“Jonah & the Whale”

Pastor Vera Johnson

September 3, 2006

            Like me, I’m sure you all have memories of playing “hide and seek,” as children.  However, even though I played it, I didn’t really like the game.  While it was fun to “hide,” I did not enjoy the “seek” part of the game.  Some kids I played with were so good at hiding I just couldn’t find them!  Needless to say then, when it came to games, “hide and seek,” wasn’t on my list of favorites. 

            Brothers and sisters, when we look at our Bible story for today, it’s evident this game of “hide and seek” has been around a long time . . .!  In fact, it goes way back to the time of the prophet, Jonah.  While the Book of Jonah is only four chapters long, his story is very unique and not easy to forget.  Well, let’s find out how this game of “hide and seek” plays out for him.  The game begins in chapter one, verse 1 . . . “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.’”  Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, Israel’s “archenemy.”  The Assyrians were known for their immoral practices, their beliefs in false gods and their political atrocities.  The Israelites hated them.  Needless to say then, if there were any place Jonah didn’t want to go, it would be Nineveh.  But that’s where God tells him to go, with a message he did not want to deliver, to a people he did not want to see, in a land he never wanted to visit. 

As you can see, the work of a prophet wasn’t a “plum” job at all.  In fact, more often than not, for some prophets like Jeremiah, the job was literally “the pits!”  Obviously, being sent to Nineveh wasn’t exactly Jonah’s “dream assignment,” either.  So, instead of doing as he had been told, Jonah decides he’s going to play a game of “hide and seek” with God.  He takes off in the opposite direction and gets on a boat heading to Tarshish, trying to run as far away as possible, so God can’t find him.  Brothers and sisters, isn’t that just how we are?  How often do we go the other way and do the opposite, even though we know exactly what God wants us to do in our relationships, our commitment to Him, in our interactions with people, our jobs, etc. etc.?   Well, let’s see how things turn out for Jonah.  From the story, it doesn’t look good for him, at all. 

            You see, Jonah discovers early in the game that he’s picked the wrong person to play with.  God is certainly no amateur at the game of “hide and seek.”  Yes, Jonah learns the hard way that God is not to be trifled with.  Only a short way into the voyage a powerful storm overtakes the boat!  The violent waves and the strong wind threaten to tear the boat apart.  The sailors are afraid for their lives.  Now mind you, these men were no wimps.  They weren’t just a bunch of guys who got together occasionally, to go out on boat-rides.  Oh, no, these were hard-core sailors, who knew the ocean well and had undoubtedly been through rough seas before.  Which is why, they could tell right away, this storm was different.  It wasn’t just “bad” weather.  This was much more serious.  They knew, someone on the boat had done something to upset one of the “gods!”  So, they cast lots to find out who was the guilty party.  Sure enough, they discover, it’s Jonah!  

Brothers and sisters, the irony of it is, when Jonah boarded the ship for Tarshish, he was trying to get away and hide from God.  But guess what, when the storm came, Jonah ran full force, right into God!  Obviously, Jonah failed to realize, trying to hide from a God who is everywhere, doesn’t work, at all.  You just can’t get away from Him!  Yes, truth is, we can run from God, but we can’t hide from Him!  Once the sailors learn that Jonah is the culprit, they want the “411” on him, and ask who was responsible for their troubles at sea.  Jonah responds, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”  Of course, when the sailors heard this, they knew Jonah’s God was no “light-weight.”  They were terrified and said to Jonah, “What have you done?”  They knew what Jonah had done was serious.  Not only, had he disobeyed God’s command, worse yet, Jonah tried to run away from Him.  The sailors asked Jonah what they should do to him, to appease his God.  Jonah’s answer was in essence, “Hand me over to my God.”  At first, they couldn’t bring themselves to do it.  They tried to row back to the shore, but the storm grew fiercer and eventually, they had to throw Jonah overboard.  No sooner had they done this, the raging sea became calm. 

Of course, we’re all familiar with what happened next.  Jonah is swallowed by a big fish and spent three days and three nights in the fish.  While he was inside, Jonah repented and prayed for forgiveness.  What?!  After he willfully disobeyed God’s instructions and then foolishly attempts to test God in a game of “hide and seek,” Jonah has the audacity to plead for mercy, especially when he didn’t want God to have mercy on the people of Nineveh?!  What was he thinking?!  But you know what, brothers and sisters, God heard Jonah’s prayer and had mercy on him.  We are told in the story that God spoke to the fish and it spat out Jonah, onto the dry land.  Yes, the Bible is full of stories about God forgiving people who don’t deserve another chance!  From Abraham . . . to David . . . to Peter . . . to Paul, despite what they did, God was not only merciful to them He still used them, to serve Him.  It wasn’t any different with Jonah.  Despite his disobedience, God is determined to use Jonah as His “messenger” to the people of Nineveh. 

