Jonah 1
1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me." 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
4 But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load.[a] But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, "What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish."
7 And they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, "Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?"
9 So he said to them, "I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land."
10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, "Why have you done this?" For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. 11 Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?"—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.
12 And he said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me."
13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they cried out to the LORD and said, "We pray, O LORD, please do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You." 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and took vows.
17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
I love to preach Old Testament Stories. I love to preach them for several reasons. First of all, many of us hear of and read the stories we heard as Sunday School, and we keep them in our minds as "Sunday School stories". As children's stories. Yet, I have found, as I read these passages as an adult, the story sounds different to me. That is not because God's word has changed. God's word is unchanging. It is because as I reread this story as an adult I am different, and so I hear it different, and different things speak to me.
The book of Jonah is very much this way. When I was young I was very entertained that a man could live three years in the belly of a great fish. I was amazed at how powerful God was in the middle of the seas and how he orchestrated everything just so, so that Jonah would be able to survive three days and three nights in the belly of that fish until it barfed him up on the seashore three days later. As a young boy, I always like Bible stories that has gross bodily functions like vomit in them.
As an adult, I am less interested in the biological matters this passage communicates that the spiritual truths it explores.
The book of Jonah is 48 verses long. Four brief chapters. The first chapter tells us the most famous part of the passage. The second chapter is a song Jonah sings. The third chapter tells us about what God did in Nineveh. The fourth chapter talks about Jonah's response to his success as a missionary.
Although there is a supporting cast, this drama is really about Jonah and God. It begins and ends with the word of God coming to Jonah. The supporting cast is touched and changed—yes. But God is speaking to Jonah here. We are seeing and hearing this through his experience.
I believe as we read this, we should read this as a parable. What I mean by that is this. I think we are meant to put ourselves in the middle of this story, and experience what is happening to Jonah as if it is happening to us. We are meant to see ourselves in Jonah, and through seeing ourselves in Jonah to respond to God accordingly.
This may be hard for some of us, but it is also ok to notice the wry and dark humor and irony of the book. Everything Jonah doesn't want he gets foisted upon him. God asks him to go one way, and he not only doesn't go, he finds the furthest place in the other direction to head toward. He doesn't want to be a missionary to non-Jews, he doesn't like them, but they keep responding to his message through worship and repentance anyway.
First and foremost though, this book is about God. In forty eight verses the name of God is mentioned thirty nine times. Most often the name of God as YAHWEH is used, which is meant to direct us that this whole story is about a covenant relationship, and about what it means to be in relationship with God. It is about who God loves, how God loves, and how God's love defies all expectations. Much as Jesus reflects back on Jonah as a type about his death and resurrection, Jonah points forward to a Jesus that came to earth because he loved us all, and would not let us go.
Anyway…the book of Jonah begins with the voice of the Lord calling out to Jonah.
God says to Jonah "Jonah, I want you to get UP and go UP to Nineveh and preach my word to them".
Jonah says nothing. He walks out of the temple high on God's holy hill. He heads down the stairs of that holy temple of God. He descends to the city gate. He heads out of town, out of the mountains, and downhill to the port city of Joppa. Once he hits the port city of Joppa he goes to the port, and the scripture says he goes DOWN into a boat. Eventually he goes down into the bottom of the boat once he is on the boat.
Jonah buys his fare to Tarshish, which is the opposite direction from Nineveh. Jonah is asked to go to Syria, he heads to Spain, on the other side of the Mediterreanean Sea.
God is up. Jonah tries to head as far down as he can get. God calls him from Israel, he tries to get as far away from Israel as he can get. God said, "Go to Nineveh, or better, go to Baghdad Iraq. Jonah heads in the direction of the French Riviera.
Specifically, the Bible says that Jonah fled. He did not stop, he did not collect $200. He ran away from God as best as he could, as fast as he could, as far as he could. The word for flee here speaks not of fear in the face of an enemy, but of fleeing relationship. Fleeing community. He wanted nothing to do with this God who wanted Him to go to Nineveh.
Nineveh, according to the prophet Nahum, was a wicked place. It was violent. It ran through and conquered everyone and everything in its path. Including Israel. It conquered Israel's cities. It killed Israel's people. It had killed and conquered half the known world. And then, after they conquered places, the Ninevites would tax the countries that they had taken over with extremely high taxes.
Israelites hated Ninevites. Israelites were scared of Ninevites. And now Jonah was supposed to go and preach to these people that he hated and was scared of. That is what God told him. And he ran. He ran away as best he could.
Have you ever tried to run away? Have you ever tried to run away from God? Have you ever felt like God wanted you to do one thing, and you wanted to do something totally different?
Maybe you were angry with God. A loved one died. A friend betrayed you. An opportunity was lost. A prayer wasn't answered. And you became angry with God. And so you ran from Him. You would not go to church. You would not pray. You would not read your Bible.
