Behold, a greater than Jonas is here.” Matthew 12:41 KJV
Behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” Matthew 12:41 NASB
Few of us, if left to the Old Testament alone, would ever consider Jonah to be a picture of Christ. Yet the Lord Jesus Himself uses Jonah’s three days and nights in the belly of the great fish due to his disobedience as a picture of His own death, burial, and resurrection (Matt 12:40). And to His listeners on that occasion, after drawing the likeness, He then paints a sharp contrast. Though there are similarities in the three days and nights, there is a vast gulf between Jonah and Christ. His greatness is seen as a contrast in at least four ways:
In His Motivation
Jonah is known as the reluctant prophet. He is God’s Prodigal Seer. He did not want to go to Nineveh. His patriotic fervour wanted to see Israel’s enemy destroyed and not saved. He knew that God was a gracious God (Jonah 4:2) and feared that He would spare the city if they repented. As a result, instead of obeying the command of God, he fled.
In contrast to the reluctant servant, the Lord Jesus was the ready Servant. “Lo I come to do Thy will.” Rather than bigotry motivating Him to flee, love moved Him to come. Unlike Jonah, He fully expressed the heart of the Father in longing to save (1 Timothy 2:3, 4).
In His Mission
Jonah’s mission was to one city in one country. His responsibility was narrow and circumscribed. Yet even here, he failed until redirected by the great fish. He was not charged with a great work — only a message of judgment to one people, at one time, in one place. The Lord Jesus was sent to be the Saviour of the world (1 John 4:14). His work was to include all humanity. He did not only come to announce salvation but to procure it. He would pass through suffering far greater than Jonah in the belly of the great fish. He would know the cross and the giving of His life.
In His Message
Jonah’s message was simple and unmistakable: “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). Here was a message of coming judgment. Jonah did not suggest any remedy in his preaching. Yet in his heart, he knew that God was “merciful, slow to anger, and kind” (4:2). His greatest fear came to fruition when God spared the repentant city.
The message that the Lord came preaching was one of grace and truth. He was faithful regarding the need for repentance and the result of failing to repent. But He brought primarily a message of grace and forgiveness.
The men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah; the men in Christ’s day rejected both the message and the Messenger (Luke 11:32). Jonah was grieved that God spared Nineveh; Christ wept that God could not spare Jerusalem (Luke 19:41).
In His Mercy
Jonah had no mercy on his audience. He wanted their destruction. He shed no tears, felt no burden, and knew no anguish of heart over their eternal destiny. He thundered out judgment with a malevolent longing for its speedy execution.
The Lord Jesus was far greater than Jonah in this regard as well. Whatever picture to which we may turn, whatever imagery we seek to explore, He is shown as a merciful Saviour. If we look at the Samaritan of Luke, the Shepherd of Luke 15, or the Sobbing Saviour of Luke 19, He is marked by mercy. If we trace Him at Sychar’s well, amidst His foes at the Temple, or along the road to and through Jericho, or with the thief on the cross (Luke 23), He is abundant in His mercy.
Christ is greater than Jonah.
Consider
Contrast Him as well with Solomon (Luke 11:31)/
