In the evening, just before bath time, Amy or I will say, “Lydia, it’s time to clean up your toys.” The response that we sometimes get is a very polite “no, thank you.” Lydia seems to miss that what was said was not an invitation!
Similarly, Jonah hears God say, “Jonah go at once to Nineveh,” and in his own way he tries to respond, “No thank you!” It doesn’t work for him either.
Jonah is a story about a very reluctant prophet. He tries to flee. He literally buys a ticket for the other side of the world. He gets tossed into the sea. He get’s swallowed by a great fish. He gets spit back up. He still doesn't want to listen.
However, I believe that it is also a story about our own shortcomings.
Have you ever been stubborn? Have you ever been upset with someone? Have you ever just not liked someone else? Have you ever been praying for a sign out of one side of your mouth, and been ignoring signs large and startling with your eyes?
Jonah is funny, but Jonah is also a mirror that holds our own foibles up in front of us. If we look closely, in Jonah’s actions, we can see reflections of our own. As Jonah flees, we can remember times we have fled from God. As Jonah lands in trouble, we can remember those times as well. As Jonah encounters people he is not ready to forgive and to whom he does not want God’s grace extended, we can remember times that we have been so selfish. As Jonah throws a fit when we does not get his way, we can remember our own fits, yet at the same time, Jonah strongly declares that despite all of those foibles of Jonah and of us, the work of God, the justice of God, the Grace of God continue.
"Jonah Under the Bush" - by Amy Harley
Fleeing God
Have you ever tried to flee to a place where God is not? Have you ever thought, “you can look away now, God”? Have you ever said, “I’m too busy now God”? Have you ever been so distracted by your own business and busyness that you wouldn’t give God a chance to slip a word in edgewise?
We may not flee God like Jonah, but chances are, that we flee in our own ways.
Jonah tries to flee to a place where God is not. The good news is that he cant do it. 139.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
When have you tried to flee God?
A Whale of a Lot of Trouble
In the story, Jonah is swallowed by a whale. It makes for a good story, but it may not be that surprising that setting off in a direction far away from God will end up getting your in trouble.
We may know no one who has been swallowed by a whale, but we surely know people who have gotten themselves into a whale of a lot of trouble by trying to flee to a place where God is not.
As family or friends, we may hurt and long for our loved one in the belly of a whale of a lot of trouble.
Or the day may come, or perhaps came many years ago, when we are in such trouble.
Or perhaps it is the day when we have felt overworked and overwhelmed, like the waters were above our head.
The Good news of Jonah is that God is still with Jonah is the belly of the whale. God hears Jonah’s prayers, and Jonah is in the end delivered from his predicament,
He is not left off the hook - his call is still the same, he is to go to Nineveh.
When were you or someone you love in a whale of a lot of trouble?
Being a Prophet in Bad Guy Central
What is all the fuss about Nineveh? Nineveh is bad-guy central. Nineveh as capital of the Assyrian Empire - an empire which devastated the kingdom of Judah. If Nineveh can change because of an encounter with the word of God. Anyone can!!!
Jonah may well be fleeing not so much because he does not want to be a prophet as he does not want to be a prophet to Nineveh. Not them, God! Anyone but them!
Something for us to think about both as individuals and as a church is that: It is just possible that the place that God calls us to go may not exactly be the place we want to go. We might be called to a place where we don't yet want to go, where we don’t yet feel prepared to go. We might be called to a place that takes us out of our comfort zone. God's ways are not our ways. God's plans are greater than our plans.
Or we may look upon other folks and think of them like Ninevites. We divide the world into us and them, and we're shocked to discover that while God loves us, God also loves them.
Jonah tries to flee to where God is not, but he can't do it. Jonah thinks that God does not love the people of Nineveh, but God does. Jonah seems to think that he can derail God's plan by preaching a single sentence to Nineveh. He can not. God has set about to save the city, and that is exactly what happens. God is greater than Jonah can imagine, and that is very good news. God is greater than we can imagine, and that is also very good news
When have you not offered grace or hospitality or welcome to someone because you simply didn’t want to like them?
Throwing a Fit
When the people of Nineveh do repent, Jonah is upset to the point of telling God that he would like to die.
God lets Jonah go out of the city in a huff, and when Jonah sits down on the outside of town, God sends a plant to grow over him. Jonah likes the plant, and is put out when the plant withers.
Jonah once again gets into a rage and a fury. He complains to God, and God makes a very good pint.
‘You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labour and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?’
I love that the last words in Jonah are “and also many animals”
God’s point is that God cares tremendously about these people. Jonah can’t imagine that.
Jonah essentially rolls on the ground and pouts. Being the parent of a 4-year-old, I know what this looks like.
It may have been many years since we have literally done this, since we have literally rolled around on the ground, but maybe, if only in our hearts, we have thrown a fit like Jonah in years more recent.
When was a time that you just couldn’t take it any more and you threw a fit?
There is good news in Jonah!
If Nineveh can repent. Anyone can. Certainly we can. God is persistent. God keeps with Jonah even though he could have been written off. God is persistent even with us! When we flee, we mess up, but God still is after us.
God loves even those who we do not.
Jonah - An Unfinished Story
Friends, a moment ago I mentioned that the last words in the story are “and also many animals”.
We aren’t told how Jonah responds. We don’t get to hear Jonah respond, “well God, I guess you have a point, I guess I need to forgive and love the people of Nineveh too.”
Does Jonah continue to roll around on the ground in a fit, or does Jonah rise up and follow God?
Jonah is an unfinished story. In a sense, what Jonah does is not what is important. How does our story end? When we’ve been stubborn, when we’ve been short on compassion, when we’ve been confronted by God’s grace in ways that we’re just not comfortable with, how does our story end?
Do we stay on the ground with Jonah throwing a fit? Or do we hear God’s word, receive God’s grace, and rise up and follow as a servant, a servant who sometimes wanders, but a servant who has been touched by the persistent, wonderful, amazing grace of God.
The Good News is that the God who would not abandon Jonah and does not abandon Nineveh will never abandon us.
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