Jonah—A Sermon Series by Pastor Bob Leroe, Cliftondale Congregational Church, Saugus, Massachusetts
Outline of Jonah:
Ch 1, The Prodigal Prophet
Ch 2, The Praying Prophet
Ch 3, The Preaching Prophet
Ch 4, The Pouting Prophet
Message #1, “I ran away but I couldn’t stay” -chapter 1:1-3 (introduction to the series)
We all know the story of Jonah, the reluctant prophet who reached his appointed destination only after a detour in the stomach of a great fish. We know it so well that it’s easy not to take Jonah seriously. That fish gets all the attention, but this is a message about the character of God. In these few pages we find a story that reveals to us the power and compassion of God…and along the way, like Jonah, we learn that obedience isn’t optional.
One important lesson we find out in this tale has to do with us. In Jewish synagogues on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, a passage from this story is read, and the congregation responds with the words: “We are Jonah.” This book is about us; it’s like a mirror, which means we may not like what we see. We are Jonah in our disobedience, in our insensitivity to others, in our dissatisfaction at how God works, in our selfishness. What makes the story bearable is that we also see how God is patient and quick to forgive.
Jonah’s name means “dove”, but he’s more like the raven that wouldn’t return to Noah’s Ark. We’re shocked by his rebellion and displeasure over God’s willingness to show mercy to the people of Ninevah. Jonah wanted Ninevah to “get what it deserved,” so he abandons his vocation, his calling. In this, Jonah is like both the Prodigal Son and the older brother of the parable. God is glorified, not through His prophet, but in spite of him.
Some people have trouble with the book of Jonah because it reads like a tall-tale, the mother of all big fish stories. Jesus compared Himself to Jonah, whom He regarded as a historical figure (1st mention-II Kings 14:25). In Matthew 12 Jesus predicts, “As Jonah was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth.” He is referring to His death and resurrection. If we can accept the resurrection of Jesus, the story of Jonah is not hard to believe. The key issue is: Can God work miracles? Does He have control of human events?
Next Jesus warns, “The men of Ninevah will stand up at the Judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.” The self-righteous religious leaders looked down on Gentiles as unsavable; and by refusing to repent, they failed to measure up even to the standard of Bibleless pagans in ancient Ninevah.
Jonah is given a task typical of prophets, to preach against a foreign, pagan nation. Such assignments were commonplace, but prophetic warnings were usually spoken on the prophet’s native soil. Nahum also preaches against Ninevah, but Jonah’s call is to serve as a foreign missionary, which he finds an unacceptable task. To ask Jonah to travel to Ninevah, in Babylon, Israel’s enemy, would be like asking a Rabbi to preach against the Nazis in Berlin during WWII. Most prophets issued their rebuke at a safe distance. Israel wasn’t known for treating its prophets well; you can imagine how a sworn enemy of Israel might respond! But it isn’t fear that causes Jonah to rebel, but anger towards Israel’s enemy. He objects to the mercy of God being offered to the evil Ninevites!
We have enemies today. Do we pray for them? I have prayed that Osama bin Laden be captured, but I can’t say I’ve prayed that he repent and turn to Christ. I need to.
One reason Jonah was so reluctant to preach to Ninevah was concern that the Babylonian Captivity foretold by other prophets would ultimately destroy the Jewish people. Jeremiah described Babylon as a sea monster swallowing up the Jews. Yet the thing Jonah feared the most actually saved his people. The Jews were intermarrying with unbelievers and becoming influenced by idolatry. Had they not been taken into captivity they would have been assimilated and obliterated as a distinct people. They would have completely lost their national and spiritual identity. God’s punishment preserved His people.
The city of Ninevah is among the oldest of known civilizations. It was located on the Tigrus River in modern day Iraq. I preached on Jonah during Desert Storm, and I remarked to my fellow soldiers that we can understand why Jonah didn’t exactly relish going there--I sure got a lot of amens preaching that sermon! Ninevah was a large, prosperous city, known for its military might and perversion. It was dedicated to Ishtar, the goddess of fertility and war. Yet as our text reveals, even ungodly cities are savable.
Other Bible people have been hesitant to obey God: Moses, Elijah, and Jeremiah argued with God…but Jonah bluntly refuses to obey. He convinces himself that he is right, and determines to not carry out God’s orders. God wanted Jonah to cry tears of compassion, but Jonah departs in tearless silence. He likely recalled how fellow prophet Jeremiah described God’s mercy. In Jer. 18 we’re told that God will relent if a nation repents. Jonah doesn’t want God to listen to Ninevah’s prayers. At least Jonah’s honest about it; so often we agree to do God’s will, but we end up going our own way.
God tells Jonah to go east, and Jonah travels west; Tarshish was on the far coast of Spain, beyond Gibralter. He’s told to travel to a city, and he heads out to sea. He’s told to stand up and preach, but he lies down to sleep. How disobedient can you get? Just as Adam & Eve tried to hide in the Garden, Jonah foolishly thinks he can run from God. Yet all the time the Spirit of God is whispering in his ear, “You’ll hear the cry of Ninevah in Tarshish, Jonah!” He surely must have known the familiar words of Psalm 139:
“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there; If I rise on the wings of the dawn and settle in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will hold me fast.”
Jonah is convinced that God has made a huge mistake; he figures by going AWOL he will make it physically impossible for God’s plan to be fulfilled, and that judgment will fall upon Ninevah without warning. Jonah knows what he’s doing and he knows what the consequences might be. He runs with his eyes open. He has a theological dispute with the Almighty over the extent of divine mercy.
Jonah has little trouble booking passage on a ship at the port of Joppa, on the Mediterranean coast. It would normally take weeks, even months to arrange for a sea journey. Whenever we try to run from God, Satan--our travel agent--always provides prompt transportation. We have an enemy who’s delighted to make our backsliding convenient. I wonder if Jonah noticed the rats getting off as he came on board? When we run from God we never get to where we’re going, and we always pay our own fare. When we go the Lord’s way, we always reach our destination, and He pays the fare. We piously pray for guidance, but sometimes our attitude is: “Lord, show me Your will so I can decide whether I want to do it.” Wouldn’t it be great if we could audibly hear God’s voice directing us? Jonah did, yet he chose not to listen.
Perhaps you’ve visited the Seamen’s Bethel, a historic mariner’s chapel in New Bedford, across from the whaling museum. It was built in 1831, and made famous by Herman Melville in his novel Moby Dick. The pulpit is in the shape of a ship’s bow, rising above the pews. Before the whaling crew of the Pequod set sail they hear a sermon on Jonah. The preacher describes Jonah’s rebellion and admonishes, “If we are to obey God, we must disobey ourselves.” Like Jesus, we must pray, “Not my will, but Thine be done.”
Jonah is an anti-hero, not a role model; he reminds us of our narrow-minded, biased attitudes. He flees God’s presence because that’s is the one place where he is sure to be exposed as a hypocrite. In the process of studying this book, I hope we’ll have the integrity to admit that, in many ways, “we are Jonah.”
