St. Paul's United Methodist Church

“Jonah, the AWOL Prophet”

Rev. Richard W. Gray

April 24, 2005

Jonah 1:1-3

    Three spies were captured, tried, and found guilty. Sentenced to be shot by a firing squad, they were taken outside to a courtyard.

    The first spy was lined up against a wall. The sergeant gave the order, “Ready, aim…” Just then the spy shouted, “Earthquake!” The firing squad looked around in confusion, and the spy escaped.

    The second spy was led to the wall. The sergeant gave the order, “Ready, aim…” Just then the second spy shouted, “Tornado!” The firing squad looked around in confusion and the spy escaped.

    The third spy watched all of this and wondered what he could shout to cause confusion so he could escape. He had to come up with some emergency, earthquake and tornado had already been used. Then he thought of the perfect distraction to shout. The sergeant lined him up against the wall and said to the firing squad, “Ready, aim…” And the spy shouted, “Fire!”

    Jonah had a plan to escape from God. God had summoned Jonah to go to Ninevah and preach to them that if they did not repent God would send judgment upon them. This was about eight centuries before Jesus.

    Ninevah was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire. It was located on the Tigris River in what is now Iraq. It was a very large city, with more than 600,000 inhabitants. It was so large that archaeologists tell us that it would take three days to walk from one side of the city to the other.

    The Assyrians were a cruel, brutal people. They were an enemy of Israel, and other nations. So cruel were they that we are told by historians that when they approached some cities and towns, the inhabitants of those cities and towns killed themselves, rather than fall into the hands of the Assyrians.

    They were the ones who invented crucifixion, and the Romans perfected it.

    God told the prophet Jonah that he wanted him to go to Ninevah and preach to them that God would spare them if they repented of their evil.

    Jonah refused to do it. He refused for several reasons. Would you want to go to the capital city of a brutal nation, putting your life in jeopardy? Possibly Jonah did not want to put his life on the line.

    We see in the Old Testament that God did not send his messengers as missionaries to other countries. Israel was located at the crossroads of the world, where Europe, Asia, and Africa met. All of the trade routes went through Israel. They did not do outreach evangelism. They built a Temple in Jerusalem and the people of the world came to them and learned about the one true God.

    That is not the way we do it now. Jesus told us to go into all the world and make disciples. So we build our churches and hope that people will come to them. That is not Christ's way. We are to go where the people are. That is what God told Jonah to do, and Jonah was probably thinking, “We've never done it that way before.” He was opposed to change. This was something new, something God had never asked any other prophet to do before, and to go to non-Jews at that. A proper Jew had disdain for all non-Jews.

    Assyria was an enemy of Israel. The Assyrians regularly invaded Israel, even forcing Israel

Israel to pay tribute to them. Perhaps the Assyrians had murdered some of Jonah's family or friends. He did not want the hated Assyrians to be spared. Donald Barnhouse said this would be like a Jew going from New York to Berlin during World War 2 and telling Hitler God loved him and if stopped what he was doing, and changed, and he would be forgiven.

    Jonah knew God. He knew that if the Assyrians repented, God would spare them. Jonah did not want that to happen. He wanted God to rain down judgment upon these people.

    He was bigoted, prejudiced against these people. Prejudice ran deep in those days, as it still does with many people today. Jonah believed they deserved nothing but destruction. He could not tolerate the thought of God forgiving them.

    Jonah had an escape plan. He went to Joppa to find a ship that would take him away. I imagine he went from ship to ship asking them where they were going. “We're going to Greece.” “No, that won't do. That is not far enough.”

    He found a ship that was going to Tarshish. It is believed Tarshish was located on the coast of Spain. That was just about the end of the known world. Jonah would get as far away as he could from God.

    Of course he really could not get away from God. There is no place where anyone can go to get away from God. But at least if Jonah is in Tarshish, he will not be in Ninevah.

    He paid his fare and the ship set sail. Then the Lord sent a violent storm against that ship, and the ship threatened to break up. All of the sailors were afraid and called out to their pagan gods to save them. They even threw their cargo overboard to lighten the ship.

