The overall theme of the book of Jonah: the manifestation of God’s unmerited grace to those who have sinned against him.

The Big Picture of 1:1-16: Jonah deliberately evades God’s instruction to preach against the Assyrian city of Nineveh. Jonah does not merely ignore the command; he sets out to get as far away from God and Nineveh as possible! To add to the sense of Jonah’s rebellion against God, the pagan sailors respond in ways that put Jonah to shame.

This sermon series is indebted to Daniel C. Timmer’s “A Gracious and Compassionate God: Mission, Salvation, and Spirituality in the Book of Jonah”