Nathan E. Lewis

Running from God (January 10 ,2010) (audio sermons)
Jonah 1

The book of Jonah is one of the more beautifully constructed stories in the Bible and in all ancient literature. Its language is terse and the opening and concluding sentences in each of the four chapters are a fine lesson for aspiring writers. These sentences serve as pointers and keys as well as hooks to capture the attention and imagination of the reader.
A remarkable feature of this book is its candor, that is, its honesty and directness whether refreshing or distasteful. Though it is written in the third person, I suspect that the author may have well been Jonah. And if this is the case, then its candor is all the more remarkable.
A second remarkable feature is the book’s humor. It is earthy and ironic. Most if not all humor pokes fun at human failure and idiosyncrasies. Not a few contemporary comedians poke fun at themselves, mostly a deprecating humor. It is difficult not to laugh at Jonah but it pains me to do so as he attempts to run from God, to hide from the omniscient eye, as he is vomited from the throat of a great fish and as he grumbles at the withering of his gourd vine.
We are introduced to Jonah as a prophet of God. Jonah among the prophets is a jolting surprise. The prophet Elijah had his faults, moved by fear of Jezebel, his life a roller coaster between bold proclamation of the one, true God and deep depression. But Elijah consistently received the word of the Lord and obediently delivered it. Isaiah receives a vision from the Lord and he faithfully writes and delivers the message. Jeremiah begins his prophecy with these words: And the word of the Lord came to me saying…. In response to his prophecy, the priest Pashhur cast Jeremiah into an empty cistern where Jeremiah sank into the mud at the bottom until Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian came to his rescue. Jeremiah becomes a laughing stock, mocked and scorned by his own people. While Jeremiah warned Judah of the coming Babylonian invasion, false prophets insisted that Judah would prevail. Jeremiah writes that he wishes that he was never born. Nevertheless, Jeremiah obediently delivered God’s message to his people. In Babylon Ezekiel received the word of the Lord and he faithfully delivered it to his captive people. The same can be said of Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Zechariah, and Malachi. They all proved themselves to be true prophets of God as they faithfully, in face of opposition, delivered difficult messages to the nations of the ancient world. In the next three sermons I will say more of the prophet Nahum, who delivered the message of Nineveh’s fall 134 years or so after Jonah.
Jonah among the prophets: After reading the same formulaic language over and over of the prophets receiving the word of the Lord and faithfully delivering the message, we are jolted by the opening of the Book of Jonah. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah…But Jonah rose to flee…from the presence of the Lord. What kind of a prophet is Jonah? The prophets of God suffered persecution at the hands of their audience but Jonah suffers at the hands of God. In this book we read of a prophet who struggled against the Almighty God resisting divine command, arguing with God. With all of the tight construction of opening and closing lines in each chapter of Jonah’s story, the book ends without any closure. In the end Jonah is still striving against God.
Some of us may have similar stories to the life of Jonah. Have you ever tried to run away from God? Have you ever read God’s word then disagreed with it, finding God to have missed the mark? Have you ever wished that God would do your will rather than your doing God’s will? Jonah’s story helps us to face our own defiance of God. Have you ever thought: Why can’t I be obedient like all of my good Christian friends who seem to easily follow God? I am forever fighting against him.
In this first chapter of the story we not only find Jonah among the prophets but we also find him among the pagans. God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and speak divine words against this great city. Jonah did not care to mingle with the pagans. Instead of obeying God he ran in the opposite direction geographically from Nineveh. Ironically, he finds himself surrounded by pagan sailors and more profoundly in the eye of the storm, in the very grip of God.
The author makes use of geographic direction to help us understand our struggles with God. Jonah receives the command to go to Nineveh, northeast of his homeland. But Jonah pays his fare and heads due west to Tarshish, modern day Spain. Nineveh was one of the great urban centers of the ancient world. Tarshish was among the hinterlands, a perfect place to disappear. Have you ever wished that you could escape your present life and disappear to a place where you would not be bothered by anyone, even God? Have you ever dreamed of relocating to a place where no one knows you and you could live without any accountability or responsibility? This is Jonah’s plan. God’s plan is offensive to him and so he plans his escape to the Mediterranean beaches of Spain.
