He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 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. 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.” Matthew 12:39-41

            The story of Jonah is more important than we think.  There are two aspects of the story that Jesus highlighted.

1.      Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of whale just like Jesus would spend three days and three nights in the grave.  Both were eventually “spit out” of their grave.

2.      The people of Nineveh heard Jonah’s message and repented but the people of Jesus’ day rejected God himself.  Jesus said the people of Nineveh were smarter than those people he stood before.