In my most recent sermon, I preached through Mark 4:35\u201341\u2014the narrative of Jesus calming the great storm. I pointed out that Mark intentionally shows that this entire event parallels Jonah\u2019s own stormy experience in Jonah 1. Thus, Mark\u2019s narrative of Jesus calming the storm fills out what Jesus proclaims about himself in Matthew 12:41: \u201cSomething greater than Jonah is here.\u201d A question comes to mind: What exactly does it mean that Jesus is the one greater than Jonah?<\/p>\n
I unpacked this reality some in the sermon, and I aim to unpack it more here. In short, when we dig into the relevant texts, we find that Jesus is the greater Jonah in two ways. First, Jesus is the greater Jonah in that he prophetically proclaims God\u2019s word of salvation through repentance in perfect obedience to God and<\/em> with genuine, loving desire to see the lost come to salvation. Second, Jesus is the greater Jonah in that he ensures that the prophetic word will have saving effect by willingly and obediently sacrificing himself for the sins of those to whom he preaches repentance. We arrive at this by looking at the parallels and contrasts between Mark 4:35\u201341 and Jonah 1:1\u201316, in their respective contexts. These parallels and contrasts between Mark 4:35\u201341 and Jonah 1:1\u201316 sing forth this undeniable tune: Jesus is the greater Jonah. First, consider the parallels.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Greater Jonah: Parallels of Mark 4:35\u201341 and Jonah 1:1\u201316 in Context<\/em><\/p>\n Word to the Gentiles<\/strong><\/p>\n God instructs Jonah to take a prophetic word to Nineveh, the Assyrians\u2014a Gentile people (Jonah 1:1\u20132). Likewise, Jesus is headed to minister in the region of the Gerasenes, a predominantly Gentile region (Mark 4:35; 5:1).<\/p>\n Great Storms<\/strong><\/p>\n In both accounts, a great storm of wind and cresting waves threaten to sink the respective ships. In Jonah 1:4, \u201cthe LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.\u201d In Mark 4:37, \u201ca great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling.\u201d<\/p>\n Great Fear<\/strong><\/p>\n Both the crew in Jonah 1:5 and Jesus\u2019 disciples in Mark 4:35\u201341 react to the storm with fear.<\/p>\n Deep Sleepers<\/strong><\/p>\n In the midst of these great storms, both Jonah and Jesus are sleeping and have to be awakened (Mark 4:38; cf. Jonah 1:5\u20136).<\/p>\n \u201cCease\u201d the Storm<\/strong><\/p>\n The mariners in Jonah 1:11\u201312 wonder how it is they can get the sea to \u201cquiet down\u201d or \u201ccease\u201d (\u03ba\u03bf\u03c0\u03ac\u03b6\u03c9). This is the very thing that Jesus causes to happen in Mark 4:39 where upon his command \u201cthe wind ceased<\/em> (\u03ba\u03bf\u03c0\u03ac\u03b6\u03c9)\u201d.<\/p>\n Immediate Halt to the Storm<\/strong><\/p>\n Once the mariners in Jonah 1:15 hurl Jonah into the sea, the storm comes to an immediate halt. In Mark 4:39, at Jesus\u2019 command, the storm likewise comes to an immediate halt.<\/p>\n \u201cGreat fear\u201d of the Lord<\/strong><\/p>\n Finally, and most compellingly, once the storm ceases in both narratives the witnesses are \u201cfilled with great fear\u201d (The language in the original Greek shows a clear lexical connection: Mark 4:41\u2014\u1f10\u03c6\u03bf\u03b2\u03ae\u03b8\u03b7\u03c3\u03b1\u03bd \u03c6\u03cc\u03b2\u03bf\u03bd \u03bc\u03ad\u03b3\u03b1\u03bd; Jonah 1:16\u2014 \u1f10\u03c6\u03bf\u03b2\u03ae\u03b8\u03b7\u03c3\u03b1\u03bd\u2026\u03c6\u03cc\u03b2\u1ff3 \u03bc\u03b5\u03b3\u03ac\u03bb\u1ff3). And that great fear in both accounts is fear of the LORD. In Jonah, “the men feared the LORD exceedingly” (Jonah 1:16), and in Mark, the disciples fear Jesus, the Lord, and wonder “Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him” (Mark 4:41).<\/p>\n So the parallels are obvious. But the real payoff comes from noting the contrasts between these narratives in their wider contexts in light of these parallels.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Greater Jonah: Contrasts of Mark 4:35\u201341 and Jonah 1:1\u201316 in Context<\/em><\/p>\n Jonah, the Reluctant, Disobedient Prophet of Repentance : Jesus the Willing, Perfectly Obedient Prophet of Repentance<\/strong><\/p>\n Jonah flees the LORD in disobedience to his assigned prophetic task, which is to deliver God\u2019s word of impending judgment to sinful, wicked Nineveh (Jonah 1:1\u20133, 10). Such a prophetic word implies the need to believe God and repent (Jonah 3:5). Jesus, on the other hand, obediently proclaims the word of the coming kingdom of God and repentance (Mark 1:14\u201315).