Jonah: God is not your Boss

Jonah, a prophet by profession, was summoned by his manager one day. Jonah heard the boss' work order, "Go to Nineveh and let them know that they have been and are turned against me. Let them know that they need to turn it around."

There's no denying that Jonah was a somewhat hardheaded and lazy worker and when he heard this task it took less than a minute for his decision to be made. He was not going to Nineveh. That was a crazy idea. So, knowing his prophet role was coming to an end he set off to start a new life.

Step One: Get as far away from that boss as possible. Next stop: Tarshish. Jonah flees.

If this was an accurate paraphrase of the first 3 verses of the Book of Jonah (it is not), how would you expect Jonah's boss to respond?

He should do nothing. His employee disobeyed. Oh well, move on. Hire someone new. At least Jonah fled town, the boss won't even have to deal with the trouble of firing him. Move onto the next guy.

Thankfully, Yahweh is not like this. His response is very different.

Verse 4:

Then Yahweh sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.

Thankfully, yes, that's the word I meant to use. Thankfully, Yahweh is a God who sends storms after disobedient, hardheaded, lazy Jonahs. He won't simply let Jonah walk away.

Because Yahweh is very different.

Yahweh is no one's employer/boss/manager.

One of the most influential people in my life would frequently make this distinction. He'd warn of the risk of a love relationship with God becoming a business relationship. Jesus didn't die so that I could work for him. Jesus didn't die so I could punch in and punch out of my relationship with him. Jesus didn't die so I could put in long, dissatisfying, brutal hours working for him.

He's a God of relationship. His goal is that we would know him. His goal is that knowing him would propel us forward to live for him, not to work for him.

Yahweh has no hired hands.

Jonah was not an employee. He was a chosen voice from a chosen people. Yahweh's desire is that people would know him and be adopted by him as sons and daughters. You let your employees walk away, but you chase after your runaway son or daughter.

Yahweh is powerful.

Any parent would pursue their wayward offspring. No earthly parents can summon a storm to bring their child back. That's pretty awesome.

Yahweh uses storms.

Yahweh did not shift the wind towards Nineveh. He didn't bring on a thunderstorm. He used a fierce squall. A storm so strong it threatened to break the ship to pieces. This was serious. And Yahweh promises to do the same to his followers today. The New Testament is littered with references to the key role of suffering and hardship in bringing about transformation in the life of a believer. Yahweh loves us too much to allow us to live unhindered.

Yahweh is different.

Jonah: The Common Sense of Sailors

The summer after my freshmen year of college I got a job at Raceway to Fun, a combination go-cart, mini-golf, arcade, driving range, bumper boat, auto shop, batting cage, metalworking factory, trailer park. I kid you not, all of those businesses were part of Raceway to Fun. On my first day, I used a band saw and a piper bender, when I had expected to be patrolling go-kart races.

It was an interesting experience to say the least.It taught me a lot about how little I know. It taught me the value of basic competency (Folks younger than me: NEVER underestimate the value of competency).

That summer also taught me that I lack common sense. Twice I needed to jump my car because I left my lights on during daylight hours. Twice (in back-to-back weeks) I pulled over on the way to work and started to turn around because I thought I left my car keys at home. And on one bright day, I managed to fall into one of the mini-golf ponds up to my waist.

Not that things have necessarily improved, 30 minutes ago I attempted to get in the backseat of my car and drive and just last night I burned my fingers on a piece of bacon that I had taken out the pan seconds earlier.

(It was worth it though!)

And I bring this characteristic lack of common sense into my relationship with God as well. I am slow to believe things I know to be true. I suffer from spiritual amnesia, constantly forgetting lessons I've learned time and time again. I am prone to act as if God were entirely different than He really is.

If I thought logically, if I used common sense, none of this would be an issue. This is illustrated in the story of Jonah.

Jonah in his own moment of complete idiocy thinks fleeing from an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God will be a legitimate option and while on the run the ship he's on encounters a huge storm. The pagan sailors on the boat desperately seek to find out what's happening and ask Jonah, "Tell us, who is responsible for making this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"

As a Hebrew, Jonah would more than likely looked down on these sailors. After all, if the Hebrews are God's chosen people, those of all other ethnic groups must be God's un-chosen people. Jonah more than likely would have considered himself superior both ethnically and religiously.

