Jonah's Flight

Now of course, most of will know the story of Jonah from children’s story books. We’ve probably had it read to us as children, and we have in turn read it to our children, grandchildren and other children that we might know, and so we feel that we are pretty familiar with the story, Jonah was the hapless prophet of God who got swallowed by a whale usually with a smiley face. In fact, when Ruth and I were fortunate enough to go to Israel in 2011, we went to the ancient city of Joppa, which is where the Bible tells us that Jonah set sail from, and they mark the event with this wonderful statue of a whale. I think he’s a fountain, but he’s good isn’t he – don’t you think he’s got a wonderful smiley face? But just for a moment let’s just consider what sort of story is Jonah? Well some people like to think of as being historically true, and if you believe in miracles, and a God who can do anything, well then, there is really no reason why you can’t accept that God couldn’t pull of a wonderful miracle of this sort saving Jonah in this way. Other’s consider the book of Jonah to be more like a story book, with some humour, written a bit like a parable to lead us on and teach us to some greater truth and it certainly does that. Or perhaps it could be a bit of both, a story based on a historical kernel who knows? But whatever it is, it is clear that the story of Jonah, which is one of the 12 minor prophets that we have in the Bible has a style all of its own, it’s quite unique in that regard, and so it’s probable that we will never really know to what extent it’s literally true and perhaps it doesn’t actually matter! But it does have a lot to teach us! First of all, we need to appreciate the context. The Bible tells us that Jonah is ‘Jonah the son of Amittai’ and he is in fact briefly mentioned in the second book of Kings (2 Kings 14.25) as a prophet from Gath-hepner, in the vicinity of Galilee, so, he comes from the north in much the same way as Jesus does many years later – and prophets and people from the north always have something of a reputation for being rebellious as we shall see. But we are also told that he is called by God to go the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because of its wickedness. Now this is the opening verse, and from a literally point of view, one would expect that this prophetic calling, would be like so many others that we see in Scripture. God calls a prophet and they go! We only have to think of God’s calling of Isaiah to make the comparison. 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And Isaiah says, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8 / NIV - Anglicised) But with Jonah the response is more “ Here I am, send somebody else!” and why is that? Well it’s because Nineveh is the capital of the Assyrian Empire – and according to the standards of the day Nineveh is a modern, prosperous and sophisticated city – but it’s also a city, whose people were loathed and detested by the Jews, not only because they were pagan but because as a nation they had proved themselves to be ruthless, horrible and barbaric. You may recall that Assyria had invaded Israel and had decimated it, carting many of it’s citizens off into exile – and they were probably the lucky ones. I don’t wish to describe for you some of the things that they did to their captives and the people that they conquered. If you really want to know you can go away and find out for yourself, but there was no such thing as a quick, painless death, and they were pitiless, killing hundreds and possibly thousands of people to establish their domination. They ruled others by fear and terror and made ISIS look like proper amateurs. So, Jonah doesn’t dispute their wickedness, but he doesn’t want to go and tell them about it. So what does he do? He goes off precisely in the opposite direction! As the map I have here shows you. He goes to Joppa and sets sail for Tarshish in Spain, over 3000 miles away from Nineveh which is in the North East. Tarshish is probably the furthest point west that the Jewish people know about. It’s like going to Timbuctoo or the edge of the world. He does it because he wants to get as far away from Nineveh as he can, and probably God in the process. And actually, this asks us some pretty big questions – doesn’t it! Have you ever felt called by God to do something that you didn’t particularly want to do? God’s put it on your heart, to say something, do something, achieve something – that you didn’t particular want to or relish the prospect of. So, instead you try to bat it to one side, say your too busy, lie down in a darkened room until the feeling has gone away. Have you ever experienced that? Perhaps at school, or at work or within your family! It’s not nice is it! 3 Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. (Jonah 1:3 / NIV - Anglicised) Jonah went below deck, lay down and fell into a deep sleep. He’s trying to get away from it all. He’s hiding! But as the Psalmist says in those wonderful verses of Psalm 139 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths,a you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:7–12 / NIV - Anglicised) In other words God knows everything. He knows the thoughts of hearts before you think them and your words before you utter them – and besides he can see in the dark. He knows where your hiding! So God sends a great wind on the sea, such a violent storm that it threatens to break the ship, and the men who are pheonecian sailors, regarded as being the best sailors in the world are afraid, and each prays to their own god as they do everything they can to lighten the load, to stop the ship from breaking on the rocks. And its in this turmoil, this utter chaos at sea, that they find Jonah belong deck sleeping. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish.” (Jonah 1:6 / NIV - Anglicised) We will not perish, such a key phrase not just in this passage but the bigger picture. Even if Jonah is useless as a sailor at least he can pray – doesn’t he care? And that too is such a worthy lesson for us! Sometimes the problems we have before us, seem just too big, we can’t see away out and we don’t always have the answer, but we can always pray to the one who does have the answers and is so much bigger than us. If we are spiritual people then we should pray, because it’s always ‘at the very least’ a mark of our loving care, compassion and concern for others. Secular people may think that praying is ridiculous and a nonsense, until you pray for them in their time of need – it’s a mark of concern. 7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, 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?” 9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” 10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.) (Jonah 1:7–10 / NIV - Anglicised) At this point it’s all about responsibility, the Phoenician sailors may have been pagans but they understood that these tremendous events which they had no control of were out of their hands, a higher power was at work. And its this point that Jonah starts to be honest with himself and start to take responsibility for his actions. He is a Hebrew and he does believe in God and he knows that he’s not living up to his calling. 11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” 12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” 13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. (Jonah 1:11–13 / NIV - Anglicised) Jonah understands that he worships the Lord of all, the Lord of all that is, the whole creation, the lord of heaven and earth. And he begins to regret his folly. If only he had been obedient, the lives of these sailors would not be at risk. He could have been a prophet with some honour in the fulfilment of his vocation. But life is full of ‘if onlys’ it’s what matters now that counts, if only he could make things right – and the only way he thinks he can now do so is if he sacrifices himself in an effort to advert the danger he has brought upon others. His motives have been completely skewed but now he is thinking straight, and there’s something Christlike about his willingness to die for others, to save their lives and bring about peace and the calming of the storm. But once again he has underestimated the men he is sailing with, these are good and decent men and they are trying to do everything to spare his life – even praying no longer to their own gods, but to the Lord. 13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the Lord, “O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. (Jonah 1:13–16 / NIV - Anglicised) It seems that as Jonah was cast into the sea, he had finally started to act like the prophet he was meant to be. He had spoken truthfully to the sailors about God, and in order to save their lives he was prepared to sacrifice his own. And as he sank deeper and deeper into the depths with death inevitability before him – the whale consumed him. So finally, I suppose I have to ask you – Are you living up to your calling? Are you being the man or woman for God, that God wants you to be? Are you living up to your own god given potential, or have you allowed past hurts, anger, resentment, prejudice or ill judgment of others to get in the way and impede what God has in store for you. Don’t get to the end of your lives counting the ‘if onlys’, wasted thoughts, wasted times full of regret. Don’t be afraid, be brave – step up to the mark and the challenge and let the lord of heaven and earth guide you. In the name of Christ. Amen.