Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 12:38-40

"Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet: for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." — Matthew 12:38-40 (ASV)

St. John Chrysostom: Because the Lord had so often repressed the shameless tongue of the Pharisees with His sayings, they now turn to His works, at which the Evangelist, wondering, says, “Then certain of the Scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from you;” and they did this at a time when they should have been moved, when they should have wondered and been dumb with astonishment. Yet even at such a time, they do not desist from their malice. For they say, “We would see a sign from you,” so that they may catch Him in a snare.¹

St. Jerome: They require a sign from Him, as if what they had seen were not signs. In another Evangelist, what they required is more fully expressed: “We would see from you a sign from heaven.”

Either they wanted fire from heaven as Elijah did, or, after the example of Samuel, they wanted thunder to be heard, lightning to flash, and rain to fall in the summertime, contrary to the nature of the climate. It is as if they could not have lied even about such miracles and said that they happened because of various hidden movements in the air.

For if you quibble about what you not only see with your eyes but also feel with your hand and reap the benefit of, what will you do regarding those things that come down from heaven? You might answer that in Egypt the magicians had also performed many signs from heaven.

St. John Chrysostom: But their words are full of hypocrisy and irony. Just now they were railing against Him, saying that He had a demon; now they fawn upon Him, calling Him Master. Therefore the Lord rebukes them severely; “He answered and said to them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign.”

When they insulted Him, He had answered them mildly; now that they approached Him with smooth and deceitful words, He rebukes them sharply, showing that He was above either emotion and was neither moved to anger by insults nor won over by flattery.

What He says is this: What wonder is it that you do this to Me, who am unknown to you, when you have done the same to the Father, of whom you have had such great knowledge? In despising Him, you went after demons. He calls them an evil generation because they have always been ungrateful to their benefactors and were made worse when they received benefits, which is the extreme of wickedness.

St. Jerome: This is excellently said, “and adulterous,” since she has put away her husband and, according to Ezekiel, has joined herself to many lovers.

St. John Chrysostom: This also proves Him to be equal to the Father, if failing to believe in Him makes them adulterous.

Rabanus Maurus: Then He begins to answer them, giving them a sign not from heaven, which they were unworthy to see, but from the deep beneath. To His own disciples, however, He gave a sign from heaven, showing them the glory of His blessed eternity both in a figure on the mountain and afterward in reality when He was taken up into heaven.

Therefore it follows, “And no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”

St. John Chrysostom: The signs He performed were not intended to move them, for He knew that they were as hard as stone, but were for the benefit of others. Or, it is because when He had given them a sign like the one they now desired, they had not accepted it. A sign was indeed given to them, but it was one through which they learned His power by their own punishment.

He alludes to this when He says, “No sign will be given to it.” It is as if to say, “I have shown you many mercies, yet none of these has brought you to honor My power. You will know that power only when you behold your city thrown to the ground in punishment.”

In the meantime, He introduces a saying concerning the Resurrection, which they would later understand by the things they would suffer, saying, “Except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” For truly, His Cross would not have been believed unless it had signs to testify to it. And if the Cross were not believed, the Resurrection certainly would not have been believed.

For this reason, He calls the Resurrection a sign and brings forward a figure of it—the story of Jonah—so that the reality itself may be believed.

It follows, “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale.”

Rabanus Maurus: He shows that the Jews were as criminal as the Ninevites and that unless they repented, they would be destroyed. But just as punishment was declared against the Ninevites while a remedy was set before them, so also the Jews should not despair of pardon if, at least after Christ's resurrection, they would repent.

For Jonah, which means “The Dove” or “The Mourner,” is a sign of Him on whom the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove and who bore our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4).

The fish that swallowed Jonah in the sea represents the death that Christ suffered in the world. The one was in the whale's belly for three days and nights, the other in the tomb; the one was cast up on dry land, the other rose in glory.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Some, not knowing the scriptural manner of speaking, would interpret as one night those three hours of darkness when the sun was darkened from the sixth to the ninth hour, and, in the same way, interpret as a day the other three hours in which light was restored to the world, from the ninth hour until sunset.

Then follows the night preceding the Sabbath, which, if we count it with its own day, gives us two days and two nights. After the Sabbath follows the night leading into the Lord's day, on which the Lord rose. Thus we only arrive at two nights and two days, with this final night to be added only if we could count it in its entirety, and if it could not be shown that the dawn was merely the latter part of the night.²

Therefore, not even by including those six hours—three of darkness and three of restored light—can we establish the calculation of three days and three nights. It remains, therefore, that we find the explanation in the common scriptural practice of counting a part for the whole.

St. Jerome: Not that He remained three whole days and three nights in the grave, but that this should be understood to mean a part of the preparation day, a part of the Lord's day, and the whole of the Sabbath day.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Scripture itself testifies that the three days were not three full and entire days. The first day is counted because its end is included, and the third day is likewise counted because its beginning is included, while the day in between—the second day—is present in its entirety with its twenty-four hours, twelve of the night and twelve of the day.

The night following the Sabbath, up to the dawn when the Lord's resurrection was made known, belongs to the third day. For just as the first days of creation were calculated from morning to night because of humanity's future fall, so these days are calculated from night to morning because of humanity's restoration.³

St. John Chrysostom: He did not say openly that He would rise again, because they would have ridiculed Him, but hinted at it from a distance so that they might believe He foreknew it. He said not “in the earth,” but in the heart of the earth, thereby describing His tomb and ensuring no one might suspect His death was only an appearance. Therefore, He also spoke of three days, so that it would be believed that He was truly dead.

The sign of Jonah itself proves the reality of the event. For Jonah was in the whale's belly not as a figure but in reality; surely, the sign would not have happened in reality if the thing it signified happened only figuratively. Therefore, it is clear that those who follow Marcion, asserting that the passion of Christ was only an illusion, are children of the Devil.

That He would suffer for them also, even though they would not benefit from it, is shown by what He says: that to this generation should be given the sign of the prophet Jonah.

1. Hom., xliii
2. De Cons., Ev., iii, 24
3. De Trin., iv. 6