Today we are in Jonah chapter one. Many of us are familiar with the story of Jonah, God's messenger, a dove sent to proclaim peace. We recall the days of Sunday school and kid's church and remember the retelling of this story. We recognize the disobedience of Jonah and the grace of God sending a big fish to save him from the raging sea. In many ways, however, we have ignored this story because of its familiarity. We have not dug deep into the passage because it's meaning seems clear, and it looks as if we've learned all there is to know about it. I would like to revisit this passage with you, and maybe we can uncover some beautiful truths that we had been blinded to before.
Where our story begins in chapter one, we see that God has commanded Jonah to go to Ninevah, a city so wicked and idolatrous that it was named after the false goddess Nina, the mother of health, cooperation, dreams, magic, and meditation. There is no description of the dwelling itself. Still, I believe that the fact Jonah was so terrified to follow God's command is proof enough that this location was more evil and destructive than anything we have ever witnessed. Instead of following God, Jonah runs the opposite way and flees to Tarshish, the place meaning contemplation and examination. Jonah runs farthest away from the beckoning voice of the Father as possible, hoping he could hide, but knowing he could not. As he boarded a ship at Joppa, the site of beauty, God knew where he was, for He had never lost Jonah in the first place. The Lord looked down on him and said,
"My son Jonah is fleeing to the place of contemplation, but I will not let him arrive. I will stop him in between destruction and examination, and I will force this boy to face me in the tension of the two. Clearly seeing my goodness in between death and ponderings of knowledge. In between promise and wickedness. In between fleeing and going. I will stop him here and show him that faith without works is nothing. No amount of meditation on my word without acts of obedience will lead to righteousness. One must take the step to be saved from destruction and then run toward it with all their might so that they may save others from the death that most assuredly lies ahead."
After paying his fare hurriedly, Jonah boarded the ship and hastened down below exhausted from resistance and worn down by disobedience. Here we are faced with the parallels between this account of Jonah and the account of Jesus in Mark 4:35-41. Here we find Jonah asleep in a swaying ship jeopardized by as fierce a storm as the experienced sailors of the ship had ever seen. As wild a blast as the old sails had whipped through and the aged wood been tossed by. This was a storm inflicted as punishment by God. There was no denying that the Lord's hand was in waves, and he was indeed the one who had stirred them. In the gospel of Mark, we find Jesus and his disciples in the same situation. Facing a storm that only God had brought about. The storm they were facing, however, was not punishment, but fulfillment. Jesus fulfilling, in perfection, all the deeds of the prophets. Jesus came as our Savior, and He proved along the way that He was what all his children were not. He was the perfect leader, where Adam had not been. He was patient and obedient, where Abraham had been hasty. Jesus was firm in the face of temptation, where David had failed, He succeeded. When faced with the storm, Jesus was found innocent and having authority over it all. Where Jonah had been found guilty and powerless in the presence of God, Jesus stood in the absolute power and elevation of being one with God and of relation with the Father.
Returning back to the story of Jonah, we see that he has fallen into a deep sleep. So deep that even the uproar of bellowing sailors and splash of cargo being thrown into the sea did not wake him. The captain roused him, reprimanding him earnestly amid the struggle, crying, "How can you sleep? Get up and call your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish." This strong man, this master of waves and sailor of seas, was afraid and knew that it was the wrath of God they were facing. The sailors then cast lots to find who was responsible for the calamity they faced. There they stood ducking in the storm, drenched in icy salt water, each casting lots anxious that they not fall on themselves. The lots fell on Jonah, and each man inwardly sighed in relief of their innocence. They then questioned him, pleading to know the cause of all the trouble. Jonah answered with a religious proclamation, but the honest truth of the situation shone through, and each man, in turn, cried out at what Jonah had forced upon them. The sea was growing rougher by the minute, and Jonah cried, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea!" This may at first seem valiant of Jonah; however, it was anything but noble, it was the most selfish thing Jonah could have requested. What better way to flee from God and from Ninevah than death? The sailors, who were experiencing full display of God's rage, were afraid of committing this deed, for they did not want to be subjects of the same wrath. So the men struggled on trying with all their strength to row back to shore, but hope was lost and crying out for mercy they threw Jonah into the raging waters of the deep blue sea. When the waves calmed, they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows that they may not also die.
These sailors saw the Lord, and they feared Him. They witnessed His power first hand, and they sacrificed to Him in the realization of His divinity. This account compels us to see that all things pass through the Lord's hands, and at times in the face of our disobedience, He will enforce disruption upon us because of His love and desire to see us walk in His ways. It is out of pure love that parents discipline their children, and it is the same with God.
Our Father uses our suffering not only to better His children but also to lead others to Him. Just as He uses our obedience to reveal His face, He works our disobedience for His glory.
Just like Jonah, we will all face terrible storms in life, but during them, we must rely on the Lord, listen to what He is revealing to us, and allow Him to refine our hearts as only He can. We must tune our ears to hear, and we must humble ourselves to see our defiance and to separate ourselves from the sins that haunt us. For without repentance and humility, we cannot further in the will of God. Fortunately for us, we are offered tens of thousands of second chances to turn our hearts back to the Lord and turn away from the temptations of an "easy" life. Let us have the fear and respect for God the sailors had and let us follow their example in humility. Let us look to Jonah and learn from his faulty example that a repentant heart is more productive than one controlled by selfishness.
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