While still more people gathered in the crowd, he said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. 30 Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here. 32 At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here.
More people keep gathering, and Jesus said to the crowd, “This generation” wants a sign. In Luke’s setting, that demand has already been voiced: some have just tested him by seeking “a sign from heaven” (Lk. 11:16). Jesus does not treat the request as neutral. He calls it “an evil generation” because it is looking for proof on its own terms, while resisting the word already being spoken and the works already being done in front of them.
Jesus then tells them: no sign will be given “except the sign of Jonah.” Luke’s emphasis is not on Jonah’s unusual deliverance, but on Jonah himself as a sign through his preaching that called people to repentance. Jonah goes to Nineveh—a Gentile city—and his message produces a real change of life (Jon 3:6-10). That is the point Jesus presses: when God sends his word through a prophet, the proper response is repentance, not bargaining for stronger evidence.
Jesus says, “Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.” Jesus himself is the sign. God’s word is not merely about him; it is being spoken by him. To demand a different kind of proof is to reject the form God has chosen. A similar pattern shows up elsewhere. In Mark, the Pharisees demand “a sign from heaven,” and Jesus refuses, grieving the hardness of heart behind the request (Mk. 8:11-12). In John, after the multiplication of loaves, the crowd asks, “What sign can you do?” (Jn. 6:30-31).
Jesus makes his warning sharper by moving from the present moment to the final judgment. He names two outsiders from Israel’s Scriptures who responded well to God’s word: the “queen of the south” and the men of Nineveh. The queen of Sheba traveled a great distance to hear Solomon’s wisdom and recognized that God had given it (1 Kgs 10:1-13). Nineveh heard Jonah’s preaching and repented (Jon 3:6-10). Both examples expose “this generation” because something greater is now present. If Gentiles could respond to a prophet and a wise king, how can those who hear Jesus—greater than Jonah and greater than Solomon—remain unmoved?
When Jesus says these figures will “rise” and “condemn,” he is not describing them as vindictive. He is showing how judgment works: when true repentance is placed next to refusal, the difference becomes clear. The queen’s seeking and Nineveh’s repentance will stand as testimony that the problem was never a lack of access. The issue is the heart’s resistance to conversion.
This also clarifies why Jesus calls the generation “evil.” In Scripture, “evil” is not only the presence of scandalous sins; it can be a stubborn posture that will not yield to God. Luke has just recorded Jesus saying that true blessedness is found in hearing the word of God and observing it (Lk. 11:28). Now he shows what the opposite posture looks like: demanding a sign while refusing to repent. Lent places this passage where it belongs. It presses a direct question: will we respond to God’s word with conversion, or will we keep asking for something else before we obey?
Lord Jesus, you are greater than Jonah and greater than Solomon. Give me a heart that listens to your word and turns toward you without delay. Teach me to repent where I need to repent, and to seek your wisdom with a willing spirit. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The Holy Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), Lk. 11:29-32.
- NABRE study note on Lk. 11:29-32.
- Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, Luke, pp. 130-131.
- New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990), Luke, p. 703, para. 131.
- Navarre Bible: St. Luke’s Gospel, p. 299.
- Paulist Biblical Commentary (2018), Luke, p. 1069.
- The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century (2020), Luke, p. 1328.
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