God foils Jonah’s plans by sending a storm and forcing Jonah to engage with the pagan ship crew. The ship’s captain finds him sleeping in the cargo hold, shocked at Jonah sleeping through the storm about to splinter his vessel. The sailors are genuine pagans, polytheists invoking the power of a pantheon of gods, superstitiously begging for protection and success from powers lurking nature. Ironically, Jonah’s slumber is assessed by the captain to be a lack of spirituality as he chides Jonah for not doing his part in appealing to his particular god. The sailors cast lots superstitiously to determine who among them is at fault, causing this awful storm to threaten their lives. The lot falls on Jonah and these pagans force Jonah to speak about the one, true God.
Jonah, who has fled God’s command to deliver his message to the pagan world, is now forced to say to the pagan sailors: I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land. Having testified unto God Jonah is exposed and these pagan sailors filled with a great fear know that he has been running from God. At some point in our lives we are exposed. We think ourselves to be sneaking and slick, covering up our true identity and relationship to God. We don’t want the responsibility and we think that we can run and hide free from the bother of uncomfortable and offensive encounters with those we loathe. Jonah thinks the best solution is to end his life. He is willing to become the pagan sacrifice, to be hurled into the sea in order to calm the storm. He would rather die than do what God has commanded of his life. But the pagan sailors are better men than Jonah. They would rather strive against the storm to preserve life. But the storm is too strong and so they do the unthinkable: they pray to the one, true God! O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” They heave Jonah overboard into the churning waters hoping that God will not punish them for the disposing of his one, true follower. They acknowledge that Jonah is in God’s hands and that God is pleased to do what he wills with Jonah. The fear of God grips the sailors to a depth not experienced by Jonah. They worship God offering a sacrifice and making vows.
The gospel of the Bible is the message of God saving his people. The gospel tells us that God powerfully, purely of his own initiatve, without any contribution from us, saves us from ourselves, from condemnation and death. Perhaps you have heard the over-used illustration of the drowning man crying for a life preserver to be thrown from the ship so that he can cling to it and be rescued. The worst presentations of this illustration appeal to us as drowning people to reach out and grab the Styrofoam ring. We are told, “You can’t be saved if you don’t do your part.” But this misses the gospel entirely. The story of Jonah gets it right. Jonah is running from God with no intention of reaching out for God. He has no intention of doing his part. He was resigned to die. He was helplessly drowning. It is at this point of human helplessness that God appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. The great fish swallowing Jonah was not God’s punishment of him but profoundly God’s saving of him.
Bryan Estelle, in his book, “Salvation Through Judgment and Mercy: The Gospel According to Jonah,” astutely writes of another prophet, who slept through a storm in the midst of men filled with fear. He writes, “Jonah, a mere man, seeks to escape the will of God and the storm by going below and falling into a deep sleep. Jesus, more than a mere man, sleeps through the storm because he has fully embraced the will of his heavenly Father. On the one hand, Jonah runs from the duties of his prophetic office. On the other hand, Jesus is in full control of discharging the duties of his office and rebukes not only the disciples for their loss of faith but also the waves, resulting in the calming influence over the raging sea. This comparison reveals the contrast: a vast gulf between the Creator-Redeemer and the creature.” Jesus, the Creator-Redeemer has come to carry us over this vast gulf into fellowship with God. May each of us receive the true rest and peace that comes to us in Christ Jesus.

(sermons on Jonah by recommended preachers)

Remembering God
Jonah 2
(audio sermons)

The first chapter of the story of Jonah ends with these words: The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. It is at Jonah’s lowest point of helplessness that God appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. The great fish swallowing Jonah was not God’s punishment of him but profoundly God’s saving of him. Without the divinely appointed fish swallowing him, Jonah would have surely drowned.
The second chapter of the story, before us this morning begins with a key clause and concludes with an equally key clause. The opening sentence: Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying…” The concluding clause: And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. Everything in between these two clauses is the prayer of Jonah.
