Jonah in Mark and Matthew: Creation, Covenant, Christ, and the Kingdom of God

This article analyzes how Jonah is incorporated within the Synoptic Gospels, particularly Mark and Matthew. In addition to looking at the well-noted "sign of Jonah" passages Matthew and Luke, as well as at the clear allusion to Jonah found in the Stilling of the Storm episode in all three Synoptic Gospels, we suggest that there is a more over-arching use of Jonah in Mark and Matthew that runs from the Beelzebub controversy in Mark 3: 20-35/Matthew 12: 22-32 to the Transfiguration in Mark 9: 2-32/Matthew 17: 1-23. This larger Jonah-theme within Mark and Matthew points not only to the explicit connection between Jonah's three days in the great fish and Jesus' three days in the tomb, but also to the larger issues of Jesus' identity, the nature of the Kingdom, and the mission to the Gentile world.