All of us have probably heard the story of Jonah. Even if you didn’t grow up in a church, you’ve probably at least heard a version of the story somewhere along your life’s journey.
God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, but Jonah ran from God, so he got swallowed by a big fish, that eventually spit him out. He preached to the people of Nineveh, they repented, and God saved the city from destruction. That’s the story we’ve been told, and that’s the story that we think we know.
But there’s more to this fish story than meets the eye and if you’ve been to Logos Dei Church before, then it shouldn’t surprise you when I say, let’s look at it in its context.
Jonah is a well known and well-respected prophet in the 8th Century B.C. during a time that Israel was in the beginning stages of an economic boom. Money was pouring into the country, stock market was soaring, small businesses were taking off, and people were getting rich.
And they attributed this to Jonah who prophesied God’s blessings for Israel . . . After all, isn’t money a sign of God’s blessing? (I would encourage you to read the book of Amos if you want to see what God thought of Israel during this time).
So needless to say Jonah was a celebrity.
There was only one real problem during this time period. In the east, another nation, Assyria, was beginning to grow equally as strong and their boundaries were expanding.
And the military rulers of Assyria were not very nice. They subdued nations with absolute terror. So the Israelites didn’t like them at all.
The capital city of Assyria was Nineveh.
So, when God comes to Jonah and says, “Go to the great city of Nineveh, and give them this announcement from the Lord: ‘I am going to destroy you”
You’d think that Jonah would leap for joy and say, “All right . . . It’s about time God. Let’s go, let’s go rain down fire on those wicked people who are trying to move in on Israel’s blessings” . . . Right?
But Jonah doesn’t do that. Instead of getting up and going, Jonah got up and . . . ran away. And he boarded a ship bound for Tarshish, in the opposite direction from Nineveh.
The text says that Jonah fled from the Lord but Jonah wasn’t trying to get to a place where God couldn’t find him. It was Jonah’s way of telling God “Yeah . . . I don’t think so”.
Jonah is in this boat, headed in the opposite direction of where God has asked him to go . . . and so God sends a violent storm; winds blowing, waves crashing over the sides.
And the sailors were freaking out because they’re pretty sure that they’re going to die so they do the only logical thing they could think of . . . throw their cargo overboard; gold, silver, ivory, jewels, spices and exotic animals. And as the tossed over the cargo, they cried out to their gods for deliverance.
So, these sailors are freaking out, they’re dumping out all their stuff, praying to their gods . . . and where’s Jonah? He’s hiding out in the lowest parts of the ship, fast asleep.
And the sailors were like, “Dude, we’re all about to die here . . . how can you be sleeping? You’ve got to get up and call out to your God too“
But Jonah doesn’t do it. It’s like he doesn’t care if they all die.
So the sailors resort to the practice of drawing straws to try to figure out which god is responsible for this calamity and Jonah is singled out as the one who’s God is responsible.
So they go to Jonah again and they start to ask him every question they can think of in order to determine why Jonah’s God is sending the storm. Now remember, the storm is still raging, and the boat is getting ready to break apart so this isn’t some idle conversation on a Mediterranean cruise ship during a thunder storm. This is a life and death conversation.
Jonah answers their questions. He tells them where he’s from and the name of his God, YHWH. He tells them that YHWH created the sea and the land. And since he created it, he can cause a storm like this.
And so they ask Jonah “Is there anything we can do to so that He might spare our lives? We do not want to die for something you did.”
The logical answer would be, “Turn around! Head the other direction. Take me to Nineveh. That’s where God wants me to go.” But instead he says, “Throw me overboard into the sea.”
I don’t know if he could swim or not, but in a storm like this, it wouldn’t matter. Throwing a man overboard is essentially putting that man to death by drowning.
So Jonah is saying, I would rather die than go to Nineveh.
Well, the sailors a bit hesitant to do this so they try to throw him back to the land but they can’t make it to the land, and the sea gets worse. So they finally do what Jonah asks. But before they do, they pray to YHWH. They know He is in control of the storm, and hope that he doesn’t hold them accountable for killing one of His children.
And in response to their prayer and throwing Jonah overboard, the raging sea grew calm and the sailors were saved.
But Jonah is out in the water hoping to die but God wasn’t going to let Jonah get off the hook that easy. So he sends a miracle to keep Jonah alive.
People always think Jonah was swallowed by a whale, but the text says it was a fish. I don’t know what kind of fish it was . . . but it doesn’t kill him.
So, Jonah is sitting in the belly of this big fish, it’s dark, it smells bad, and all of a sudden, he’s like, “I don’t want to die like this” so for the first time in this whole story, he prays to God.
And at first glance, it seems like it’s a decent prayer but when you really listen to what he’s saying, you realize it’s very selfish and shallow. He thanks God for saving his life and promises that he’s gonna go straight to church and worship God and give thanks for all he’s done.
