Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Jonah and the Prodigal son

I just finished reading Jonah and I feel like there is a parallel between Jonah's sorry and the prodigal son parable, which was originally the Parable of the Two Sons.  Ninevah is the prodigal son's analog, and Jonah is the analog for the faithful son.  

I need to stew on this a while and see if it pans out.

Jonah = the faithful son
Ninevah = the prodigal son
God = the father

Ninevah was far from God, just as the prodigal son left his father.
God relented when Ninevah repented, just as the father welcomed the prodigal home
Jonah was vexed by God's compassion toward evil Ninevah, just as the faithful son was vexed by their father's treatment of the returning prodigal.

Basically, the lesson is that God loves all of his children and wants them home with him.  So, if we are the prodigal/Nineveh, then we should repent.  If we are faithful/Jonah, we should not be vexed by the joy of a repentant son.  We should share in that celebration.

No comments:

Post a Comment