a moment or two, but eventually they turned back to evil.

So, these were people that heard the word of God and responded to it. But after a short period of time since they survived whatever calamity the Lord was going to throw at them, they went back to their evil ways.

Jesus then mentions the Queen of the South. From all accounts, this is probably the Queen of Sheba because we know from the Hebrew Scriptures that the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon to gain the wisdom of the world from him. What’s important about this person is the metaphor that she represents. That metaphor is that she is a person who seeks the truths about God’s world, and once she learns what these truths are, she incorporates them into her life.

So, we have a contrast of two people in this case. First, let me say that the people of Nineveh represent one type of person. That type of person hears the word of God, acknowledges the word of God, and then, for sure, He or she tries to live by the word of God. But over the course of time, they drop their changes and go back to the way they were before they followed the word of God.

This reminds me of the movie "The Passion of the Christ" because when the movie was shown, a local radio station where I live interviewed people. So many of them were in tears because they got to see what Jesus went through for their salvation. So many of them said, "I am going to do so much more for God through his church because of Jesus' suffering on the cross as demonstrated in the movie." For a short time church attendance in my area increased dramatically. There were stories about people helping other people, and things just seemed really great. But then came the cooldown period. Over the coming months, as the movie faded from people’s memory, so did their commitment to Christ.