25th August 2020

Sermon TranscriptPreacher: Mary Ackers

Today we begin a new series looking at the book of Jonah from the Old Testament. I’m really excited about this, because it’s one of my favourite books; it’s funny, ironic, entertaining, dramatic and a little bit angsty and I’m hoping to draw all of this out as we learn together. The best part – as with anything in the Bible – is that, hidden in some of these comical and ironic moments are some confronting truths that still hold significance and relevance for us today, so it’s important that we pay attention.

It’s also important that we recognise we may not have an accurate understanding of this book and the truths is teaches. Many of us who’ve grown up in church have likely heard a simplified, ‘Sunday-School’ version at some point, which might have limited our understanding of this complex story. Some of you helped me out by filling in a quick survey this week and I found those results really interesting. I’ll discuss some of these questions in a moment and over the next few weeks, but I’m curious, now, as to how many of you have read the book of Jonah in its entirety (ie all four chapters)?

Ok, that’s good to know. Now, the first question in my survey was just a simple, “in 10 words or less, describe what this book is about” and there were a variety of responses; obedience and disobedience, God’s compassion and grace, Jonah’s fear, rejection of God’s calling and plans, and a couple of other ideas. While I recognise that many of these are themes within the story, I suggest that this story is actually specifically designed to shine a light on Jonah’s pride, prejudice, and privilege and, in doing so, expose these dark corners of our own hearts. As we see flaws in Jonah, let us also look to ourselves and our own areas of pride.

Each week I’ll be focussing on one chapter, and so today I’m going to just work through this first chapter bit by bit and draw out some interesting points for you. Let’s being in Jonah chapter one verse one.

vv 1-2: The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because their wickedness has confronted Me.”

We’re going to stop almost immediately, because there’s some assumed knowledge in these first fe sentences that we need to unpack before we move on.

We begin with the phrase, “the word of the Lord came to Jonah.” So, what kind of person does the word of the lord come to in the Old Testament? (Prophets) Right, and what was the job of the Prophets in the Old Testament? (to communicate the word of the Lord to the people) So usually, with prophetic writings, we would see this phrase and an identification of the prophet, followed by the words of the Lord that were given – this would make up the content of the book. However, if we read on we can recognise that this book sets itself apart from the other prophets and it would actually be a

bit of a stretch to actually call it prophetic in comparison to other books. Tim Mackie of the Bible Project explains it best; normally God shares his word to the people through a prophet, but here in the book of Jonah is a word to God’s people told through a story about a prophet.

Now let’s turn to the prophet in question; Jonah son of Amittai. Again, this type of introduction is used throughout the Bible to identify the prophet speaking. In this instance, the original hearers and readers of the word would know this Jonah as the same prophet who spoke the word of the Lord to King Jeroboam concerning the expansion of Israel’s borders (you can read about this in 2 Kings 14). This prophecy is later reversed by Amos. Tim Keller writes that, because of this history, the original readers would remember Jonah’s acts and think of him as “intensely patriotic, a highly partisan nationalist.” As we will see, he cared too deeply about the state of his nation, Israel, and I encourage you to keep this assessment in mind as we make our way through this story.

We should also take a moment to reflect on the meaning behind the names mentioned; Jonah, son of Amittai means Dove, son of Faithfulness. In the Hebrew scriptures, doves can be symbols of peace, but they can also symbolise passivity or foolishness. At this point, Jonah has a yet to show which of these two ideals he will live up to. His father’s name – Amittai – means ‘true’ or ‘faithful.’ As we read on, we see the irony of these names seep through the story; Dove, son of Faithfulness evades the opportunity for peace, grace, and trust at every turn.

The final point from these first two verses is to focus on God’s instruction for Jonah to go to Nineveh, ‘that great city.’ ‘Great’ here doesn’t mean good or fun or exciting the way we might use it more informally today. This is a city that is great in both size and reputation. Nineveh later becomes the capital of the Assyrian empire, a city full of people who despised Israel and were despised by them. They were in the business of war and torture and were known to skin people alive in the cities they captured. This is a cruel and merciless nation which committed unthinkable acts on God’s people, and God is asking Jonah to go there and preach against it. The intrigue grows.

As we will see, Jonah has other ideas…

v 3: However, Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, from the Lord’s presence.

