…[A]nd now one greater than Jonah is here.

If I were to ask you to pick an Old Testament character Jesus likened himself to, who would you choose, Abraham? Issac? Jacob? Joseph? Maybe Daniel? How about King David? It is true that each of these men had some similarity to the Savior, but in Matthew 12 who did Jesus himself compared himself to? Would you be shocked if I told you Jonah? Yes, you read correctly, Jonah! How can this be, you ask. Jonah was such a… well, he was a prophet, but definitely not a good one. And a minor one at that. So how, or even why, would Jesus compare himself with him? And in what ways were they similar? Let’s tackle these questions in order.

First, the setting gives us the reason for the comparison in the first place. Jesus had been making the rounds of the Galilean cities of Korazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum (Matthew 11:20-24), which border the north side of the Sea of Galilee. While he was there, the Pharisees boldly claimed that Jesus performed his miracles only through “Beelzebub, the prince of demons” (12:24). Jesus launched into a scathing rebuttal of their claim. After this, they asked for “a miraculous sign” (12:38). Of course, earlier numerous miracles (11:20) were insufficient to please this crowd. So in his response he brought up Jonah: “But none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. 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” (12:39-40). He capped his remarks concerning Jonah in the next verse, “and now one greater than Jonah is here”.

Clearly, Jesus compared his coming death with Jonah’s 3-day fish indigestion experience. Remember how badly Jonah acted in chapter four of his book? Now remember the last time you ate some tainted food item. How did it make you feel? Ditto with this poor fish! But the point was that even the Ninevites — the Ninevites, of all people! — would “stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it” (v. 41). Jesus’ point was to show them just how far away the Jews were from believing him.

Second, how were Jonah and Jesus similar? Easily, they were far more different than alike. But they did have their similarities. God called Jonah to reach a nation, the Assyrians, which mostly lived in a city. God called Jesus to reach all the nations that lived on the earth. Both were prophets, but Jesus the greatest prophet. Jonah went to the capital city of Nineveh, which had a great wall nearly eight miles long, and a circumference of roughly 60 miles. Jesus came to the capital planet of the solar system, earth, having a circumference of 24,901.55 miles or 40.075.16km. As Jesus said, both spent 3 days in unpleasant places. And both returned to the earth after their ordeals. It can be argued numerically that the response to Jonah’s brief preaching stint was the greatest spiritual conversion event ever. Of course, members of the nations worldwide will likewise believe in Jesus. The similarities pretty much end here.

Now let’s move on to the differences, which are stark. God compelled Jonah to go because of his reluctance. Jesus, however, came willingly. Jonah showed no compassion to the pagan Ninevites and was willing to let them perish. Jesus was moved with compassion, “not wanting anyone to perish” (2 Peter 3:9). Jonah rebelled against God’s will; Jesus fulfilled it perfectly. On the one hand, God punished Jonah for his own disobedience by having the fish swallow him. On the other hand, Jesus, because of his obedience, received the punishment for the sins of others — the whole world (1 John 2:2). God saved the Ninevites in spite of Jonah. God saved you and me because of Jesus. Jonah maintained his separation from the newly converted Ninevites, watching for their judgment from a distance. Jesus removed the distance between him and us and now enjoys the delight of warm, God-centered fellowship and union. Jonah remained bitter to the end of his book, and probably to the end of his life. Jesus remains faithful, loving and glorious to the end of time, and definitely into all eternity. Jonah was an equal to others, humanly speaking, but staunchly maintained an air of bigoted superiority. Jesus was totally superior in every way, yet he did not consider it a shameful or disrespected thing to become “like his brothers in every way” (Hebrews 2:17).

Wow, the contrast could not be greater! Greater than Jonah? No question about it. I still see too much of Jonah in myself. Who do you take after: Jesus or Jonah?