Two lessons concerning prayer arise as we read Chapter Two. The first lesson is this: Prayer means remembering God. When we pray we remember that God is the Creator-Redeemer and that we are creatures. Many of us have been taught that prayer is talking with God and this has been explained to me in my childhood as more of an informal chat with God. But prayer is profoundly us creatures talking with God, the other-worldly, Almighty and Infinite Creator-Redeemer. Prayer is the amazing and mysterious communication connecting the finite to the infinite. Prayer is an intimate, secure and comforting exchange of communication of the creature to his Creator only because the Creator has become the Redeemer crossing the vast gulf; finally incarnating into our world and flesh and giving to us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. This mediation of Christ and his Spirit allows us to approach the throne of God boldly making our requests known. In prayer we remember God keeping the balance of his transcendence and his immanence. By divine transcendence we mean God’s infinite nature and work that is altogether alien to us. The Lord of Jonah is the God of unapproachable light. By divine immanence we mean God’s real presence with us by his Word and Spirit. The Lord of Jonah is truly the Son of God who is the light that has come into this world – And the Word become flesh and dwelt among us and beheld his glory. As we pray we remember all of this about God.
The second lesson is this: God hears and answers our prayers. Jonah prayed and the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. We never know quite how God will answer our prayers! Do you have a better suggestion of how God could have rescued Jonah from the belly of the fish? In prayer we remember that God is the one who controls the means by which we are liberated and established in obedience to him. This is how God answers our prayers: He frees us from sin and self; he strengthens our faith, works our repentance and establishes us in obedience.
Let us now descend into the belly of the fish from where Jonah prayed to God. Perhaps you, like me, have been caught up in the past thinking about the dark, slimy, and hopeless environment of the belly of the great fish. Ironically, in this environment Jonah is the calmest and sanest than he is in any other environment! It is not that he is closer to God in the belly of the fish. In the eye of the storm, God is near and present with Jonah. While Jonah preaches in Ninevah and when he is angry beneath his wilted vine, he is close to God. But it is in the belly of the great fish that we find Jonah most aware of his relationship to God. It is in this dismal setting that he remembers God more clearly than in any other situation described.
In (2) Jonah understands his relationship to God. He is in dire need of God’s deliverance. He cries out to God, that is, he prays and God hears his prayer. It is in this prayer that Jonah sounds like a psalmist and a prophet. Indeed we could title this prayer, “The Psalm of Jonah.” He prays in Hebrew poetic couplets, that is two lines closely related to each other – an A line and a following B line. Some commentators have tried to establish Jonah’s quoting of the other psalmists and this may be the case. It may be that Jonah remembered lines of the Psalms here and there, stringing them together as he prayed to the Lord. It may not be so bad of an idea for us to pray the Psalms to God. It would certainly be a beautiful and reverential practice for us to pray God’s very words back to him. More poetic expressions in our prayers would not necessarily smack of an impersonal, spiritual exercise. Most of us have been taught in the 20th and 21st centuries to pray our personal, stylistic expressions to God as if such a prayer would be more sincere and emotive than our borrowing of someone else’s words. Any of us who wish to improve and expand our prayers ought to do both.
In (3) Jonah poetically describes his situation acknowledging that he has been in God’s hands through out his drowning in the sea. In (4) he acknowledges that his situation is one far removed from God’s ideal situation for our prayers and worship of him. He has established his holy temple, that house of prayer where God dwells in the midst of his worshipping congregation. Jonah expresses hope that he will again meet with God in such an ideal location. Nevertheless, wherever we find ourselves we can span the great distance between God and us through prayer. We can pray to God from the prison cell, in the midst of a tense business meeting, in our marital strife, in a dark alley, or in a foxhole.
In (5-6) Jonah describes his descent into the sea as a descent into hell. The bars and the pit are poetic descriptions of the prison house of hell. Hyperbole is that literary device of exaggeration and Jonah uses hyperbole to make the point that God is able to rescue us from the worse of locations. He does not mean that he literally descended into hell, but that he was in a most desperate and dark location from which God rescued him. None of us should ever think that we have descended so deep, that we have sinned so much, that there is no hope for divine rescue. Jonah plunges deep into the sea, to the lowest geographic point he has ever experienced, to the lowest spiritual point he has ever suffered and it is there that he finds the warm, albeit, slimy and dark belly of the fish, his prayer closet. In the depths of the sea, God rescues him.
