The Prayer of Jonah

Jonah 2:1-10 - The Prayer of Jonah The Christian Church - Doug Partin - 09/27/2020 There was a trend in the church a few years ago to consider the prayer of Jabez (How to pray for and receive God's blessings); which was criticized by some who felt it promoted a health, wealth and prosperity gospel. They countered with the prayer of Jesus (How to humbly pray for and receive a radically changed life), but I've never seen a trend in the church that touted the prayer of Jonah (How to pray for and receive God's undeserved mercy). It might be because that particular prayer is more often lifted up by those who are in miserable circumstances. Those who suffer are not too interested in having a Bible study about prayer, they just want some relief. So they cry out from their heart to God for mercy. The prayer of Jonah reminds me of that time when there was a very large crowd following Jesus as he left Jericho on His way to make what would become known as the "triumphal" entry into Jerusalem. Before nearing the towns that would shout "Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" were a couple of blind men. They had heard what Jesus had done for others, and now they heard Jesus passing near them, and so, they cried out, "Kyrie, Eleison" - "Lord, have mercy." If you were ever in a liturgical church service you might have heard that Greek phrase before. It was adopted as a musical response for the people gathered to indicate that they are suffering or have sinned, or perhaps, both. In the Anglican tradition it usually follows a reading of the 10 commandments. There is an evangelistic approach that uses the 10 commandments as a means of helping people evaluate whether they are really okay with God. Have you ever bore false witness; that is, lied, even once? Then you are a liar, they would say, and you are not okay with God. Or as Jesus would say, it is not, have you ever committed adultery, but have you ever lusted. If so, you have not kept God's laws and you deserve to be punished along with all the other sinners; but the good news is that God is willing to offer you mercy, if you turn to Him and ask for it. Anyway, the crowd following Jesus told these two blind men to be quiet and not bother the master; He, they thought, had more important things to do, but they cried out even more loudly "Son of David, have mercy on us." Jesus, who was always full of compassion, went over to the men and asked them what they wanted. As if He didn't already know. What would be your "prayer" if Jesus asked you what you wanted? They wanted their eyes to be opened. What blind person would not ask for that? And, moved by compassion, Jesus gave them sight. The mercy of God is amazing. Those who can see, never make that particular request. But whatever it is that compels you to cry out to the Lord for mercy, it should be for something that you desperately need. But what would that be, if you are not sick, lame, blind or poor, as were so many who turned to Jesus for help? For what should the healthy and rich ask? There was that time when a ruler asked Jesus what he needed to do in order to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked if he knew the commandments, "Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother." And the ruler said, "I have done these things since my youth." Then Jesus told him, "One thing you lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." The ruler, we are told, went away very sad, for he was extremely rich. And Jesus said to the crowds, "How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Lk 18:18-25) The crowd asked, "Then who can be saved?" Their question was one of misunderstanding. They wanted to know who could be good enough to save themselves if not those who seemed to be living "blessed" lives. The answer is, "No one." What Jesus told them was, "What is impossible for man, is possible with God." In other words, everyone has to depend upon God's mercy to be saved. What mercy would you ask of Jesus? Is there something lacking that you believe would really make your life better? Something beyond your ability to do for yourselves? We are only prone to truly cry out for mercy when we recognize that we need God's help. When Jonah splashed into the sea, he was, perhaps for the first time in his life, at God's complete and total mercy. It was not a pleasant experience, but three days and nights of abject misery and distress which finally brought forth from Jonah's heart a cry for help. I don't know what it would take for you to call out to God in the same way, but most of us don't want to discover the proverbial "bottom of our barrel." We'd rather not suffer as did Jonah. But if that is what it takes for us to turn to the Lord, it is much better than the alternative. At least Jonah knew on whom to call - the Lord. And while He ran from God's presence; He wasn't running to anyone else. He never wavered from His faith that there is only one God of heaven and earth. I wasn't too familiar with the Hebrew word that Jonah used to ask for "help," So, I looked it up. The term was "Shava;" which at its most basic level, meant "freedom." I wasn't really expecting that definition. It made me ask, "From what did Jonah need to be set free?" For starters, Jonah needed to be set free from his current life situation, which was getting a taste of what it might be like to actually live a life completely separate from God, which was exactly what Jonah wanted when he ran in the opposite direction. He thought that it was a good idea at the time, until he experienced what separation from God really means. We could use what we know of Jonah's experience to explore what a life without God might be like. A life outside of God's presence is a life full of distress, of fear that you might die at any moment. It is, as Jonah said, like what the dead in Sheol experience. They are in a place of