Maybe you felt like God was asking you to do something. Be a pastor. Be a deacon. Go on a mission trip. And you chose to not listen. To do something else. To go the other way.
Perhaps it is just moments in your life where you have ran from God. You see a person in need and you feel led to help, but you try and get as far away from the person as you can. You feel led to give more, but you make a hundred excuses why you shouldn't. You have been asked to help somebody with something, and you make up an excuse so you don't have to help, even though you know you should. And some point, or in some way, we have all ran. Jonah just makes this running from God to an art form.
I remember when I started to run. I had just finished a hard year of ministry. I was starting to think maybe I might want to do something different than serve the Lord in ministry. I took off and spend a couple of weeks with my mother toward the end of the summer. She had some friends, and I was lined up to do this mental health work with at risk kids through the school district. The job paid better. I could live at home and pay off bills. It sounded good. I was going to be able to run away from all of the difficulties of ministry, make good money, be near family. I could just run away from all the stress of the church and where I lived.
Then I remembered the story of Jonah. And I remembered that I was running. I remembered that running did not get Jonah very far. And it would not get me very far either. And I went back to the church. And I continued to serve and press on in ministry.
So Jonah ran to that boat headed for Tarshish. And he got on it. And soon as they were out to sea the winds began to blow. And the seas began to get rough. And the storm threatened to break up the ship and everyone on board became scared they were going to die. They all started praying to their own gods. They started throwing the cargo overboard. They were afraid for their lives.
Jonah was sleeping at the bottom of the boat. They woke him up. He said he was the cause of the storm. They cast lots. The lots said he was the cause of the storm. He told them to throw Him overboard. That this was God coming after Him. They were afraid to throw him overboard. He convinced Him to do it. They threw him in the ocean. The seas died down. These soldiers started worshipping the God of the Bible.
You see, this man running from God, running from ministry, is still being used by God. As a matter of fact, he, through his disobedience, evangelizes the whole boat without really trying. He tried to run from God, but he could not really do it.
When he was thrown into the water, the Lord rescued Jonah through a whale. That whale swam back to Israel, and vomited him back up on the seashore. Probably the same seashore that he left.
The Lord told him to go to Nineveh. He ran away. The Lord pursued Him. The Lord would not let Jonah go. Jonah could try and run away. But he could never really truly run away from God.
Neither can we.
We may think we can run away from God, but God does not give up on us that quickly. We try and ignore God, but he keeps coming after us. We try and hide from God, but he knows right where we are. We can try and give up on God, but he never gives up on us.
The old poem called the Hound of Heaven talks about how we try and run and flee from God. From what God wants us to do. From the kind of men and women God wants us to be. We flee. We run. We hide. But God, the poem goes, is a like a hound that picks up our scent. He keeps pursuing. He keeps coming after us. Deliberately. Directly. He keeps pursuing. God loves us so much he will not let us go. He will not let us hide. He will sniff us out. He will hunt us down. And he will ask us to trust him. To come with him. To follow him. To accept him. To do his will.
And if you are running from God, don't think he will not do whatever he needs to do to turn you around. To bring your back. To get your attention. He will rock your boat. He will make your life feel like a sinking ship. You may think you can take control, but nothing in this world will feel like it is in your control. Because He, the Lord has a plan for you and he will not let you go. Even if He has to make you brokenhearted, miserable, helpless, and hopeless to bring you back to Himself. He will keep chasing you. He will keep seeking you out. So you better obey Him. You better make a commitment to follow Him. You better do his will.
So often, we think that we are in charge. We think that when God asks us to do something, tells us in his word about what his will is, that our obedience, that our participation in His plan is somehow open to negotiation. We say God, I will do this, but I will not do that. Or I won't do this, but I will do that instead. The truth is it is futile to try follow God on our terms and in our way. Following Jesus is about surrendering to Him. Submitting to his will. So stop bargaining, stop negotiating, and start obeying and let God use you the way he wants to use you.
We also can run by simply sitting still. By refusing to go out into the world and be a witness and an influence in the world around us. But God will keep prodding us and pushing us to go where he wants us to go, and do what he wants us to do. He will make us frustrated and miserable if he has to in order to get us to carry out His work and His mission.
We are a good church. We are a faithful church. But we will continue to take the small steps and make the small changes we need to make as a church to go into our mission field, this community, and continue to reach out to it. It will be hard at times. We will feel like we are failing. We will be uncomfortable, but we will not run away. We will not hide. We will go where God asks us to go. We will do what God asks us to do. And we will say what God asks us to say. And we will DEPEND on Him to bless us, our ministry, our witness. Knowing that the power of God goes with us when we obey Him. That he uses obedient hearts to transform others lives and to transform us.
Sisters and brothers, we can not hide from God. He loves us. He will not let us go. So let us stop running, and choose to accept his love, accept his call, accept his mission, and change the world in our little place….in our little corner. Amen.
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