JONAH AND THE NEW TESTAMENT

The whole Book of Jonah, in fact, is a striking parallel to Jesus' Parable of the Ungrateful Servant right down to the final rhetorical question in each:

"You pity the plant...and should not I "I forgave you all that debt...and should I not pity Nineveh, that great city..?"  (Jonah 4:10-11)

 "I forgave you all that debt... and should you have had mercy on your fellow servant...? (Matthew 18:32-33)

Jonah should realize that he has had a debt of sin removed and should not begrudge God for wanting to remove that same debt from others.

In each case, God confronts a disobedient servant not by laying down the law, but simply by asking them a question and causing them to confront their own attitude. The same thing happens in the Book of Job. Job has been questioning the wisdom of God's actions, and at the end of the book God asks Job a series of questions that call Job's own wisdom into question.

Read the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). Do you see any parallels with the book of Jonah?

1. Three main characters: God/father, (self-)righteous man, prodigal son/Ninevites

2. God demonstrates his love equally to both parties.

3. The major issue in each is the righteous party's refusal to accept God's grace toward the sinner(s).

Difference: It is the righteous prophet who has to travel to Gentile territory in order to learn through hard experience.

Consider again the structure of Jonah 4:

1. Jonah's Attitude: Anger (4:1)

2. Jonah's rhetorical question to the LORD (4:2)

3. Dialogue (4:3-5a)

                                        a. Jonah asks to die (4:3)

                                        b. LORD's question: "Do you do well to be angry?" (4:4)

                                        (c. Jonah's reply -- silence)

4. Jonah in the shade (4:5)

5. LORD grows plant (4:6a)

6. Jonah's Attitude: Gladness (4:6b)

5'. LORD withers plant (4:7)

4'. Jonah in the sun (4:8a)

3'. Dialogue (4:8b-9b)

                                        a. Jonah asks to die (4:8b)

                                        b. LORD's question: "Do you well to be angry?" (4:9)

                                        c. Jonah's reply: "Yes" (4:9b)

2'. LORD's rhetorical question to Jonah (4:10-11)

(1'. Jonah's Attitude: ?)

Now compare it to Christ's Parable of the Two Sons:

The Structure of Luke 15:12-31

I. The Prodigal Son (15:12-22)

    A. Father gives the son his inheritance (v. 12)

        B. Son leaves home and squanders his money (vv. 13-16)

            C. He shares his thoughts about his situation (vv. 17-19)

        B'. Son returns home repentant (v. 20a)

    A'. Father reassures him regarding his place in the family (vv. 20b-22)

Conclusion (vv. 23-24)

II. The Righteous Son (15:25-32)

A. Son hears about the feast when coming home (vv. 25-27)

B. Son becomes angry and refuses to go in (v. 28)

C. He shares his thoughts about his situation (vv. 29-30)

(B'. He repents and goes to the feast)

A'. Father reassures him regarding his place in the family (v. 31)

Conclusion (v. 32)

The missing element leaves the story open-ended. The same point is made in the concluding words of each half of the parable:

Prodigal Son: Conclusion (vv. 23-24)

1. “let us eat and celebrate” (v. 23)

        2. “my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (v. 24a)

                3. “and they began to celebrate” (v. 24b)

Righteous Son: Conclusion (v. 32)

1. “we had to celebrate and rejoice” (v. 32a)

        2. “your brother was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (v. 32b)

    (3. “and they all began to celebrate”)

Each of the two is arranged in two parallel sections: Jonah has identical beginnings, and the parable has identical endings. With both Jonah and the parable, the literary form is designed to draw the readers into the story, get them to examine their own attitudes, and call them to appropriate action. Both end with God asking a question of the righteous party, which remains unanswered, throwing the issue in the lap of the listener or reader.

The main message of the parable and the Book of Jonah was expressed well by our pastor: “We not only must repent of our sins but also of our righteousness.”

“The Sign of Jonah”

We have already seen some close parallels between Jonah and Jesus. So it is not surprising that Jesus himself treats these parallels as very significant.

Matthew 12:38-42

The main emphasis in Matthew's account is on Christ's death and resurrection. “Three days and three nights” has been explained in various ways: (1) Jews counted part of day as a whole day, (2) it is an expression used in the Greek world to convey passage to the land of the dead, (3) different Jewish sects celebrated the start of Passover/sabbath on different days, or (4) this time phrase includes the suffering of Christ before his actual death. Note that most of the prophecies in NT of Jesus' death use the phrase “suffer and die.”

Luke 11:29-32

The emphasis in Luke's account is on Christ's call to repentance. Beyond that is the fact that Jesus' call will be accepted more by Gentiles than by Jews.

Mark 8:11-12

Here there appears to be a contradiction with Matthew and Luke's accounts, but remember that (1) Mark's was the briefest of the synoptic gospels and he only gives the highlights. However, the emphasis is the same idea in all three versions. These verses may mean that even the most obvious sign will not be good enough for skeptics. “The request for a sign becomes unjustified and intrinsically wrong when one is already surrounded by good and sufficient evidence one chooses not to accept. In that case unreceptivity and unbelief are the root problem, and it is unlikely that any sign would be sufficient to change such a person's mind.” Commentary on the NT Use of the OT, p. 46