Jonah: Religious Hypocrisy

Religious hypocrisy haunts God's people in every age. The book of Jonah treats this ailment. Jonah is a foil for Israel, whom God uses in this narrative to confront their hypocrisy. The principal issues of hypocrisy are the abdication of their God-given calling, the vanity of their prayers, and the delusion of their judgments of who is worthy of mercy and who is beyond redemption. To get this wrong is to miss the gospel entirely. Everyone deserves judgment, and at the same time, no one is beyond God's mercy. As Christians, we have the holy calling to bring the gospel not just to Nineveh but to every tribe, tongue, and nation (Matt. 28:19-20). "Salvation belongs to the LORD" (2:9; cf. 4:2), and God's mercy extends even to enemies who repent.