So God asks Jonah to get up and go to Nineveh, but instead Jonah gets up and goes down – Down to Joppa. Jonah is originally from a place called Gath-Hepher, which is north of Jerusalem. Based on that and the language here we can assume he had some sort of journey to get to Joppa, a port town that would allow him to escape almost wherever he pleases. He chooses Tarshish, a place that would have been at the edge of the known world in Jonah’s time. He’s chosen the furthest place he can think of in the opposite direction from Nineveh and from God.

I preached through this book at another church’s youth camp a couple of years ago and I used this example to help give a point of reference for the distances spoken about here. See, the distance from Joppa to Nineveh is roughly the same as the distance from Adelaide to Melbourne. So imagine that God calls you to go take his message to those heathens in Melbourne who have been waging war and

oppressing you for many years. But instead of going to Melbourne, you start off in the direction of Jakarta, Indonesia – first walking and then sailing to your destination. (See fig. 1 and 2) It’s just an extreme reaction, really, to choose a place so far in the opposite direction from where he’s been told to go. In fact, he’s so determined that he doesn’t just pay his way – the phrase that talks about paying the fare literally means that he rented the ship. Jonah is taking no chances.

Figure 1

Figure 2

We see in this journey a progression of Jonah going down, trying to escape the presence of the Lord. He goes down to Joppa, down into the ship, down… down… down. Later, we’ll see him go further down to the “lowest part of the vessel,” and down deeper still, into the sea waters. This is the reduction of Jonah to his basest instincts for self-preservation. At this stage, we aren’t given a reason for this response to God’s call, but we can find his reasoning in chapter 4. Now, I’d love to keep it a secret and surprise you all at the end but, personally, I don’t believe you can really understand this story and its purpose unless we read it through the correct lens of Jonah’s true motivation for disobeying God. You may have heard many times that it was fear of the Ninevites that kept Jonah running from God’s call, but in reality this simply doesn’t line up with the reason he gives later. The reason that Jonah runs is because he doesn’t think it’s fair that the people of Nineveh get a warning and a chance to change their fate. He knows about God’s grace and doesn’t want to see others benefit from it. It’s not fear holding Jonah back, but pride – a pride that is directly at odds with his ministry and purpose as a servant of God. You could say, as Tim Keller does, that Jonah doesn’t have a problem with the job itself; he has a problem with the One who gave it to him. Jonah wants God to fit inside the box he has made for God where grace is continually extended to those who are in (loyal Israelites) and destruction is expended on those who are out (anyone else). We’ll certainly explore this facet of the story more as we go through, but it’s important to keep Jonah’s motives in mind as it will reveal the beauty and complexity of the truth in this story more and more.

vv 4-6: Then the Lord hurled a violent wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break apart. The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his god. They threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel and had stretched out and fallen into a deep sleep. The captain approached him and said, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up! Call to your god. Maybe this god will consider us, and we won’t perish.”

Despite Jonah’s plans, he doesn’t make it very far and soon the Lord is working to bring Jonah back to the path he has prepared. In this section we start to see the skill of the narrator telling this story, drawing our mind’s eye to the points of interest. The Lord is in control of Jonah’s fate, hurling a violent wind on the sea; in the original Hebrew the ship is personified – it thinks about breaking apart in the storm; the sailors recognise this as a supernatural event and begin crying out, each to their own god. Switch the scene to Jonah, who has gone down once again, into the lowest part of the ship and is sleeping peacefully while the storm rages above. Suddenly, the captain appears, “Get up!” How interesting that he should use the same words as God did to call Jonah out and into the action.

v 7: “Come on!” the sailors said to each other. “Let’s cast lots. Then we’ll know who is to blame for this trouble we’re in.” So they cast lots, and the lot singled out Jonah.

The sailors are trying everything for a solution and eventually resort to casting lots. This is a practice like drawing straws or flipping a coin and trusting that the deity in charge would control the outcome. Again, there is a slight shift in tone as we wait for the result; lo and behold, the storm is Jonah’s fault!

vv 8-10: Then they said to him, “Tell us who is to blame for this trouble we’re in. What is your business and where are you from? What is your country and what people are you from?” He answered them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship Yahweh, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were even more afraid and said to him, “What is this you’ve done?” The men knew he was fleeing from the Lord’s presence, because he had told them.