suffering with no relief, and have no hope of ever receiving relief. Some of the people who argue that hell is not eternal say that suffering forever is just too awful, that it is not something that a loving God would ever really "do" to a person. But it is a place from which God offers to set people free. Remember the story that Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus? Lazarus was miserable in this life. He was so poor that he longed to eat the bread crumbs from the tables of the rich. He had sores all over him, he couldn't work and had to beg. Despite his prayers, he was not healed, but when he died, he was taken by the angels to the bosom of Abraham where he was given relief. And at the same time, there was a rich man, who had everything in this life, and enjoyed good health, but when he died, he went to hades. He was, as you might expect, miserable there, and pleaded to the Lord to send Lazarus to him with a drop of water, but that request was denied because there is a gulf between those two places. So, the rich man asked that Lazarus be sent back to warn his family that they might repent and end up with Lazarus instead of with him. But that request was also denied because, Jesus said, if they did not believe Moses and the Prophets, they would not believe simply because someone came back from the dead. It is interesting that it was a man named Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead. Many believed as a result of his testimony. But there were still a lot of others, who felt that they did not need God's mercy in the same way as the poor and sick did, who refused to believe that this was an evidence that Jesus was God's son come to save them from an eternity of suffering. What happened to Jonah in the belly of the fish should be enough for us to realize that we need to be saved. Jonah said he was engulfed by the sea with no one to save him. He had been expelled from all that is good which God provides to the just and unjust alike, like rain in its season. He had no relief, no blessings, no mercy. A life separate from God is one of being entangled by the weeds and worries of this life with no hope of things ever getting better. Jonah said that he felt like he would be held captive in that merciless place forever. He was, in a real sense, in the darkness of the pit. It really was experiencing the closest thing to being in hell itself. The prodigal son had a similar experience once his money ran out. He was alone, no more than a slave, so hungry that the pig's slop looked like it might be tasty. He was miserable. It was the Apostle Paul who taught that an errant brother in Christ would also go through a similar experience if he were cast out of the fellowship of the church. He would become so miserable that he would long to be back in the fellowship with all of its blessings. Paul suggested that this would lead him to recognize his sin, repent of it, and humbly seek to be accepted again. It is not unlike what the prodigal son decided when he came to his senses, repented, and began that journey back to the home that he had previously and contemptuously cast aside. Although Jonah was in the belly of a great fish, he could still look toward God's holy place, and long for it. It was during the horror of that near-death experience that Jonah finally "remembered" the Lord. And it was then that we are told that his prayer was offered. The Hebrew term translated "prayer" in this passage literally meant "to judge." The implication is that a person judges their situation, realizes that they are in trouble, and asks for help from someone who can, well, help them. And in Jonah's situation there was only one, the Lord, who could have helped him, and He did. The prayer of Jonah is, in a way, a simply cry for help: "Lord, have mercy." For those who have gone through their own belly of the fish experience, they know just how miserable life can be without God's mercy. On the other hand, I've known a lot of people who grew up in the church and never really did anything too bad, and never experienced the misery of being separate from the Lord. But they understood that even the little things they did were more than enough to keep them out of God's presence in eternity, and they did not want that future; so they repented and sought God's mercy like everyone else. In verse 8, Jonah reflects that those who find themselves in similar peril, as did the sailors he left above on the boat, have a choice about who they will call on for help. Israel was, at that time, full of people who acknowledged God, but who also turned to vain idols for help. Jonah would never even consider doing so. Instead, even from the belly of the fish, near death, he would raise his voice in thanksgiving, for he knew that salvation is from the Lord alone. It may have taken Jonah three days and three nights to get to that point, but the Lord was sustaining him every moment along the way. He would have drowned rather quickly without the Lord's mercy. We often learn just how merciful and patient and powerful God is during those times when we decide to go the other direction. As Jonah was raised back to life through God's mercy, so we need to be raised up in the same way. It was the apostle Paul who taught in Romans 6 that those who are united with Christ in His death will also be united with Christ in His resurrection. And, as God did with Jonah, He will open a door for us to return to His service. It might be as dramatic as Jonah being vomited up onto the dry land; but it might simply be that we show back up at our spiritual home again, and like the prodigal, be overwhelmed by the embrace of a merciful Father's loving arms. I hope that you learn to pray the prayer of Jonah, crying out to God for His mercy, for we all need it. Prayer: Lord. Help us to recognize that life without You is hell. We long to live in your presence forever. Amen.