Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Tuesday, October 14, 2014  

Jonah 1: 1 - 17

The story of Jonah is one we all probably know quite well - and perhaps have more than a few reservations about!!  I like the intro to the story that Eugene Peterson wrote in his translation of The Bible, The Message.  Perhaps you will too.

Everybody knows about Jonah.  People who have never read the Bible know enough about Jonah to laugh at a joke about him and the “whale.”  Jonah has entered our folklore. There is a playful aspect to his story, a kind of slapstick clumsiness about Jonah as he bumbles his way along, trying, but always unsuccessfully, to avoid God.

But the playfulness is not frivolous.  This is deadly serious.  While we are smiling or laughing at Jonah, we drop the guard with which we are trying to keep God at a comfortable distance, and suddenly we find ourselves caught in the purposes and commands of God.  All of us. No exceptions.

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One reason the Jonah story is so enduringly important  for nurturing the life of faith in us is that Jonah is not a hero too high and mighty for us to identify with - he doesn’t do anything great.  Instead of being held up as an ideal to admire, we find Jonah as a companion in our ineptness.  Here is someone on our level.  Even when Jonah does it right (like preaching, finally, in Ninevah) he does it wrong (by getting angry at God).  But the whole time, God is working within and around Jonah’s very ineptness and accomplishing his purposes in him.  Most of us need a biblical friend or two like Jonah.

Reading the Jonah story through this lens might change some of our understanding about the point of the whole thing: the “whale” becomes much less important - suffice to say that Jonah was trapped in some way till he realized he was best off to do what he believed/knew God wanted him to do.  Certainly I have had that experience - of putting off doing something I knew I should do, something that was the Christ-like, Jesus-like thing to do because I either didn’t really want to (like letting go of a hurt), or because it seemed too hard and scary (like admitting to having caused a hurt),  feeling so trapped by the putting off that I finally just did it.  Usually, I felt so much better, so much freer (why is that surprising!)

In this part of the story, something else struck me that I had not really paid much attention to before: the reaction of the sailors.  Yes, I know they cast lots to find who was to blame and they threw Jonah into the sea to save their own skins.  But I had not noticed what else is said:  When Jonah identifies himself as a worshipper of the God of heaven who made land and sea, the men were frightened, really frightened, and said “What on earth have you done!” (10)  Then, while Jonah suggests they throw him overboard, they actually don’t want to and try to save him too.  Finally, they do, but first they pray to God essentially to forgive them for what they are about to do, and say to God, You are God.  Do what you think is best. (14)  The storm stops, the seas calm, and  the sailors were impressed, no longer terrified by the sea, but in awe of God. They worshipped God, offered a sacrifice and made vows. (16)

These innocent bystanders, marginal participants, are not mentioned again, but I wonder what the rest of their life stories would have been.  I recall the impact of seeing God’s power on the jailers of Paul and Silas - life-changing.  Sometimes God reaches me directly (like Jonah); other times it is when I see Him acting in the lives of others (like these sailors.)  My openness to both experiences, as God’s closeness becomes uncomfortable, will determine the amount of benefit I receive.

Blessings

Ann Kelland