Book Review – The Prodigal Prophet

In The Prodigal Prophet, Timothy Keller brings the story of Jonah forward and points out a number of insights that really are remarkable. The breakdown of the book of Jonah given in the introduction, alongside a concise parallel of the book of Jonah with the story of the prodigal son, left me wondering how in the world I could already have so much information (dare I say revelation?) without even breaking into chapter one yet. To say the book is rich is an understatement.

In his acknowledgements, Keller mentions “… the numerous and varied lines of application to contemporary issues and problems…” present in the book of Jonah. I believe he does such a good job of presenting multiple lines of thought that depending on your season of life, you could walk away from the book with a different take-away every time you read it. However, I do believe there was an overarching theme.

In a culture dominated by polarization and an us-versus-them mentality, The Prodigal Prophet has above all been a challenging but needed reminder that Christ’s love is not predicated on sameness. A person’s likeness to myself does not qualify them for the love of God. Their unlikeness to myself does not disqualify them.

God sent a prophet of His chosen people, Israel, to the capital city of their enemy, Nineveh, to deliver them from destruction. These are not people who look like, behave like, or believe like God’s people, yet He sends His prophet to deliver them. Why? It is only by His grace.

Keller challenges us to confront our own prejudices. What are the things that make us hesitate when it comes to loving others? In what ways are we happy to accept grace in our own lives, but quick to deny grace in the lives of others? What are the matters we have made important but God takes no notice of? Race, creed, political affiliation, belief system, behavior – these are all categories we use to place a value system on people around us. Where we see categories, God sees His people — many of whom “don’t know their right hand from their left” (Jonah 4:11) — and He has compassion for them all.

That is really the call to action: have compassion. In a world full of “others,” do not grow cold and callous. We can not reject people based on their differences from us, or even based on their sin against God. He has compassion on them. He desires their salvation. So who are we to deny them?

I purchased this book of my own volition. This is not a sponsored post, nor did I receive any kind of payment for this review. I am a fan of Timothy Keller’s books and enjoy sharing a good book when I read one!

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