Jonah

JONAH

Jonah, the Anti-Prophet. As the fifth of the Minor Prophets, we meet Jonah, a man who intentionally does the opposite of what is expected from a prophet.
Among several poets who typically write in verse, we find this brilliant narrator who, despite the somewhat outdated language, engages with prose like many of the finest Hebrew narrators.
Among the many prophecies directed at specific nations or entire nations, we find Jonah, who delivers a message of mercy to a people that has come to symbolize cruelty, imperialism, and aggression toward its own people, Israel.
Among a group of prophets deeply involved in the political and social scene, Jonah stands out as someone detached from both land and sea. His encounter with the great fish has led Christians to see it as a foreshadowing of Jesus’ paschal event (Mt 12:39-41; 16:4; Mk 8:12; Lk 11:29-32). Just as God saved the prophet from mortal danger to ultimately enable him to save a Gentile people, God also saved Christ—not by removing the cup of passion, but by raising him from the dead, thereby saving all the people of the earth through his death and resurrection.

Religious Message. The parable of Jonah offers a powerful lesson filled with sustained irony, sometimes bordering on sarcasm, which ultimately presents a difficult question. Jonah acts as an anti-prophet who refuses to go where the Lord sends him and avoids delivering the message God instructs him to share. As a result, he appears as the wrongdoer, while the admirable characters are initially the pagan sailors and later, the confident Ninevites. Jonah must face mythological foes—the sea and the whale—and learn that the Lord controls them and uses them for His purposes. A small worm and an unassuming castor teach a lesson in wisdom to the hesitant prophet.
Jonah’s prophecy acts as a definitive warning of punishment; however, God’s goal is a conditional warning. He does not want sinners to die but to turn and live (Ez 18:23,32). The pagans have heard the foreign message (Ez 3:5-7) and have turned to God.
The irony of the entire story is that it is actually Jonah, the anti-prophet, who becomes a great prophet because he understands, even unwillingly, that the exclusionist nationalism of the Jewish people and all the punishments threatening Israel’s enemies are just human creations. Deep down, God’s love and mercy encompass all the peoples of the earth.
The final message of Jonah, whose name resonates in Hebrew as “Dove, son of Truth” or as history’s first Columbus, can be summarized as follows: if Nineveh receives forgiveness, who will be left out?