Jonah is one of the most important books in the Old Testament. The Gospel writers interpreted Jesus life, in part, through the framework of the book. Jonah represents a shift away from particualrism, from the view that God's relationship with the Jews implied that He loved them alone, and that salvation was only about them. In place of this view, the writer of Jonah sees God's special relationship with His people as a stepping stone to saving the whole world, which He loves. It is not a huge surprise, then, that early Christians would latch onto the text. One early Christian position on salvation was probably that Jesus was bringing the salvation the Jews enjoyed to all of mankind. That is concomitant with the viewpoint of the writer of Jonah.
The writer of Jonah is lampooning a certain type of prophet, all too common during the Persian period, that was soft on Israel but hard on the rest of the world, and who saw salvation as being about and for the Jews alone. Jonah is the embodiment of the Jewish experience as the Jewish universalist understood it. He is literally dragged kicking and screaming into his duty as prophet to the Ninevites. He is disobedient and his actions are silly and stupid...he tries to run away from God.
On the ship to Tarshish, he sleeps while the ship is in deep trouble. Why? Because Jonah is confident in God's protection of him. The writer of mark recalled this incident when talking about Jesus' calming of the seas. Both Jesus and Jonah sleep because they are assured of God's favor and protection. But whereas Jesus was teaching a lesson in faith, Jonah is indifferent to the other sailors. This indifference is highlighted by the sailors' overt concern for him...they do everything they can to avoid throwing him overboard, even when God is doing all He can to get them to do just that.
For the writer, this is a commentary on the attitude of some Jews, who lacked a sense that they were to be bringing God's salvation to the world. Remember, the writer is also a Hebrew, so this is not a commentary on Judaism or Jews in general. This is an example of Jewish self-criticism and so we are talking about different flavors of the Jewish experience during Persian rule. But some Jews must have had this kind of blaise attitude about the rest of the world. For the writer, these Jews are Jonah, assured of their own salvation, while the rest of the world goes to hell.
Of course Jonah's confidence ends up being justified. God did protect and save him. Jonah's actions end up bringing the sailors to Yahweh, even when this was not his intention. The message is that God will use the Jewish nation to fulfill their destiny even if they are not too good about doing it themselves. God will drag His chosen kicking and screaming into the role He has for them. This may even be a different understanding of the exile, for the writer. The tossing in the sea could be seen as a symbol for the exile. On this view, then, God exiled the Jews because they were not bringing His message to the world. The diasporas were His way of ensuring this happened. Remember, this is not my own view, at all. I'm just conjecturing that this MIGHT be Jonah's view.
So Jonah, through his disobedience, brought the sailors to obedience. And as we all know God finally did convince him to go to Nineveh. Notice the difference between the Ninevite situation and Jonah's. They must repent to receive salvation. Jonah is saved before he repents. The writer does not deny a special place for the Jews. Jonah is saved no matter what, even in disobedience, God's mercy is assured. But it expands the parameters of God's love. God's final monologue runs along these lines: "I made them Jonah, just like I made the Jews. And yes, they are silly and stupid, but I love them anyways." But Jonah, too, is silly and stupid, in his running from God. God's message through the entire book seems to be something like "you are all so silly and stupid, and sinful, and yet I love you all anyways. If I'm willing to save the silly, stupid, sinful Jews, I am willing to save everyone. For everyone is like that."
Jesus may be God's Jonahite plan coming to fruition. Think about God's message here in Jonah in relation to the story of the Prodigal Son. The sons can be looked at as Jonah and Nineveh, or rather the Jews and the Gentiles as the faithful and the prodigal sons respectively. Lots of grist for the mill here.
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