In (7) Jonah, close to death, remembers God and his prayer connects him to the temple, the house of prayer, the house of God. Yes, he is in the belly of the fish but God is so profoundly present with him that it is as if he were praying in the temple. There is no place in these earthly regions, no place in the universe where God does not hear our prayers. Jonah’s prayer is quite repetitious and this is true of most of our prayers. We need not be concerned to say something new in every utterance of prayer. Most people who are helpless, in a tight situation are prone to repeat one or two calls for help. If we were drowning then we would be inclined to do the same, communicating again and again that we are helpless and that God is the one who has heard and rescued us.
In (8-9) Jonah contrasts idolaters to true worshippers of God. He says that idolatry is essentially an abandonment of hope in the never-failing love of the one true God. As we pray to the one, true God, we are putting our hope in him, believing that he will pour out his love upon us again and again. Jonah views himself to be a true worshipper of God. This is good news for those of us who doubt from time to time whether or not we belong to God. Some of us doubt our union to God even though we have never come close to the crass rebellion of Jonah. From the belly of the fish Jonah returns his thanks to God and vows to sacrifice in true worship when he is able to enter the house of the Lord once again, his two feet on dry land.
The final line of (9) stands alone as a fitting conclusion to Jonah’s psalm: Salvation belongs to the Lord! This A line needs no B line because it is the bottom line. What more needs to be said? This is the gospel in one line. It is not for us to save ourselves. The only one who can put us right with God is God alone. Like Jonah, in our prayers we can make any number of promises to God about all the good things we will do when we get out of our mess – go to church, be a better husband, a careful listener, a more compassionate person, humble, selfless and generous – but such a prayer would not be complete without a declaration that God alone is our Redeemer.
Jonah prayed then waited for God to thrust him into obedience. We too must pray then wait for God to establish us to do his holy will.

Turning to God
Jonah 3
(audio sermons)

The transitional clauses in Jonah are key. In chapter One we have read, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, ‘Arise and go to Nineveh…” and “But Jonah rose to flee…from the presence of God…” followed by “And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah and he was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Chapter Two opens with this clause: “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish.” The final clause of Chapter Two is, “And the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.” The opening sentence of Chapter Three before us today is nearly identical to the opening sentence of Chapter One: “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.’” God is not going to give up on Jonah but also he not going to give up on his divine command!
At the beginning of the story God delivers a command to his prophet Jonah, who decides to disobey the command and suffer the consequences. God saves him from the consequences of his disobedience and Jonah acknowledges in his prayer that God is God and that he is the creature in need of salvation. From the belly of the fish Jonah tells God that he hopes to return to the temple, the house of prayer, a true worshipper of God. In response, God speaks to the fish, which delivers Jonah to dry land. But God does not return Jonah to dry land so that he can run straight to the temple. God returns Jonah to dry land to obey his first command. What does God say to Jonah as soon as he is washed up on shore? “Arise and go to Nineveh!”
God’s commands of us are not merely tests of our obedience. They are also directives so that we might execute God’s mission in this world. God’s plan included a mission to Nineveh and he was intent on the mission accomplished. Our obedience has a place and importance in the mission of God. Your being a good neighbor is not merely a test of your virtue, but it is also a testimony to your service of the Prince of Peace. Your keeping of the Ten Commandments is not merely a test of your spiritual maturity, but it is also for your holy protection and it is connected to your gospel proclamation in your community. When God delivers a command to us, it is for our good and for the good of others; it is the kingdom of God going forward through our lives. For an American soldier, obedience to military code is not merely the exercise of boot camp but it is his lifestyle for the entirety of his military service. So it is with Christian obedience.
In Chapter One, God says, “Arise and go to Nineveh.” “But, Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish.” Now, in Chapter Three, God commands again, “Arise and go to Nineveh.” “So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh….” In (3) we find a definition of obedience: “according to the word of the Lord.” More and more it is my desire to live “according to the word of the Lord.”
At the center of Chapter Three is what we call “the divine call to repentance.” God commands Jonah to deliver a divine message to the city of Nineveh. This message is a call to repentance. Elsewhere in the Holy Scriptures this call to repentance, which is specifically directed here to one urban center, is a universal call to repentance, especially in the New Testament. In Acts 17 we read Paul’s message to the men of Athens including this declaration: “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent….” As we read the story of Jonah, we appropriately identify with Jonah’s defiance and disobedience. As we read the story we should also identify ourselves with the people of Nineveh. As we hear God’s call of Nineveh to repent, we personalize it, hearing God call us to repentance, for we are some of whom Paul describes as “all people everywhere.” This past Sunday I invited you to descend into the dark, slimy belly of the fish to pray with Jonah. This Sunday morning, I invite you to put on sackcloth and ashes, to repent alongside the pagans of Nineveh, who do not know their right hand from their left.