And in one sense he is. He knows the Truth. He's aware of the God who is in charge of everything, while these sailors gods are merely stones and wood carved by the hands of man.

But Jonah isn't applying this knowledge. He's not living like its true. He's on the run.

So, Jonah responds the the sailors question of his background, "I am a Hebrew and I worship Yahweh, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."

This is not a claim the sailors were about to make about their "gods" of wood and stone. Their "gods" don't make or create or control anything. And they respond to Jonah's answer exactly as logic would dictate: They FREAK out. They are "terrified" and ask, "What have you done?"

They are in the middle of a storm that is getting rougher and rougher and this stranger has just told them he's openly disobeying a direct, personal command from the God who made the earth and seas on which they ride. They are right to be terrified. Absolutely.

This is a common sense I lack. Even on this exact issue, no, not surviving enormous squalls. But, being aware of God's unchanging character and his role as Creator in particular. God is in control. His plans won't be frustrated. He created all this, no matter how messed up it is, He's not flinching.

In my neighborhood, only 13% of 10th graders (those who haven't dropped out yet) read proficiently. God's bigger than that.

In some areas of my spiritual life, I see no growth. In fact, I'm further from God in them than I was a year ago.God's bigger than that.

A few months from now I'm likely going to be in charge of planning and implementing an after school program, something I have no experience or foreknowledge of and little desire to learn. God's bigger than that too.

The common sense lesson is God is big. He's in control. He's made the sea and the land.

And I know something better, which the sailors learned that day, too.

Though I commend their common sense, one of their logical assumptions was false. Yahweh is not a God who was seeking revenge on Jonah. He's not a god who keeps record of wrong, explodes with anger, or withholds compassion. Logic would expect a god to be so. But Yahweh is different, he responds by saving the sailors and by providing for Jonah as well.

The scene ends beautifully. Upon the seas calming, standing in the presence of the evidence of Yahweh, these pagan sailors "greatly [fear] Yahweh and they [offer] a sacrifice to Yahweh and [make] vows to him."

The scene ends with worship. With these "rejected" outsiders coming to a knowledge of Truth and worshiping the "God of heaven, who made the sea and the land" and who is "gracious and compassionate . . . slow to anger and abounding in love." (1:9, 4:2)

Today, common sense suggests that I read this and believe it:

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may life you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:6-7

Jonah: God and Man are Different

No less than six times in the tiny book of Jonah is the phrase "But Jonah . . . " or "But Yahweh (or the LORD) . . . " used. Presenting a stark difference between the character of Yahweh, the God who made the sea and the land, and Jonah, the reluctant (annoying) prophet.

"But Jonah . . ." is always used to signify disobedience from our main character:

• (after being called by Yahweh to go to Nineveh) "But Jonah ran away from Yahweh and headed for Tarshish" (1:3)
• (after Yahweh showed mercy and grace to Nineveh) "But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry." (4:1)

In the first case, its worth noting two things, Tarshish was a sort of hub port, far away from Nineveh and with plenty of boats to take you even farther from Nineveh. He's not just running away, he's downright fleeing. Second, who does Jonah think he is? I heard this compared to Jonah acting like a suspect in a police chase on TV. Where the helicopter is circling and the suspect thinks if he jumps out of his car on foot and lies down in the prairie over there, he might just get away. THERE'S A HELICOPTER RIGHT ABOVE YOU! Do you really expect this to work?

In the second case, Yahweh has shown great mercy to Nineveh in response to their humbling of themselves, but Jonah angrily launches into a complaint against God, saying, "I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity."

An odd protest from a man who, if God was not "slow to anger and abounding in love", would have been dead by this point in the story. The human response exemplified by Jonah sees the goodness of a perfect, holy God and vacillates " . . . but . . . " and disobeys.

Yahweh's "But" statements stand out differently, they all center around God providing for Jonah, rescuing Jonah, or gently reasoning with Jonah in the face of offensive belligerence (1:17, 4:4,7,9,10).

First, God "provides a great fish to swallow Jonah" saving his life. Next, Yahweh twice asks Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry?" (a great question to ask ourselves when we feel wronged). And finally, he exposes Jonah's selfishness and shows His own character pointing out the human souls in Nineveh that He values so, so much, while Jonah is concerned with nothing but self and comfort.

