Jonah 1 1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, 2 Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me. 3 But Jonah set out 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 his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. 4 But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep. 6 The captain came and said to him, What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish. 7 The sailors said to one another, Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you? 9 I am a Hebrew, he replied. I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. 10 Then the men were even more afraid, and said to him, What is this that you have done! For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them so. 11 Then they said to him, What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us? For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you. 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more 1
and more stormy against them. 14 Then they cried out to the LORD, Please, O LORD, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man s life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood; for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you. 15 So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the LORD even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows. 17 But the LORD provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 2
02.22.2015 More Than a Fish Tale A few weeks ago I mentioned my college professor who was a scholar of the American author Herman Melville. Melville s most famous book was and is Moby Dick, which along with Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby, is part of the holy trinity, if you will, of American literature. The novel gets its name from its main character. He is the main character even though he never says a word throughout the 800 or so pages of the novel. That s because Moby Dick is not a person but an animal. Moby Dick is a whale, and not just any whale but a legendary creature infamous for his great size, intelligence, fearsomeness, and above all, his unusual white color. The action of the novel is driven by a man named Ahab, a fearsome character in his own right. Ahab is the captain of a whaling ship that pursues Moby Dick. You might have noticed that Melville named his sea captain after Israel s most infamous king the one that, as I mentioned last week, was confronted by the prophet Elijah for his many evil deeds. This gives us some insight into the character of Melville s Ahab. He is not a pleasant person. Ahab is obsessed with finding and killing Moby Dick. He is driven by revenge, for his first encounter with Moby Dick ended with Ahab losing his leg to the whale. Throughout the novel, Ahab walks around with an ivory stump attached to his leg. Ever since Ahab lost his leg, he has pursued Moby Dick with single-minded purpose. He has searched for him all over the seas, from North America, to Africa, to Asia. Ahab s obsession frightens his crew, some of whom are convinced that they will not survive an encounter with the legendary whale. 3
But Moby Dick is about much more than one man s hunt for a whale. The book is filled with allusions to the Bible. One of the ships that Ahab s ship encounters is named the Jeroboam. Jeroboam happened to be the king of Israel during the time of the prophet Jonah. And one entire chapter of Moby Dick features a minister preaching a sermon on the book of Jonah. Given the numerous biblical references in the book, many critics have argued that Moby Dick the whale represents God. In his fanatical pursuit of the whale Ahab is actually pursuing God a God who remains as elusive as he is powerful. And if you consider the title of the book, that would make God the main character. The same could be said for the book of Jonah. That is, although the book bears Jonah s name, the central character is not Jonah but God. Everything that Jonah says and does throughout the four chapters is said and done in response to God. And it is God, not Jonah, who speaks the first and the final words of the book. In fact, it is God s word that sets the plot in motion [SLIDE]: Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, 2 Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me. Like all prophets, Jonah receives God s word to share with the people. However, unlike most other prophets, Jonah is not called to proclaim God s word to the Israelites but to a foreign people the residents of Nineveh [SLIDE]. Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, which in the 8 th century BC was the dominant power in the region. In fact, in 722 BC the northern kingdom of Israel would fall to, and be swallowed by, the Assyrian Empire. In his grace God calls upon Jonah to proclaim the word of the Lord to the enemies of Israel. Jonah doesn t feel very enthusiastic about the task he s been assigned. That s putting it mildly. Now, it is not uncommon for prophets to resist their calling. When Moses 4
is called by God to return to Egypt to free the Hebrews from slavery, he protests that he is not a good candidate for the job. He is not a man eloquent with words. Couldn t God said somebody else? In fact, Moses actually begs God to send someone else someone better qualified. Eventually, of course, Moses relents, but only after God reassures Moses by having his brother Aaron accompany him. But Jonah is unique in the lengths that he goes literally, the lengths that he goes to avoid God s call. Jonah doesn t protest, at least not with words. Instead he boards a boat and flees in the opposite direction of where God has called him [SLIDE]. It s actually comical! Nineveh lay to the east and was reached only by land. Yet Jonah heads west, to the coastal city of Joppa. From there he seeks to travel to Tarshish, which lies even further to the west. Scholars have debated the exact location of Tarshish because there was no ancient city known by that name. Some have speculated a city in Spain with a somewhat similar name. At that time Spain would have been the furthest reaches of the known world, as far as the Mediterranean was concerned. But the exact location of Tarshish, if it existed at all, is not important. What matters to the writer of Jonah, and what should matter to us, is that when Jonah is called by God to Nineveh, he flees in the exact opposite direction. In fact, in his effort to run from God, he intends to travel to the end of the known world. You would think a prophet, of all people, would understand God s reach, but not so Jonah. Jonah may be able to run from God, but he cannot hide, although it s not for lack of trying. In the midst of a mighty storm so violent that it causes the pagan crew to pray to their various gods to save their lives, Jonah is sound asleep in the ship s hold. The hold is the innermost part of a ship where the cargo is stored. Jonah has hid himself from God to the greatest extent possible, in the bowels of a ship heading in the opposite direction of where he was called. There the captain finds Jonah and 5
