Matthew 12:38-42
The Sign of Jonah
38Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you."
39He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For 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. 41The 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 one greater than Jonah is here. 42The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.
Luke 23:44-46
The Death of Jesus
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
When the Pharisees ask Jesus for a miracle or a miraculous sign, He told them of one miracle they would see..It was the Sign of Jonah...It would be His resurrection on the third day after His death...He would rise and overcome this world...Death would not and cannot be Jesus' or His end...Nothing is final for Him...That is because He has been with God from the beginning...Jesus is both Divine and Eternal...
When the group of Pharisees ask for a miracle, it was not the Jesus cannot do miracles...He had done a multitude of healing miracles...He could stop and calm the wind and a raging storm...He could walk on water...He even had Himself raised people from the dead in each of the gospels...
But when He was tied to the cross, He let it happen...At anytime He could have done a miracle and saved Himself...But no, He did not save Himself...He was tortured to a long crucifying death...He would die on a cross not because He couldn't escape...No, He could do a miracle at anytime and could have escaped His tortuous death...He stayed on the cross...He did this because He loves us...He could have saved Himself at anytime, as He painfully died...He did not save Himself, because He wasn't thinking of Himself...He was thinking of us...He did not want to save Himself...He wanted to save us...The Sign of Jonah, and His crucifying death, is how much Jesus loves us...