So, God tells Jonah a second time, “Go to the great city of Nineveh . . .”   This time however, considering his recent “adventures,” Jonah decides to do as God tells him.  He goes to Nineveh and says, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”  The message was short, but far from sweet!  The amazing thing is, it worked!  The Ninevites hear the message and repent!  The king realizes the urgency of it and commands all his people to give up their evil ways and turn to God.  This is what God had wanted.  He has compassion on them and spares Nineveh from destruction.  But the story isn’t over yet!  Well, you would think that Jonah would be filled with joy and praise God for using him to deliver the people of Nineveh.  Far from it!  Jonah is not happy at all.  He actually sets up a “booth” not far from the city of Nineveh to see what would happen to it.  Brothers and sisters, do you see what Jonah is doing?  Not only is he still hopeful that God will go ahead with His original plan and destroy Nineveh, but   when He did, get this, Jonah is making sure he’s right there to watch the spectacular display of “fireworks,” as Nineveh goes up in flames!  Talk about nasty! 

As Jonah sits there, he begins to pout and gives God a piece of his mind.  While he’s at it, Jonah actually comes clean about his reason for not going to Nineveh the first time.  He is straight up about his feelings toward Ninevites.  He hated them and wanted God to wipe them clear off the face of the earth!  Of course, Jonah knew, if he went to Nineveh and the people repented, God in His abounding mercy, would let them off the hook!  Oh, no, Jonah did not want to have any part, of that!  He wanted, Nineveh to go down.  He wanted to watch the city burn!  Jonah basically throws a “tantrum” and wishes he were dead.  Talk about drama. 

Brothers and sisters, perhaps you’re thinking, but why is Jonah behaving this way?  What’s his problem?  The answer is simple.  He’s looking at the situation from a human point of view, that’s totally self-centered.  While he wanted God to show favor to him and his people, Jonah couldn’t bear the thought of God being gracious to those “heathen” Ninevites!”  Isn’t that how we are, toward someone we’re mad at or people we dislike? Well, as Jonah sat in his makeshift “booth” and grumbled, God blesses him with shade from a vine, but later sends a worm to destroy it.  Sitting there with the sun beating down on him, Mr. Dramatic, a.k.a. Jonah, starts griping about the vine withering away. God responds with an “object lesson” about Jonah’s priorities.  In essence God says, “Is it right for you to be concerned about the vine that sprang up overnight and died overnight, yet, be totally indifferent toward the city of Nineveh, that has a hundred and twenty thousand people?  Clearly, Jonah’s priorities are totally messed up.  He is filled with compassion for a plant, but couldn’t care less about a city filled with people?!  The book ends, with God having the last word . . . “Should I not be concerned about the great city?”  Brothers and sisters, as you can see, there’s a whole lot more to the Bible Story, “Jonah & the Whale.”  Yes, the story of Jonah goes far beyond being swallowed by a “big” fish!  So what lessons do we learn form this story?

First, whether it was the wickedness of Nineveh or Jonah’s disobedience, the story teaches us, that God will not tolerate rebellion in any form. No matter how small or big it might be, in God’s eyes, sin is still, sin!  Second, even though God takes a firm stand against any wrongdoing, like He did with the people of Nineveh and Jonah, we learn that no matter what we might do, God is always willing to give us another chance, to repent and be reconciled with Him.  Yes, brothers and sisters, God’s mercy extends way beyond our boundaries.  His love reaches farther than we can ever imagine!   Finally, we can see from the story that God tries every possible means to deliver us from our sin and draw us closer to Him.  Yes, the one thing that stands out above everything else in the story of Jonah, is God’s abounding mercy and His unfailing love for all people.  Jesus’ death on the cross is living proof, of that love.  As Christians then, God not only wants us to be merciful toward others, but to also, be His “messengers” to the world!  He wants each of us to share that message of His forgiving love in Jesus, with others.  Brothers and sisters, the story of Jonah, has a message for each of us, no matter where we are in our relationship with God.  My hope then, is that from now on, it won’t just be another “fish” story or a tale about Jonah playing a game of “hide and seek” with God, but rather a story, about a God who will go to unbelievable lengths to show His love for the world.  . . . Amen.