    Jonah was below deck, sound asleep. The captain went to him, and finding him asleep, asked

asked, “How can you sleep? Get up and pray to your God. Maybe he will take notice of us and save us, and we will not perish.”

     I doubt very much that Jonah prayed. He was not in a praying mood. People who are out of God's will are not known for their praying. He was not about to talk with God when he is trying to run away from him.

    The prayers of the sailors did no good. God does not answer prayers addressed to pagan gods.

    So they cast lots to see if there may be someone on board the ship that had done something that angered a god and caused the storm. The lot fell on Jonah.

    So the sailors asked Jonah, “Who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

    Notice something very important here. When a person is out of God's will, other people are often affected. Living a life of disobedience to God may often affect others. Other people may be hurt by our disobedience, such as family members.

    Jonah's disobedience affected others, the sailors.

    Jonah answered their questions by saying He is a Hebrew and he worships the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.

    This terrified the sailors. They knew that Jonah must have done something to upset such a powerful God who had sent this storm.

    They asked Jonah what they needed to do to make the seas calm again. Jonah told them to throw him overboard. It may be he was so depressed by what he had done, and had caused to happen, that he did not want to live any more. Or perhaps he felt that if he drowned, he could not be forced to go to Ninevah.

    The sailors refused to do this. Perhaps they were willing to show mercy to Jonah, who was unwilling to show mercy to the Ninevites. They were probably afraid to throw Jonah overboard for fear of what this powerful God would do next. They did not want to upset God so he would be angry with them.

    They tried to row back to land, but the storm grew even worse. They tried to save themselves, rather than turn to God, as many people today also try to do. Many people today try to live without God and rely on themselves.

    Their efforts to save themselves were useless. Then they prayed. This time they prayed to the one true God, to whom they had not prayed before. They were converts to God, even with Jonah's disobedience. God will not be denied. They prayed because they did not want God to punish them for throwing Jonah overboard.

    They threw him overboard and then worshiped God. The raging sea became calm. God, who was in charge of the storm, is still in charge. He created a fish to swallow Jonah, not to get rid of him, but to save him.

    We were all taught that a whale swallowed Jonah. The King James Version of the Bible says whale, but the Hebrew actually means a great fish.

    I am not going to argue as to whether a fish could swallow a man, although it has happened. James Bartley spent one and a half days in a whale and was alive when the whale was cut open. There are fish that have been known to swallow animals even bigger than Jonah. What is important here is God made this fish. And the fish did not digest Jonah.

    What do we learn from this story? This story is not about a great fish. It is about a great God of mercy and love.

    We learn we cannot run from God. There is no

no place to go where he is not.

    We learn that there is such a thing as bad theology. Jonah had created a belief about God in his mind that he could get away from God and not do what God wanted, and get away with it.

    There are a lot of people today who believe whatever they want to believe about God, no matter what the Bible teaches. Now we must be politically correct, and Christians should not criticize other religions. We are supposed to accept that it does not matter what one believes about God. It does matter.

    Jonah paid his fare to travel to Tarshish. There is always a cost to go contrary to God.

    We learn that our disobedience to God may affect other people's lives, not just our own.

    We learn that there is no place for prejudice and bigotry. Any kind for any reason is unacceptable.

    We are to view others as God views them, being as gracious and merciful to them as God is.

    We learn we should not be asleep to the needs of people around us.     

    We learn that there is forgiveness from God no matter how bad the failing.

    We learn that God gives a second chance. He gave Jonah a second chance and Jonah took it. When we rebel, we can return again to God and he will accept us back. I like the way Max Lucado has put it. “If there are a thousand steps between you and God, God will take 999 of them and leave the last one for you.”

    Is God asking anyone of us to do something we are fighting or running away from? Perhaps to do something God wants us to do; or to be more public with our faith; or to be a better spouse or parent; or to forgive someone for the hurt they have caused us; or to spend more time with alone with God.