The city of Nineveh in Jonah’s day was home to 120,000 people and the city was sprawling, a three days walk from one side to the other. Most of us could walk from Beaverton, through the heart of Portland and to Gresham in one full day. At two miles per hour we could complete the trip in 10-12 hours. (Sometimes it takes that long on our Max line, or in a car if the Banfield is congested, which goes to show you that we ought to do more walking.) Jonah walks one day’s journey into the heart of the city.
As he walks, he is proclaiming God’s call to repentance. Those of us long-winded preachers have difficulty with Jonah’s succinct message: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Some of us gospel preachers suspect that this cannot be the entire message, but it is indeed God’s message to the city of Nineveh and to the world. The message of divine grace, God’s salvation and redemption, his restoration and reconciliation is solidly founded upon this call to repentance reminding us that we are sinful, broken, and defiant against a holy God. The good news makes no sense to an audience that has not faced its dire need for mercy. Some contemporary presentations of the gospel tell us that we are nice people, basically good and of God’s never-ending love of us. If this is all that is said, then some of us might be tempted to think: “If I am OK and you are OK then why the death of Jesus on the cross? If I’m OK, then why must I convert, change, and repent?” Jonah’s succinct message is certainly God’s call to repentance, the precise message God commanded Jonah to deliver.
Consider the response to Jonah’s message. First of all, we read, “The people of Nineveh believed God.” As our theological tradition has biblically taught us: faith and repentance go together. These two gifts of God are so inseparably connected that we experience both as we embrace God. Indeed we do not always know which comes first in our experience. In the case of Nineveh, the people believed God then they repented. If they had not believed God then they would not have truly repented. Perhaps they would have hedged their bets and said, “Let’s repent just in case there actually is a God who is sovereign, who can deliver the judgment preached by Jonah.” This is not the case. They believe God and so they truly repent.
Secondly, we discover that Nineveh corporately and visibly expresses repentance. It is true that repentance must be an inward turning away from self and sin and turning to God and holiness.” But it is not true that outward expressions of repentance are not genuine. Also, a corporate expression does not mean that it was not sincerely an individual conversion. The description of the repentance of Nineveh shows us how pervasive the repentance was. The king of Nineveh is desirous that the entirety of his city repent and so he commands his subjects to not only outwardly mourn and fast but that they also put the signs of mourning upon their animals. Not only are the people to fast, but they are also to cease feeding and watering their beasts of burden. What an economic risk! What a seemingly foolish stewardship! What is the point of such a command toward outward expression? Here’s the point: Repentance is more important than anything else we might do. Here is a pagan yet repentant leader who cares more about the souls and moral fabric of his people than he does about their economy and reputation in the world. If only the kings of Israel would have ruled like the King of Nineveh! What is the source of this pagan king’s command? He believed God. His faith informed his administration.
Ironically, the king’s faith does not presume that God will show mercy, that he would be obligated to rescind his judgment. The king of Nineveh includes in his decree these words acknowledging that God can do whatever he pleases and that he would be just in doing whatever he pleases: “Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish.” So here is another little lesson in repentance: As we repent we do not in any way bind God, who is free to do as he wishes. Perhaps it takes a king wielding what we have called divine right to teach us this little lesson about repentance and about God.
At the conclusion of Chapter Three we read the next key transitional clause: “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.” God observes our behavior, he is aware of our repentance and discerns false repentance from genuine repentance. Free to do as he wills, God chooses to relent of the disaster he warned would fall upon the unrepentant. The city of Nineveh is spared.
134 years or so later, God sent the prophet Nahum to warn the city of Nineveh, once again living in unrepentant defiance of God. The Ninevites of Jonah’s day taught their children for at least three generations a repentant lifestyle. But with each generation faith in God diminished and so the prophet Nahum was sent to declare: “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty….His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him…. Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts… Your shepherds are asleep, 
O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains, with none to gather them….” Jonah’s message to Nineveh was a sentence while Nahum’s oracle was three chapters yet it is the very same message. Just as God repeated his command to Jonah, so he returns three generations later to Nineveh to deliver the same call to repentance.
