ALL IN - Jonah

When we bring up the story of Jonah in the Bible, maybe a few things come to mind right away. Jonah was the guy who got swallowed by a fish. Jonah was the guy that God called to go and prophesy to the city of Nineveh, but Jonah got on a boat heading in the other direction instead because he did not want to go to Nineveh.

Maybe we think of Jonah as the story that demonstrates the way God gives second chances, because Jonah got a second chance by God to do what God called him to do. Maybe we think of Jonah as the story that demonstrates the way God will unrelentingly stay with the people he has called—Jonah could not get away from God no matter how far he tried to run. Maybe we think of Jonah as the story that foretells something about God’s redemptive plan coming in Jesus—Jonah sinks down in the fish to what looks like certain death, but comes back to life three days later when the fish spits him out on the shore.

All these things are part of the Jonah story. But today I want us to look at another feature we see in Jonah—a feature that has to do with Jonah’s faith. We are getting close to the end of this series of messages that focus on our life of faith. We have seen many features of biblical faith highlighted over the past weeks as we have spent time looking at various examples from the Old Testament. Today’s example of Jonah confronts us with a feature of faith that maybe sometimes we would rather avoid. What happens when the thing that we believe in our heart does not actually line up with what is in God’s heart?

Jonah 3:1–4:4 NIV

1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” 10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. 1 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Jonah is not a long book of the Bible—it is only four chapters. Let’s remind ourselves of what happens in the story of Jonah. Chapter one: God comes to the prophet Jonah and tells him to go prophesy to the city of Nineveh. Nineveh is not a part of Israel. It is a pagan city way off on the northern part of the Tigris River. Nineveh was a large and powerful city in that part of the world. Jonah wants nothing to do with God’s command for him to travel to Nineveh and deliver God’s message. In fact, Jonah is so dead-set against it, he packs up and starts going west away from Nineveh—he gets on a boat in the port city of Joppa on the Mediterranean Sea and sets sail for Tarshish. It is not exactly known where the city of Tarshish might have been in that day. Some scholars place it as far away as the region of Spain. The point is, Tarshish was in the opposite direction from Nineveh.

Jonah runs away from God, repents from inside the fish, receives forgiveness (ch. 1-2)

Jonah cannot run away from God. So a violent storm comes upon the boat Jonah is taking. The sailors on the boat know that this is no ordinary storm, it comes from divine origins. Jonah acknowledges that God sent the storm because of him and he tells the sailors to throw him overboard so that the storm will stop. When Jonah is thrown over, God sends a fish to swallow him.

Chapter two: Jonah prays to God from inside the fish. All of chapter two is the prayer that Jonah brings before God. It is a prayer of Jonah’s repentance for running away from God’s command. It is a prayer that God hears and responds by commanding the fish to bring Jonah to dry land.

Jonah’s message to Nineveh is not about repentance and forgiveness (ch. 3)

Chapter three: this is what we read today. God tells Jonah the same thing he told Jonah at the beginning of chapter one. Go prophesy to Nineveh. This time Jonah obeys, and he goes. But it is not a message of repentance and forgiveness that Jonah brings to Nineveh. All Jonah says to the Ninevites is, “forty more days and you all die.” He does not give them hope or offer them an alternative. Jonah tells them they will all perish. Let’s be honest, this is a glimpse into Jonah’s heart. Jonah wants all the people in Nineveh to perish.

But the people of Nineveh respond to God the same way that Jonah responded inside the fish. They repent and dive a display of their repentance before God. And just as God spared Jonah from dying in the fish back in chapter two, now God spares the people of Nineveh from dying here in chapter three.

Chapter four: Jonah is so ticked off that God forgave the Ninevites, that he wants his own life to be taken. After Jonah had delivered the message, he went outside the city and sat down at a place where he could still look back and see Nineveh. Jonah hates the people of Nineveh so much that he wants to stick around and see with his own eyes as they all come to ruin. I imagine that Jonah never saw it coming that the Ninevites would repent and turn from their evil. He thought this story would end with their destruction. So, when the people of Nineveh actually believe the message and—in desperation—throw a hail Mary pass at the last second to change the outcome, God—of course—relents and gives them another chance (just as God had done with Jonah in the last chapter).

Jonah is upset because the people of Nineveh got the same forgiveness from God that he got (ch. 4)

This is what makes Jonah so upset; that the people of Nineveh got the same forgiveness from God that he got from God. Jonah even says as much.

