The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah and the Mystery of God's Mercy

by Timothy J. Keller

And finally, after the deliverance, both the sailors and the disciples are described as more terrified than they were in the storm (Mark 4:41; Jonah 1:16). These parallels can’t be coincidences. By this parallelism, Mark is telling us that Jonah’s willingness to die for the sailors points us to an infinitely greater sacrificial love that brings an infinitely greater salvation. Unlike Jonah, Jesus was not thrown into the waters, because Jesus came to save us from a far greater peril than drowning. Jesus was able to calm the storm on Galilee and save his disciples because later, on the cross, he was thrown into the ultimate storm of divine wrath so he could save us from sin and death itself. Jesus himself says, “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).