Next week, in Chapter Four we will consider Jonah’s response to Nineveh’s repentance and to God’s mercy. Until then, it is for us to live according to the apostle Paul’s words, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

(Read C.H. Spurgeon’s sermon, “Jonah’s Object Lessons.”)

Angry with God
Jonah 4
(audio sermons)

We are so easily distracted even when we are studying the Bible, even when we are reading a short story as straight forward as Jonah. In the fourth century Bible translators were divided: some thought Jonah’s vine to be the cucumber while others thought it to be the gourd. Jerome discovered that it was a common Syrian vine unknown to Europeans and so, in his Bible translation, he wrote “ivy.” Augustine, who held to most conservative rules for Bible translation was furious at Jerome’s license to change a word in the Bible. Jerome publicly confessed that the vine was something other than ivy since the text suggests that this particular plant is supported by a trunk attacked by the worm, but ivy does not technically have a trunk. Suffice it to say, later translations, like the English Standard Version we are using this morning, plays it safe, using the most general word possible, “plant.” We are grateful for the care Bible translators over millennia have supplied to each and every word in the Holy Writ. At the same time we do not wish to be so easily distracted from what is clearly the main points and emphasis of the story.
What is quite clear from the text is that Jonah loved to make puns and Chapter Four is full of them. It is as if he is writing his story after some years of reflection upon his anger and defiance against God. Years later, he is able to laugh at himself and poke fun through puns at the ironies of his mission to Nineveh.
The final transitional clause in Chapter Three is, “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.” The first transitional clause in Chapter Four is, “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry.” Why would anyone be angry with God for showing mercy to a repentant city? There are many reasons for such an angry response. There are those people who are so insistent that justice must be served that any absence of justice on any level is irresponsibility. Truth be told these people suspect that mercy is irresponsible. Jonah angrily bares his soul to God supplying the reason he is upset. Ironically, Jonah who prayed from the belly of the fish begging God to rescue him, now prays to God expressing his dissatisfaction with God’s grace and mercy toward Nineveh. Why is Jonah angry? He does not approve of God’s grace, mercy, or love toward the pagan though repentant Nineveh. Is Jonah a racist? Yes. Is he a bigot? Most certainly. Is he selfish? Absolutely. Is he an angry man? Unabashedly so. Does he “get the gospel?” Not for a moment. He would rather that God in his justice take his life than God show mercy to Nineveh.
God responds to Jonah’s outburst with a question: “Do you do well to be angry?” It is most kind of God to ask us questions for our own understanding and good. God asks Jonah this question so that he might be introspective for a moment. We usually say to a selfish person, “Take your eyes off of yourself and think about others for a moment.” But God seeks to divert Jonah’s attention off of Nineveh and think for a moment about his own soul and behavior. Here is a sermonic point: God asks questions to promote introspection toward our own repentance. God spoke to Adam, “Adam, where are you?” On the mountain after the wind, the earthquake and the fire, God speaks to Elijah in a low whisper. And what does God say? He asks a question to promote Elijah’s change of view, to work repentance, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” But Jonah, if he remembered the questions of God in the Holy Scriptures, would possibly made the connection between God asking him, “Do you do well to be angry?” and God asking Cain, “Why are you angry?” The resurrected Jesus asked Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these other disciples?”
Jonah refuses to be introspective. He does not answer God’s question but instead, just as he fled in the opposite direction of God’s command, “he went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there.” Though we can’t know for certain, it seems as if Jonah parks himself in a high, safe location from which he can see God’s destruction of the city once its repentance fails to persevere. At least we know that Jonah refuses to remain in the city; he wants no part of it. We might think, “Yes, we should leave the wicked city so as not to be influenced by it.” But the irony is that the city is a corporate repentance zone. Jonah removes himself from one of the largest worship gatherings recorded in redemptive history.
