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The Sign of Jonah Points to Jesus Andre Melancon This class has been about the priesthood of Christ as it has been played out since the beginning of time. We have found out that God has been working on His plan of salvation for a long time. We have found that in almost every book of the Old Testament, especially in the words of the prophets, God has been pointing to His ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. In particular, this will be shown in a comparison and contrast of the book of Jonah with the life of Jesus. We will note many parallels and twists between different aspects in the book of Jonah and our understanding of who Jesus Christ is. First, we look at Jonah’s initial call. God called Jonah to go to Nineveh and to prophesy to its people. Jonah, at first, was reluctant to listen to this call. He instead heads toward Tarshish away from Nineveh. This relates to Jesus and God’s call for Him to die on the cross. At first, Jesus was afraid. He went to the garden of Gethsemane in agony. Jesus told His Father, “Let this cup pass from me.” But then, in a different way from Jonah He says, “ . . . not my will but your will be done.” Jesus accepts the Father’s Will with humility. Jonah was called to preach amongst his enemies. Jesus was called to preach to His people the Jews and many of them became His enemies. Jonah was called to deliver a message, but Jesus was called to be the message. While fleeing to Tarshish, God sends a storm on the ship because Jonah was abandoning his call. Jonah realizes that the storm has arisen because of his sin. Innocent men are condemned to death because Jonah is guilty, so he sacrifices himself for their salvation. Jesus sacrifices Himself on the cross. Because mankind was condemned to death because of its sin, Jesus who was innocent of sin sacrifices Himself for their salvation. After Jonah is thrown overboard at his own request, he is swallowed by a “divinely prepared fish.” He remains in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. This, of course, parallels Jesus descent unto the dead for three days and three nights. While in the fish, Jonah realizes he is far from God. Jonah says in his “Psalm of Thanksgiving,” “I am banished from your sight.” This parallels Jesus praying Psalm 22 on the cross crying out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” Jonah also prays, “Down I went to the roots of the mountains; the bars of the nether world were closing behind me forever, but you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God.” Jesus descended into the abyss of death, but God raised Him up from eternal death to eternal life. Many believe that this parallel is what Jesus was speaking of in the Gospel of Matthew when He says, “No sign will be given except the sign of Jonah.” What this means is that the only sign that is really important is the sign of Jesus’ Resurrection. Because God has heard Jonah from the belly of the fish, Jonah promises to offer a sacrifice of praise for his deliverance from death. “My prayer reached you in your holy temple. Those who worship vain idols forsake their source of mercy, but I, with resounding praise, will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay: deliverance is from the Lord.” Because Jesus is risen from the dead, in His Name, a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving is offered for our deliverance from death unto the New Life of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. During Jonah’s second call to Nineveh, he announced the message that in forty days, Nineveh will be destroyed. Because of this prophecy “the people proclaim a fast and all of them great and small, put on sack cloth.” The people of Nineveh repent and do not die, but live. Jesus, after His Baptism, fasted for forty days in the desert. After His time in the desert, he came to announce the message of repentance and that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Most of the people of Jerusalem did not repent and the city was destroyed in 70 A. D. And yet, Jesus died for all, so that all might live. In the book of Jonah, God proves Himself to be “a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to punish.” However, it makes Jonah angry. In Jesus, God proves Himself to be “a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to punish.” But in His Resurrected Form, Jesus declares peace. In response to Jonah’s anger, God teaches him a lesson in compassion through the life and death of the gourd plant, which shades him by day, but withers in the morning. Jonah is angry about the plant which “costs him no labor and which he did not raise.” In a greater way, God has compassion on the city with 120,000 lives of an ignorant people as well as on their animals. God teaches us a lesson in compassion through the life and death of Jesus. Jesus, even in the agony of the cross, prayed for forgiveness for his persecutors because of the ignorance of their own sin. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” His salvation not only saves the people, but also blesses all of creation. “For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Rom. 8:19-21
Jonah was sent to a people not his own and they accepted him. And because of that acceptance they received the blessing of the eternal God. Jesus was sent to a people of His own and they rejected Him and put Him to death. However, those who did accept Jesus received the blessings of the eternal Father and were made Children of God. The priesthood of Jesus Christ was centered on leading the people of the world from the death of sin to eternal life with His Father. This was made possible by the sacrifice that Jesus made for us and for our salvation. The prophecy of Jonah proclaimed to the people of Nineveh lead them to repentance, which saved them so that they did not die but live. Like Jesus, Jonah had to sacrifice himself so that his mission could be fulfilled. For us, as seminarians who aspire to the priesthood of Jesus Christ, we must offer up ourselves as a sacrifice if the call to the People of God to repentance is to be offered to a new generation. If we do not answer the call, then who will proclaim the message of Salvation for the generations yet to come? |