"But Yahweh . . . " is very different than "But Jonah . . . " or "But Marc . . . " or "But I . . . "

All of this leads to the greatest conjunction in the world.

Get ready for it.

Are you ready?

I don't think you are.

Ready?

"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. BUT because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2:1-5

He's different.

He is love.

He makes alive.

He indeed is "gracious", "compassionate", and "abounding in love"!

Jonah: An Accidental Blog

Jonah is the most annoying character in the Bible.

OK, he might have competition. There's Alexander the Metalworker (2 Tim 4:14), whose only mention is of "having done great harm" to Paul. There's the Kings of Judah and Israel Ahaziah through Hoshea (with a couple exceptions) who basically hold an immorality competition. And I think it's safe to say, among the Twelve, that James son of Alphaeus was widely held to be less cool than James (who needed no "son of" title).

But oddly enough, I didn't sit down (long, long overdue) to write about my conjecture and possibly theologically irresponsible musings about 1st century cliques and in-crowds.

Jonah. Read this man's story and tell me he's a hero.* Tell me that he's someone children should be taught to emulate. He's not. He's selfish. A whiner. A coward. A bigot. A hothead. A quitter. A sluggard (I know, I'm excited to use that word, too!). He's annoying.

Here's the 2 minute rundown on the story of Jonah to show you I'm not making this up.

God talks to Jonah. Jonah runs the opposite direction. All out. In modern day terms he flies to Dubai hoping to catch a flight to the moon, which I bet they're working on in Dubai (and indeed, they are).

So he's fleeing (coward), then the boat starts to have some issues with a violent storm, but while everyone is fighting for their lives, Jonah is asleep below deck (sluggard). After some conversation, this leads to him being thrown overboard and the whale/big fish enters the picture (you probably know this part).

Jonah gets regurgitated back ashore and this time decides to listen to God and do as he's been told: Go to Nineveh (his people's rivals of another ethnic group) and warn them of Yahweh's displeasure with them. And lo and behold, after his one sentence proclamation, the people of Nineveh respond. They repent. They fast. They cry out in humility. They ask Yahweh for compassion and mercy.

And where is Jonah for this amazing turn of an entire nationality towards the True God? He's on a hill watching, hoping for a fireworks show of God destroying the city (bigot). Not just that, but when he sees God has been gracious and withheld his righteous judgment, Jonah is "greatly displeased and [becomes] angry." He then shouts at Yahweh declaring, "Now, O Yahweh, take away my life, for it is better for me the die than to live." (hothead, selfish, whiner, bigot, etc)

And it only gets more pathetic from there. Jonah takes comfort in the shade of a plant, but when the shade is gone, once again declares to God, "I'm angry enough to die."

The man . . . tells God . . . he's willing to die . . . because of anger . . . about a vine being taken away!

Jonah. Annoying. Absolutely.

But, none of this is the most annoying thing about Jonah. The most annoying thing about Jonah is that I can see myself in him.

I loves me some me. (selfish)

If not externally, I'll certainly complain internally when things don't go my way. (whiner)

I shy away from a challenge. Seriously, the internet's probably not the best venue to express this, but, why not? I've noticed a tendency where I will choose an afternoon of paperwork over stepping out and doing something that takes faith. I'd rather enter updated donation reports than go looking for a student, who may or may not care about the Gospel anymore. It's easier. Paperwork never lets me down. It's always there. And it "needs" to be done, right? (coward, quitter, sluggard, etc)

For my own sake, I'll stop there, but the similarity between myself and Jonah is nothing less than infuriating.

I don't want to be him.

I don't want to be that man.

But I also know my inclination, and yours too, is going to be more Jonah-like than Christlike. If my hope of not being "that man" is in me, then I have no hope. On my own, I will choose Jonah every time.

But praise be to God, those rules don't apply to me anymore.

Instead, Lord, let this be true: Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2-3)

He "endured the cross" for the "joy set before him." The thing Jesus obtained on the cross was nothing less than the souls of men and women. Jesus is the one who calls us "the joy set before him." He endured the cross so that he could have the joy of you.

That's a hope capable of turning us from Jonah to Christ.

Amen.

*In the name of fairness, I will admit Jonah has some positive/redeemable characteristics. He's honest. He owns his mistakes (sometimes). And God uses him to ultimately point people to the One, True God.