The Prodigal Prophet
Jonah and the Mystery of God's Mercy
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An angry prophet. A feared and loathsome enemy. A devastating storm. And the surprising message of a merciful God to his people.
The story of Jonah is one of the most well-known parables in the Bible. It is also the most misunderstood. Many people, even those who are nonreligious, are familiar with Jonah: A rebellious prophet who defies God and is swallowed by a whale. But there's much more to Jonah's story than most of us realize.
In The Prodigal Prophet, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller reveals the hidden depths within the book of Jonah. Keller makes the case that Jonah was one of the worst prophets in the entire Bible. And yet there are unmistakably clear connections between Jonah, the prodigal son, and Jesus. Jesus in fact saw himself in Jonah. How could one of the most defiant and disobedient prophets in the Bible be compared to Jesus?
Jonah's journey also doesn't end when he is freed from the belly of the fish. There is an entire second half to his story--but it is left unresolved within the text of the Bible. Why does the book of Jonah end on what is essentially a cliffhanger? In these pages, Timothy Keller provides an answer to the extraordinary conclusion of this biblical parable--and shares the powerful Christian message at the heart of Jonah's story.
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Keller (Hidden Christmas), the founding pastor of Manhattan's Redeemer Presbyterian Church, argues that the biblical story of Jonah asks readers to reckon with the complex nature of God wrathful, merciful, and just instead of running from it. Keller begins by stating that, to understand the book of Jonah's many sociological insights, one must first see that "its main teaching is theological." In his view, Jonah reveals the dangers of invoking nationalism, fearing and rejecting the other, and believing that Christian identity can pass for Christian behavior. These problems, Keller argues, originate in a person's failure to reckon with sinfulness and trust God as the only source of self-worth and salvation. Keller's theological interpretation of Jonah is clear and elegant, but his exploration of its social implications is hesitant. Many readers will be frustrated by his belief that the church should be intimately connected to the state. However, his examination of a question central to many religious and political systems what is the relationship between justice and mercy? makes the book valuable and provocative for a broad audience. Christian readers looking to engage in a deep scriptural dive into the book of Jonah will find much to ponder in the implications of Keller's reading.
