“Those who acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah will inherit the kingdom of God” (Harrington 10). Those who recognize Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament will be saved and granted eternal life in Heaven. Those who reject it will be condemned. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus teaches about the Kingdom of Heaven by placing “Jesus of Nazareth in the traditions of God's chosen people and showing how this same Jesus broke the bonds of those traditions and brought them to fulfillment” (Harrington 7). A passage in particular that underlines this aspect of Matthew's gospel is Mt 12.38-42, The request for a sign. In this passage Matthew uses Jesus as a preacher to present him as the fulfillment of the Old Testament. He is a greater prophet than Jonah and a greater king than Solomon. Jesus is the Messiah sent by God to preach the Kingdom of Heaven. Within this essay, I will first summarize the specific passage, explain where The Request for a Sign fits within the Gospel of Matthew as a whole, and compare it to the comparable passage in the Gospel of Mark. Then I will look at the different points that Matthew raises in this passage. In Mt 12,38-42, Jesus is rejected by the people of his generation. The scribes and Pharisees ask to see a sign that proves that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, but Jesus tells them, “no sign will be given to him except the sign of the prophet Jonah” (The Catholic Study Bible, Mt 12:39). Then Jesus begins to talk about Jonah of the Old Testament. He states that the Son of Man will spend three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth, just as Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of a whale. Then he continues to talk about the Final Judgment. The men of Nineveh will condemn... middle of the paper... regarding a new Israel. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you" (Mt 7.7). Through the new Israel, the Kingdom of heaven is near. “For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Mt 7,8). Because of the New Israel, Matthew's Church must stand strong against Judaism. Works Cited The Catholic Study Bible. Ed. Donald Senior and John J. Collins. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Print.Harrington, Daniel J. The Gospel According to Mark. Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press. 1983. Print.Nickle, Keith F. The Synoptic Gospels, an Introduction. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. 2001. Print.Wright, Nicholas T. Matthew for All. London, England: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2002. Print.