Our Lord’s ministry had now lasted three years, and it was already clear that he had come to his own but his own had received him not.  He contrasted this disregard of his teaching with the enthusiasm with which the Queen of Sheba journeyed and listened to King Solomon: “The queen of the South will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here!” (NRSV, Matthew 12:42).

He compared their impenitence in the face of his appeals, to the reception given by the people of Nineveh to Jonah.  “The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!” (NRSV, Matthew 12:41).

All that the Jewish leaders of Our Lord’s day wanted was their own independence – to run their lives without any interference from God or anyone else; and when Jesus interfered they tried to stop him by putting him out of their life altogether.   “‘…come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours’.  So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard” (NRSV, Mark 12:7,8).  And, as Our Lord had warned them, that led to their utter ruin.  In AD 70, 40 years later, Jerusalem was wiped out, and the Jewish people were scattered upon the face of the earth.