Take note of these questions and the way Jonah answers them. This isn’t a casual, getting-to-know you game – these sailors are trying to get to the bottom of this storm. If the lot singled out Jonah as its cause, he needs to give the sailors answers and he needs to give them now! They ask about three things; his purpose, his place, and his race – but Jonah really only answers one. Facing questions about his identity and purpose, Jonah puts his ethnicity (his race) at the forefront – I’m a Hebrew – and his religious identity comes second to that. For me, this statement is dripping with condescension; it appears he believes his national identity is the only information they need, followed by a statement that he clearly isn’t living up to. “I worship Yahweh, the God who made the sea (yes, this sea that is currently threatening to kill us all!)” Once again, the irony is rampant! If I was one of those sailors, I think at this point I’d be fairly incredulous – like, really, Jonah?! You worship Yahweh? But you’re also running away from him… how is that supposed to work? Their response to his answers really resonates – what have you done?! Are you stupid?! (See fig. 3)

Figure 3: from http://creekification.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-book-of-jonah.html

Notice, also the disjointed scene of the fearful sailors and Jonah, who has no emotions attached to him by the narrator. The sailors are looking frantically for solutions, trying to save themselves and their vessel (their livelihood), their fear growing with every new piece of information while Jonah seems loathe to lift a finger to help in any real way.

vv 11-16: So they said to him, “What should we do to you to calm this sea that’s against us?” For the sea was getting worse and worse. He answered them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea so it may quiet down for you, for I know that I’m to blame for this violent storm that is against you.”

Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they couldn’t because the sea was raging against them more and more. So they called out to the Lord: “Please, Yahweh, don’t let us perish because of this man’s life, and don’t charge us with innocent blood! For You, Yahweh, have done just as You pleased.” Then they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. The men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

As we approach the end of this scene, we find these sailors once again turning to Jonah for help; “what should we do to you?” Jonah’s response is perhaps surprising for the sailors and is certainly fear inducing. He tells them to throw him into the sea. I’m curious about what it is that causes Jonah to offer this solution. Some speculate that Jonah cared less about the sailors’ safety and more about his own path of avoidance and disobedience. Others wonder if Jonah was confronted with the humanity he shared with these sailors and took pity on their situation. Unfortunately, we can’t know for sure.

These sailors are so reluctant to do what amounts to murder in their eyes that they continue to try rowing back to land. The Hebrew word used to describe their rowing is also connected to the action of digging; they’re so determined that they dig deep against the powerful waves with their oars. But this, too, is unsuccessful and they realise there is only one choice. They call out to Jonah’s God for redemption for what they’re about to do – they take it so seriously, they use the term Yahweh, the Israelites own term for their God – and then throw him over the side. Immediately, the sea stops its raging; the sailors are now fully aware of the power and might of Jonah’s God and fear this God even more. Their response is to make sacrifices and vows to this God. One scholar notes that this requires some further commitment, as they wouldn’t be able to make the proper sacrifice to Yahweh until they were back on land. If this is the case, this wasn’t a spur of the moment promise that is quickly forgotten but is, instead, lives forever impacted by the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.

So we leave Jonah, at the end of this chapter, in a place of uncertainty and in a prison of his own making. He has gone as low as he can go; down… down… down to the depths. Somewhere above him there is a new group of Yahweh-followers, rejoicing in the God they have found. In many commentaries about this book, Jonah is described as a foil for what God is doing. This means that Jonah is set up opposite to God, in order to show God’s attributes more clearly. Jonah’s experience with the sailors is an example of how this plays out. Where they are concerned with their communal safety, Jonah is only concerned with himself. While they wish to avoid Jonah’s death, Jonah avoids bringing life and redemption for others. Where they recognise God’s power and turn towards him, Jonah turns away. In the unfathomable way that God operates, Jonah’s disobedience has become an opportunity for God to work in power.

Remembering that, in this story, we are Jonah – what can we learn from this?

This scene is not an encouragement that God is still working in our weakness. While this may be true, Jonah wasn’t weak – he was actively working against God and God’s plan. At the heart of this story is Jonah’s pride in his identity apart from God. Because of his status as a Hebrew – an Israelite

– Jonah believes God is on his side. God’s election of Israel was an act of mercy and grace, but for many, including Jonah, this became the basis for ugly pride.

Put yourself in Jonah’s sandals and consider what areas of your own identity you take pride in. It may be your status as a family member – as a mother, a father, a son, a daughter – it may be your job, your gender, or your national identity – your ethnicity; your race. For many of us, it may even be our status as Christians. Any facet of our identity that builds a belief that we are better than others – whether in obvious or subtle ways – is in danger of becoming our basis for pride.

The sailors had no use for pride. They could have held tightly to their ability and ignored the God that made the sea, but instead they turned towards Yahweh and threw themselves upon his mercy and grace. Jonah held his pride against his chest and carried it into the roaring ocean.

Which path will you choose?