Jonah

Jonah 1:1-6 “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose 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 the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.””

Nineveh was the capitol of the Assyrian empire. It was possibly the largest city in the ancient world, and it was known for its grotesque cruelty. They were said to have flayed people alive. They were also proficient in something called “calculated frightfulness” where they would inflict fearsome pain on a people, and then send the stories ahead of them inflicting fear on their opponents causing them to surrender rather than fight.

But at the time of Jonah the Assyrians were relatively weak and less of a threat, though no more moral and holy. God sent Jonah to the Ninevites as a diss to the Israelites. Israelites were proud that they were the people chosen by God. This pride caused them to feel superior to those around them, and even caused them to look down upon them. No matter how many times the Lord took the belt to them, they still felt superior. Even while in captivity.

Jonah was a prophet from Nazareth in Norther Galilee which is the closest Israelite territory to the nation of Assyria. Do any of you know any other prophet that came out of Nazareth? Jesus did. The Pharisees once said that no prophet can come from Galilee, but they were mistaken because Jonah was from Galilee, but they had forgotten about him because he went to a foreign nation to speak for the Lord rather than to the people of Israel.

Now Jonah was not so keen to gather his things and travel to Nineveh. Why do you think this was? 1.) They could skin him alive. They were a rough people, and if you make the bully mad you might just end up in the trash can. Sometimes God can call us to do something that might make us uncomfortable. He may call us to do things take scare us. But remember this, God asks things of you individually for a reason, and whenever He asks something of you He already has the plan laid out. All you have to do is be faithful and follow. He said that “[He would be with us always. He would never leave us, nor turn His back on us.]”

2.) Jonah was a little prejudice. Jonah felt that he was better than them. He was a Jew, God’s chosen people. Why should he take the words of life and freedom to people that were thought of as lower than dogs? We cannot be judgmental when we bring the word of God to those who are broken. Hell is lined with people who are white, people who are black, Asians, Africans, Europeans, straight people, gay people, atheists, Muslims, Buddhist, Hindus, Jews, and even so called Christians who attend church. Death does not discriminate. Sin kills all, and all who are not found in Christ will spend eternity in hell. The last command that Jesus left with His people before returning to heaven was that they needed to be spreading the gospel, and teaching people to live a righteous life. You should look at all people as lost, and your heart should be broken for them. Unlike the attitude that Jonah had toward these people, we should be eager to share our Lord with the lost.

Two take away’s from the beginning of Jonah’s story. 1.) Whatever God calls you to, He will see you through. 2.) Don’t be discriminatory toward other people. God does not discriminate, and we are no better than anyone else. Regardless of situations, we are all made in God’s image. Each and every one of use bare the image of our Creator. Treat each other as such.