demands that Jonah pray to his god, just in case, you know, this god might be responsible for the storm that is currently threatening to capsize the boat. Of course, the captain and his crew don t yet know that it is precisely Jonah s God who has sent the storm. Only after they cast lots do they determine this. Casting lots was a sort of game of chance in which the outcome was thought to reflect the will of God. In this instance it happened to be right. Jonah s God had pursued him across the sea. This is perhaps the most important thing that we learn of God in this passage: the Lord is the God who pursues, who does not relent in chasing after the one he has called. God has called Jonah to Nineveh and to Nineveh he will go, even if he takes the long way. It would have been much easier on Jonah, and the ship s captain and crew, had Jonah simply obeyed God from the outset, but eventually Jonah comes to the realization of what must be done. He tells the crew to throw him into the sea, which Jonah assures them, will calm the raging waters. Speaking of the crew, did you notice how the pagans in this story come off looking much better than Jonah, the lone Israelite [SLIDE]? They are more compassionate. While Jonah has endangered the safety of all on board the ship by his mere presence, the captain and crew refuse to follow Jonah s instruction to throw him into the sea. Instead they make a valiant attempt to row back to shore, but the violence of the wind and waves prevents them. Only after they fail to reach shore do they take Jonah up on his offer and throw him overboard. And in doing so, they even seek the forgiveness of a God whom they do not know while Jonah shows no remorse toward God or the sailors whose lives he has endangered. Finally, the pagan crew are even more pious than Jonah. Once they throw Jonah overboard and the seas calm, they offer sacrifices to this God that they don t know while all Jonah has done is run from God. 6
The pagan sailors recognize that God has done with Jonah as God pleased. It pleased God not to allow Jonah to avoid his calling. It pleased God to have the word of God proclaimed to an alien people in Nineveh, for the grace of God would not be confined to those who had already experienced it [SLIDE]. Our God is a generous god and makes himself known to those who have no knowledge of God. God had pursued Jonah, not simply for Jonah s sake, but with the larger plan of bringing the word of the Lord to Nineveh. As much as God had pursued Jonah, God was also pursuing the people of Nineveh, not wanting them to remain ignorant of God s loving kindness. Yet in attempting to run from his calling, Jonah was abandoning the people that God had called him to serve. God planned to use Jonah to make of him a blessing to a foreign nation, but Jonah wanted no part of it. In running from God, Jonah s life begins to go downhill. The writer of Jonah describes Jonah s journey away from God as a series of descents. He went down to Joppa, went down to the ship s hold, and ultimately went down into the belly of the great fish. Next week we will read the prayer that Jonah prays while he remains inside the fish. Incidentally, although I have brought in Moby Dick to help explain this passage, the Bible never mentions a whale; it simply says a large fish. Ancient Hebrew had only one word for fish. Yet it speaks to the power of Moby Dick on our imaginations [SLIDE], and also perhaps the story of Pinocchio, which also features a whale that swallows a human being, that we see a whale where none is mentioned. Anyway, Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights [SLIDE]. Many ancient interpreters of the Bible noticed a parallel between Jonah s three days in the fish and Christ s three days in the tomb. To extend the parallel further, both Jonah (as we will see next week) and Christ are resurrected and given new life. 7
The parallels do not end there. As God pursued Jonah, the unwilling prophet, so God, through Jesus Christ, pursues us, his unwilling servants. God pursues us with his love and grace even when we flee from them, as we are prone to do. God pursues us when we attempt to run and hide from the calling that God has placed on our lives. Like Jonah, we have each been called. Our calling can be thought of in two respects. In one sense we share a common calling, and in one sense our calling is unique. God calls all of us to witness to the love and grace of Jesus Christ with all that we say and all that we do. That is our common calling. How that calling manifests i.e., where it takes us, the people that it introduces us to, what it specifically requires us to do that is our unique calling. It will vary from person to person. As I mentioned last week, some of us will be called across the world to Nineveh, perhaps and some of us will be called across town or simply across the room. Where is God calling you? What is God calling you to do? Are you running in the opposite direction? Are you trying to hide? You saw how that worked out for Jonah. Finally, if you hadn t already noticed, the book of Jonah is a parable. As with the parables that Jesus told, the meaning lies not in the historical reality of the events it describes. The location or existence of Tarshish, the exact species of the fish, Jonah s three days in the belly of the fish the meaning of this parable is not found in any of these details. The book of Jonah is more than some fish tale. In English, a fish tale is a story that is too fantastic to be believed. It comes from the fisherman who describes the enormous size of the fish that he almost caught the one that got away. The meaning of the parable of Jonah is not historical but theological. Although it is merely four chapters long, the book of Jonah is filled with profound theology. The first chapter alone tells us something extraordinary about the nature of God. In the face of the human tendency to flee from God s calling, God is the one who pursues 8
us. If Moby Dick is about mankind s pursuit of God, the book of Jonah is about God s pursuit of mankind. God does not leave us alone as we attempt to hide from God. Through the love of Jesus Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit, we are pursued, found, and rescued by God s grace. 9