<\/p>\n Jonah\u2019s Helplessness to Stop the Storm : Jesus\u2019 Authority to Stop the Storm<\/strong><\/p>\n Jonah is helpless to stop the storm. And the storm only ceases when Jonah is passively sacrificed by being thrown into the sea. Jesus, on the other hand, causes the storm to cease by his perfect, divine authority.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Jonah is Sacrificed to \u00a0Save Others from God\u2019s Judgment Due to His Disobedience : Jesus Sacrifices Himself to Save Others from God\u2019s Judgment Due to their Disobedience<\/strong><\/p>\n In Jonah, the storm is God\u2019s judgment due to Jonah\u2019s disobedience. Thus, Jonah\u2019s entire sacrifice to save others was in the context of judgment for his disobedience.<\/em> Ultimately, Jesus too sacrifices himself to save others from God\u2019s judgment. But unlike Jonah, Jesus saves others from God\u2019s judgment due to their disobedience<\/em> not his. Indeed, Jesus sacrifices himself (1) in perfect obedience to God<\/em>, and (2) for the disobedience of those others<\/em>.<\/p>\n Jonah Proclaims God\u2019s Word but Cannot Effect Salvation : Jesus Proclaims God\u2019s Word and Effects Salvation by his Work on the Cross<\/strong><\/p>\n Jonah proclaims God\u2019s prophetic word to Nineveh, but does nothing to grant their repentance or effect their salvation. Jesus proclaims God\u2019s prophetic word to the lost, and by his sacrifice ransoms his people (Mark 10:45). He not only proclaims the word but he grants repentance and effects salvation through the cross and resurrection.<\/p>\n Jonah Begrudges Repentance of the Lost and God\u2019s Mercy Toward Them : Jesus Loves the Lost and Generously Offers Repentance and God\u2019s Mercy to Them<\/strong><\/p>\n Jonah begrudgingly proclaims the word and grows angry when it leads to repentance (Jonah 4:1). Jesus, loves those he calls to repentance, and he generously distributes mercy to them and gives his life to save them (Mark 5:20; 10:21, 45).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jesus is the Greater Jonah for our Joy<\/em><\/p>\n Thus, the contrasts between Jonah\u2019s narrative and Mark 4:35\u201341 in light of the parallels point to this: Jesus is the greater Jonah. Jesus is the greater Jonah in that he prophetically proclaims God\u2019s word of salvation through repentance in perfect obedience<\/em> to God and<\/em> with a loving desire to see the lost come to salvation<\/em>. And, Jesus is the greater Jonah in that he ensures that the word will have saving effect<\/em>. He does so by sacrificing himself not for his own disobedience but for the sins and disobedience of others under God\u2019s judgment.<\/em> And just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, so too was Jesus for three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And as Jonah seemingly came back to life from a watery grave, Jesus truly rose to new life and did not see corruption. Now Jesus dwells in God\u2019s joy-filled presence having secured the salvation of his people. And Jesus will bring his saved people back to God to experience that very same divine joy he enjoys now (Psalm 16:10\u201311; 1 Peter 3:18). What does it mean that Jesus is the greater Jonah? It means our perfect joy.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In my most recent sermon, I preached through Mark 4:35\u201341\u2014the narrative of Jesus calming the great storm. I pointed out that Mark intentionally shows that this entire event parallels Jonah\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,15,24],"tags":[558,2719,849,2718,865,978,2717,2720,1327,1388,2721],"class_list":["post-3416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-devotions","category-sermons","tag-forgiveness","tag-jesus-greater-and-stronger-pt-1","tag-jonah","tag-jonah-11-16","tag-judgment","tag-mark-435-41","tag-matthew-1241","tag-prophetic-word","tag-repentance","tag-salvation","tag-storm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3416"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3418,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3416\/revisions\/3418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}