Every Sunday school kid knows that Jonah was swallowed by a whale, but not many adults know why that happened, and the incredible underlying story of Jonah. And very few recognize the connection to one Jesus of Nazareth.

Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah saying Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah got up and fled in the opposite direction to get away from God.

Now this really doesn’t make sense. Jonah knew God well enough to recognize when God spoke to him. He was a prophet. Why didn’t he just get up and go to Nineveh and do as he was told? What motive—what dynamic—was strong enough to send a prophet running in the wrong direction? Jonah will tell us in the end of the story and it may not be what you think it is.