Jonah builds a booth as a shelter. As Bryan Estelle points out in his book, “Salvation through Judgment and Mercy: The Gospel According to Jonah,” the author chooses the Hebrew word for “booth,” that is “sukkah,” closely related to the plural word, “sukkot” used in the Scriptures for “the feast of tabernacles.” During this feast, Israelite families would build booths outside their homes and celebrate the feast in them, reminding them of their wilderness wanderings through which God provided for them, codified his covenant with them, and dwelled in his booth, the tabernacle, in the midst of their camp. The irony is that Jonah builds such a booth in the boondocks where he sits and gloats alone. But he is not alone, for there is no place where we can pitch a tent where God is not present. Jonah can ditch the Ninevites, but he can’t ditch God. To provide for Jonah’s comfort, God, who appointed a great fish to save Jonah, now appoints a plant to grow over Jonah’s booth to provide shade. Then God appoints a worm to attack the plant so that it withered. Finally, God appoints a scorching east wind to attack Jonah, the sun beating down upon him until he is faint. What kind of a God is this who has direct control over the creation? The God who appoints the great fish to save Jonah is the same God who now appoints a plant, a worm, a sirocco and the sun to test Jonah.
For the second time, Jonah thinks that dying would be better than living. For the second time, God asks Jonah a question: “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” This time Jonah does not run away but finally answers the question: “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” So many of us, like Jonah, truly believe that it is possible for us to express righteous indignation. We rationalize that there are a good number of circumstances in which our anger is justified. “Yes! I have the right to be angry with you!” With whom is Jonah angry? God. Jonah is angry with God. So many of us are angry with God and we believe that we are justified in it.
One of the sordid humorous parts of this story is Jonah’s repeated rash statement about his preference for death. At the beginning of the story he is quite ready to taste death in the storm. He would rather God strike him dead than be gracious to Nineveh. Suffering sunstroke Jonah says, “It is better for me to die than to live.” Does Jonah have a death wish or is he an emotional wreck? Or should we excuse him as he suffers sunstroke? Perhaps he throws out the power words of death to manipulate others including God. He tends to overstate his feelings, his trials and sufferings making everything a matter of life and death. We laugh at his over-reactions and exaggerations because we can identify with his unstable, rash behavior - “Just kill me; get it over with.” Jonah’s final words recorded in the story are, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die!”
In response God speaks to Jonah comparing his pity for the plant to God’s pity for Nineveh. God’s reasoning is sound: If a plant has value and we should culture it, then should we not also care for the cattle and for human beings? Is not all life of value? If a plant is of value, should we not also agree that 120,000 human beings are of value? Once God speaks these words we discover his purpose in orchestrating the rapid growth of the plant, the worm’s devouring of it, and the sirocco and the sun tormenting Jonah. God sets up Jonah to give rise to the shallowness of Jonah’s value system. What do you care about? Your own safety and comfort? At least that’s a start – at least you value your own life. Does Jonah truly care about the plant or does he care about the plant because the plant provided shade for his comfort? The gospel is the message of Jesus forgoing his heavenly comforts to give his life a sacrifice not for 120,000 human beings but for a countless number of human beings, like the stars in the sky. The gospel is the message of the entire creation, presently groaning under the common curse, liberated, restored and glorified. The result of the gospel embraced includes cities founded to the glory of man, believing God and repenting to become the city of God.
The author of the story of Jonah has intentionally placed key transitional clauses to structure his writing. Like the first three chapters, Chapter Four begins with such a clause, but unlike the first three chapters, it has no final clause. This story has no closure. It is true that God has the final word, but his final clause is an open-ended question. We will never know in this world, whether or not Jonah answered God’s question. True enough, this final question is rhetorical. If God ever preached a sermon, here it is: His point is clearly – “I have the occasion and right to show pity toward Nineveh.” But the last we hear of Jonah, he is defending his right to be angry and he feels so strongly about his justification that he is willing to die. Do you prefer closure to a story? Have you thought about why you like happy endings? Perhaps you are wary of happy endings? Are you in the least bit curious about what happened to Jonah? There is some value to this abrupt ending short of closure. We are left thinking about God’s rhetorical question. If Jonah is not going to answer God, then we feel more pressure to answer. A question floating without an answer can cause some mental and spiritual discomfort, some disequilibrium and so we instinctively attempt to answer the question to fill the awkward pregnant pause. Someone must answer the question: Does God have the right to be merciful?