Jonah: Pro-life anti-type

My beloved grand-nephew Jonah was born on Christmas day two years ago, so it's not too surprising that his name is on my mind this time of year.  

Second, the prophet he's named after bears comparison to the One we celebrate at Christmas, although Jonah is more naturally associated with Easter. Jesus referred to Jonah as a type of His resurrection: 

“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.” —Matthew 12:40

Type and antitype

The miracle of Jonah emerging alive from the sea after three days… of being swallowed by a fish but not digested… truly demonstrates the power of God to make Jesus live again after death and to raise Him victoriously from the grave without decay. If we believe Jonah, we can believe Jesus rose again; if we believe in the resurrection, we can also believe Jonah survived the great fish.

Despite his best efforts at avoiding the duties of a prophet to obey God and to carry His message, Jonah’s miracle became a sign to us as well as the Ninevites (Luke 11:30). Jesus warned the people of His day, “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” (Luke 11:32)

At Christmas, we can be grateful for the ways in which our Savior does NOT resemble Jonah. 

►Surely sinful people are more odious to the Son of God than Ninevites were to Jonah, but UNLIKE JONAH 1:3, Jesus didn’t flee in the opposite direction. He willingly submitted to the Father’s plan… which included dying on a cross for our sins.

►Jonah’s problem seemed to be that he thought that if God was gracious to the Ninevites it would somehow make things worse for him. Coming to die for us surely was bad for Jesus, but UNLIKE JONAH 4:1-3, He didn’t complain that His Father is too compassionate to sinners. Instead He fully aligned with that feeling. He didn’t begrudge mankind God’s forgiveness, but shared the Father’s desire for people to be saved. 

►UNLIKE JONAH 4:5, Jesus did not pronounce our doom and then sit back to wait for it to happen. He warned and persuaded the crowds. He patiently taught His disciples how to share the Good News. And now He continues to serve His followers by advocating and interceding for them with the Father.

►Finally, UNLIKE JONAH 4:6-9, Jesus didn’t make demands on God or seek out His own comfort.

It’s easy to criticize Jonah for being a miserable missionary because we have Jesus Christ with whom to compare him. Jonah illuminates how much better Jesus is as a Prophet and how wonderful He is as Savior. For all His flaws, Jonah shows us the perfections of Jesus. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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Does Jonah say anything about the pro-life ethic?

Yes! There are at least five ways Jonah illuminates the principle:

1. In Jonah 1:11-14, the sailors were very worried about becoming guilty of Jonah’s blood by casting him into the sea. It was a death sentence; they didn’t know God would save him. Thus pagan people are shown to care more about the sanctity of human life than the person who said he followed God. They showed more concern for him than he ever did for them, and more than he ever felt for Nineveh. 
2. The Ninevites were ignorant of the difference between human beings and animals. They thought animals should mourn over sin and repent too (Jonah 3:7-8), but God was not holding wild and domesticated animals accountable for the violence they do by instinct. While God did care about the animals who would perish for the sins of men (Jonah 4:11), He cared more for people. The prophet left the Ninevites in their ignorance, not bothering to teach them that only human beings are guilty of sin, and that it would be cruel to prevent their animals from grazing.
3. Even though Jonah was glad in chapter 2 to have been spared death, by the time of Jonah 4:3-8, he had become so frustrated, miserable, and disappointed that Nineveh would be spared, he felt death would be better than life. It seems he begged "with all his soul" for God to kill him because he was embarrassed that his words would not come true. We can be glad, however, that he submitted to God’s sovereignty and didn't take matters into his own hands.
4. A dying plant is not on a par to a dying person, even a dying wicked person (Jonah 4:9-10). Plants are made by God, but not after His image and likeness. People have more significance to God than plants.
5. As we learn in Jonah 4:10-11, in contrast to the prophet, God’s immense compassion extends to people who do not know Him. He cares about those who are too young or disabled or  incapacitated to know their left hand from their right. He even forgives people who have been violently opposed to Him. They all are made in His image and need to hear the good news of salvation. 

It's very likely Jonah wrote this book. Apparently, he didn't mind telling on himself. He was willing to make himself forever ridiculous to get across important points about how dear people are to God.

Jonah shows how ugly we can be. Despite how good God has been to us, we who call ourselves His followers can be frightfully inconsiderate of others and hateful toward them. Confession begins with ourselves because our hearts and minds may harbor similar anti-life attitudes. God's forgiveness is for us too. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Next: Life is in the blood

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Image credits: Illustrations by Maria Bozoky of Mihaly Babits’ poem, The Book of Jonah, circa 1975; https://www.wikiart.org/en/bozoky-maria/babits-the-book-of-jonah-ii-1975 and https://www.wikiart.org/en/bozoky-maria/babits-the-book-of-jonah-iii-1975-1.