Jonah 4:2 NIV

2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.

Somewhere deep inside Jonah knew it, but he didn’t accept it. Jonah believes that God is loving and gracious and forgiving. Jonah’s prayer in chapter two is a prayer of faith because he believes that God can save him, even in this place at the bottom of the sea. But Jonah draws a line and refuses to cross it when that same love and grace and forgiveness from God is extended into places Jonah does not believe is right.

Jonah’s faith needs some correcting. The remainder of chapter four is about the way God brings that correction in front of Jonah. But the story of Jonah ends with that same question we ended on in verse 4. God asks, “Is it right for you to be angry?” We never find out how Jonah answers that question, because the author of this story means for that question to be left open for us, the readers, to answer for ourselves. The story of Jonah’s faith becomes the story of our faith.

sometimes we have misdirected faith — faith pointing in the wrong direction

The story of Jonah shows the picture of a person whose faith goes a bit sideways. That can happen to us too. Sometimes it is not a matter of if you have faith or do not have faith. Sometimes it is a matter of misdirected faith—it is faith pointing in the wrong direction. Let’s look first at what makes Jonah’s faith veer off track and then consider how our lives of faith might come to experience the same thing.

schadenfreude — taking pleasure in the misfortune of others the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, or humiliation of another

There is a German word schadenfreude which means ‘taking pleasure in the misfortune of others.’ The long definition is this, ‘the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, or humiliation of another.’ That’s Jonah. He is not seeking justice; he does not want punishment or accountability for wrongs that have been done. Jonah is after vengeance. His motivation is not fueled by a desire for righteousness. His motivation is fueled by hatred and anger. And here is where Jonah’s faith gets pulled into it. Jonah hates Nineveh, and he believes God should hate them too. Jonah wants to see Nineveh destroyed, and he believes God should want Nineveh destroyed too.

our misguided faith can show up as entitlements we think God owes to us

Except that’s not who God is. Jonah’s faith in God is misplaced because Jonah’s faith is pointing in the wrong direction. Perhaps, like Jonah, we sometimes want to believe things about God that do not line up with who God really is. I really hope our examples of misguided faith do not go to the lengths of Jonah; I hope we are not wishing for the destruction of entire populations the way Jonah did. Maybe our misguided faith tends to circle more upon our own wants and desires and shows up as entitlements we think God owes to us. I’ve tried my best to be a good tither, and so maybe I think God owes it to me that I should be financially prosperous. I’ve tried to faithfully serve my spouse, and so maybe I think God owes it to me that I should have a happy and content family life with no hardships. I have tried to eat right and stay active, and so maybe I think God owes it to me that I should be healthy and not experience medical setbacks. Yet, God never promises that we live free of trouble in this broken and sinful world.

faith does not come from a place of anger, vengeance, greed, envy, violence

Jonah’s misguided faith pushed him to a place of anger. Jonah was so upset at God for loving and forgiving the Ninevites that he wanted to die because of it. But faith does not come from a place of anger. Faith does not come from a place of vengeance. Faith does not come from a place of greed. Faith does not come from a place of envy. Faith does not come from a place of violence. These are the triggers and warning signs that can show us the places where our own faith might be off track; when we see our beliefs being tugged and pulled by things like anger and greed and envy and violence.

what does God do about it? you are never too lost for God to come find you

What, then, does God do about this? What happens when our faith goes sideways? In the example of Jonah, God keeps coming after him even when Jonah is bent on running away in the opposite direction. There is no place Jonah can go that is too far away for God to pull Jonah back again. You are never too lost for God to come find you. You are never too closed off for God to reach your heart. You have never messed it up too many times or dug yourself into a hole too deep that God cannot pull you out again. Faith holds onto this. Faith holds onto the relentless love of God in ways that always affirm God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness.

faith holds onto the relentless love of God in ways that always affirm God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness

And notice this. God continues to act from his faithful character of love and grace and forgiveness in Jonah’s story even when Jonah himself does not want to believe it. Do you see what this means? God’s love for you does not depend on you believing it or not; his love for you is true no matter what. God’s mercy for you does not depend on you believing it; his mercy remains true no matter what. And God’s relentless pursuit of your heart to align your faith with his heart never stops. May our life of faith continually be guided and shaped by God in ways that always point our hearts in the direction of God’s endless love.

God’s relentless pursuit of your heart to align your faith with his heart never stops