When I was Muslim, I knew the story of Jonah. We call him Yunus. We have a surah named after him too.
There’s similarities: Swallowed by the fish. Three days in the dark. Spit back out alive to go preach. We agree on all of it.
But you know what I never connected?
Jesus pointed at that exact story and made it about Himself.
“As Jonah was three days in the belly of the fish, so the Son of Man will be three days in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:40.
Jonah went down into the deep so a city full of His enemies could be saved.
Three days swallowed by death. Then back to the land of the living.
The difference?
Jonah ran FROM the mission and got swallowed as discipline.
Jesus ran TO the mission and got swallowed on purpose.
Jonah went into the dark kicking and screaming.
Jesus walked in with His eyes open, for you and I both.
Islam gave me a random fish.
Jesus gave me the meaning of the fish.
🐋