But then he goes on to basically say, “Those sailors who threw me into the waters . . . they are so stupid. They worship worthless idols that can’t save them. I told them about you God, and they prayed to you but you and I both know that they will return to their false idols. They are a worthless cause.”
You see what he’s doing . . . he’s placing labels on them and determining that unlike himself, the labels they wear are not worthy of God’s grace. He is elite . . . chosen by God . . . worthy of grace . . . but everyone else is scum not deserving of God’s grace.
And that’s exactly why he doesn’t want to go to Nineveh. To him, they are a hopeless cause. To him, they aren’t worthy of God’s grace.
After three days and three nights of praying, the fish vomited Jonah onto dry land. Vomit is a harsh word but I think it’s a metaphor for how God feels about Jonah’s prayer. You’re prayer makes me puke!
So Jonah is on dry land and he wants to make good on his prayer and go to Jerusalem to worship God but this isn’t what God wants. You see, although worshipping God is a great thing . . . God almost never allows us to go to step two until we have completed step one.
He doesn’t say, “Well you neglected to do what I originally asked you to do, but that’s okay, I’ll let you skip it so that you can move on with your own agenda.”
No, God wants obedience, so he says, “Get your tail to Nineveh and preach the message that I tell you.”
So, Jonah drags himself to Nineveh and he blurts out . . . “Hey, in 40 days ya’ll gonna die.”
You can almost imagine him saying, “There are you satisfied God. I went. I preached. It’s done. Can we all just go home now?”
But Jonah doesn’t even present the truth of God’s message. You see, God’s message was conditional. If the people of Nineveh didn’t repent, then God was going to judge them harshly.
But he never bothers to mention the “if” part. He doesn’t want them to know that. He doesn’t want them to know that there’s a way out.
But despite Jonah’s intentions there is an amazing response. It says that the people “believed” in God. And when the king hears about it, he calls for national repentance.
This is a serious revival and so God decides not to destroy them which is cause for celebration!
But not for Jonah; in fact, Jonah is downright mad because these guys are really bad dudes and they don’t deserve God’s grace.
And in his anger, he cries out to God and says, “God you were wrong to extend grace to those people. You are out of your mind. And I can’t believe you used me to do it”
What Jonah forgets, or maybe doesn’t know, is that no one deserves God’s grace.
And so God is like, “Seriously, I had every right to destroy you for your disobedience. I fact, I had more right to destroy you than I did the Ninevites because you know me. And now that they know me, they’ve repented but you still haven’t repented and yet I’m still being gracious and patient with you . . . you seriously think you have the right to be angry?”
And in typical Jonah fashion, he doesn’t answer God but instead goes outside the city to pout. And he sits up on top of this hill overlooking the city maybe in hope that God would come to his senses and destroy the city and he wanted a bird’s eye view to watch it when it happened. I don’t know.
But he’s sitting there in the blazing desert heat and God causes a plant to grow over Jonah to provide him some shade but the next day the plant dies and once again Jonah gets furious with God.
And once again, God is like, “Seriously?”
But Jonah doesn’t respond to God. He’s angry that the plant died . . . so angry that he just wants to die.
So God says, “Look at you. You didn’t cause the plant to grow, and yet you loved it and wanted it to survive. Neither did you cause Nineveh to grow, and yet you want it to be destroyed. And Nineveh is filled with 120,000 people who do not know right from wrong. Yet, if you had to choose between 120,000 people and a plant, you would pick the plant”
The book closes with one final question from God: “Shouldn’t I have compassion for a great city like Nineveh with its 120,000 people in utter spiritual darkness?”
And that is how the story ends. It leaves us hanging.
We don’t get an answer from Jonah. We don’t know what his response was. We don’t know if God got through to Jonah’s heart. We don’t know if Jonah learned his lesson.
It just leaves us hanging . . . it’s almost as if the text is begging us to answer the question. Challenging us to examine our own hearts and see if they line up with the heart of God. A God described as compassionate, slow to anger and full of mercy.
You see, a lot of us are Jonah’s, so incredibly lost and stubborn, stuck in our narrow-minded ways and our hearts don’t look anything like God’s heart.
We’re willing to receive God’s grace and the freedom from the labels that have been placed on us by others and yet, we struggle to stop labeling others.
But for Jonahs like us, there is great news . . . a greater Jonah has come and his name is Jesus.
Like Jonah, God called him to go to a people upon whom judgment was coming. But completely unlike Jonah, Jesus went. He came to dwell among us and to bring light to those living in darkness. To bring restoration for those who are broken, and died that we might be brought back into relationship with a God who has a deep compassion for his people.
And he calls us to be his church, not just to receive but also proclaim his message of Grace.
Jesus said, “In the same way I loved you, you love one another.”
And so, you who are called by God, how do you respond?