Pastor Tom Johnson, September 20, 2020
Jonah and the Whale (1621) by Pieter Lastman
The account of Jonah, swallowed by a great fish, has been a favorite for thousands of years among adults and children. Jesus himself used the story of Jonah several times to help us better understand his mission to extend God’s love. I encourage you all to read the book of Jonah in one sitting. It takes about 10 minutes. Jonah shows great courage and humor in this self-deprecating satire of a prophet who fails to do what God calls him to do.
God calls Jonah to go preach to the Ninevites. But the Ninevites have their own false religion. They are cruel to neighboring nations. Jonah’s people are victims of their violence. Jonah knows God is “good and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” Jonah quotes God’s words when he calls Moses to be his prophet. Jonah will not go to Nineveh. He goes in the opposite direction—to Tarshish, in modern day Spain. God causes a storm that almost sinks the ship Jonah and it’s pagan crew are on. They pray to their gods while Jonah sleeps in ignorance. When Jonah realizes that they are all going to die, he volunteers to be thrown overboard—willing to die so that Nineveh would not hear God’s word. Think of the greater Prophet to come, Jesus, who is willing to die so that the whole world can receive forgiveness and eternal life.
But a great fish, out of obedience to its Creator swallows Jonah whole. The great fish’s obedience puts Jonah’s disobedience to shame. It’s only while the stomach acid and lack of oxygen eat away at Jonah that he has a partial change of heart. At the command of God, the fish vomits Jonah up in the correct direction toward Nineveh. Jonah walks around the city preaching his doom and gloom: “In forty days God will turn you all to ash,” he says. His sermon is not faithful to God’s word or character. The only thing Jonah preaches is destruction. There is no hope for mercy in his message. Jonah preaches a fiery, vengeful, and angry God who is about to crush them.
But then the unexpected happens. Despite the disobedient prophet and his poor homiletical skills, Nineveh repents. They cover themselves with ash. Even the animals are covered in sackcloth and ash. Even the animals show repentance. Both humans and non-humans fast and pray that God would relent this disaster. “Who knows?” they asked. “the Prophet Jonah only preached destruction, but maybe God will be merciful.” And so all the Ninevite creatures repent.
After Jonah is done preaching doom and gloom, he finds a place he can sit to watch God rain fire and brimstone on Nineveh like he is at a movie theatre. He finds a bush to shade himself under. He is really happy about the shade he finds. Jonah loves the shade-tree—because of the personal comfort it brings. But nothing happens to the Nineveh. Instead, God commands a worm to destroy the shade tree. Jonah is “angry enough to die.” He is willing to let anger consume his life. Again, we should think of the greater prophet to come, Jesus, who is “compassionate enough to die”—willing to let his love for the world consume his life.
It’s only at the very end of the story of Jonah that the real point of the story comes out loud and clear: God loves his whole creation. “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” God asks. “Should I not be concerned about Nineveh,” God asks, “that great city, in which there are more than a hundred thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” This last verse tell us a lot about God’s love for the world. First of all, God loves great cities. No skyscraper rises out of reach of God’s love. No urban sprawl escapes his compassion.
No population is too numerous for God not to hear each of their individual thoughts and prayers. No corruption and brokenness is beyond God’s mercy and care. Everything will be outmatched by the greatness of God’s love. As James says in the New Testament, “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” God loves the little children—he cares for young humans that grow up in a broken culture and dysfunctional relationships—too young to know their left from their right—impressionable minds that God wants to impress with his love, forgiveness, and eternal life through his son, Jesus Christ. And finally, God cares about the many animals in Nineveh. His love is not bound to humans. His love extends from the great fish in the depths of the oceans to the cattle on every hill.
The story of Jonah is the story of how great God’s mercy really is and the lengths he will go to extend that mercy. He not only works in spite of the prophet, through the prophet, but in the heart of the prophet himself. God redirects the prophet to fulfill his call but also to grow in his understanding of just how deep and wide compassion is for humans, plants, and animals—every created thing. His mercy prevails over our ignorance, sin, evil, and death.
God loves cities great and small. He loves people with big egos and stubborn minds; he loves the little children. He loves animals and plants of the wild and those we have domesticated. And so should we. God’s compassion will always exceed our judgmental attitudes. His mercy will always prevail over our ignorance. But, as God’s people, he wants our love, compassion, and mercy for others to grow and catch up with his. God’s mercy and steadfast love will even prevail over our hearts.
