Jonah's Job

Part II.

Jonah 1:17 The Lord sent a big fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

Whale Chow
The belly of the fish is the opposite of what Jonah set out for.  Instead of adventure in a new and exotic land, he got a the darkest, stinkiest jail cell imaginable.  Just what he needed.  Peterson uses the greek work askesis for this, which is the root of the word ascetic.  When we think of monks who give up everything, sometimes theya re described as ascetics. One way to take it is to mean a discipline and training program.

•    Have you ever had an askesis that helped bring you back to basics, back to what was really important?


•    What is your askesis now, or what could it be?


•    Jonah’s askesis centered on prayer.  Do you plan prayer times or pray regularly?



Nineveh
Read Jonah 3.

1Then the Lord spoke his word to Jonah a second time. He said, 2“Leave at once for the important city, Nineveh. Announce to the people the message I have given you.” 3Jonah immediately went to Nineveh as the Lord told him. Nineveh was a very large city. It took three days to walk through it. 4Jonah entered the city and walked for about a day. Then he said, “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed.”

5The people of Nineveh believed God. They decided to fast, and everyone, from the most important to the least important, dressed in sackcloth. 6When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7Then he made this announcement and sent it throughout the city:  “This is an order from the king and his nobles: No one is to eat or drink anything. This includes all people, animals, cattle, and sheep. 8Every person and animal must put on sackcloth. Cry loudly to God for help. Turn from your wicked ways and your acts of violence. 9Who knows? God may reconsider his plans and turn from his burning anger so that we won’t die.”

10God saw what they did. He saw that they turned from their wicked ways. So God reconsidered his threat to destroy them, and he didn’t do it.

In Nineveh, Jonah discovers (or rediscovers) his true vocation.  His work wasn’t theoretical or fancy, but simple and directly with the people.
•    What’s your experience with vocation? Work or a job or a task that you’re called to do.


Te people of Nineveh respond because Jonah is preaching with urgency.  Their days are numbered, literally.  Forty of them.
•    Is there a sense of urgency in your life?  What creates it?  If not, what would it take?

Shade
Read Jonah 4.

1Jonah was very upset about this, and he became angry. 2So he prayed to the Lord, “Lord, isn’t this what I said would happen when I was still in my own country? That’s why I tried to run to Tarshish in the first place. I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, patient, and always ready to forgive and to reconsider your threats of destruction. 3So now, Lord, take my life. I’d rather be dead than alive.”

4The Lord asked, “What right do you have to be angry?” 5Jonah left the city and sat down east of it. He made himself a shelter there. He sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6The Lord God made a plant grow up beside Jonah to give him shade and make him more comfortable. Jonah was very happy with the plant. 7At dawn the next day, God sent a worm to attack the plant so that it withered. 8When the sun rose, God made a hot east wind blow. The sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he was about to faint. He wanted to die. So he said, “I’d rather be dead than alive.”

9Then God asked Jonah, “What right do you have to be angry over this plant?” Jonah answered, “I have every right to be angry—so angry that I want to die.” 10The Lord replied, “This plant grew up overnight and died overnight. You didn’t plant it or make it grow. Yet, you feel sorry for this plant. 11Shouldn’t I feel sorry for this important city, Nineveh? It has more than 120,000 people in it as well as many animals. These people couldn’t tell their right hand from their left.”

Jonah gets mad.  (Six “angry”s in this short chapter.) He quarrels with God.  Jonah knew all about God, yet still could not anticipate His ways.  Read 4:2 again.
•    Why was Jonah so taken aback by God’s grace?


Amazingly, Jonah is worse in his obedience than he was in his disobedience.  In my life that happens when I am all caught up in the job and not why I am doing the job.  The same goes for my work at church – I can only imagine how hard that is for the staff of the church.
•    How do you avoid the trap of wrong-headed obedience?


Anne Lamott, an author with a great sense of humor, wrote: “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”

Closing:
Let’s pray Jonah’s prayer together.  One interesting thing Peterson points out is that it is entirely unoriginal, and cobbled together from many psalms.  Yet it is a great prayer. (From The Message)

“In trouble, deep trouble, I prayed to GOD.  He answered me.
From the belly of the grave I cried, “Help!” You heard my cry.
You threw me into ocean's depths, into a watery grave, with ocean waves, ocean breakers crashing over me.
I said, “I've been thrown away, thrown out, out of your sight. I'll never again lay eyes on your Holy Temple.”
Ocean gripped me by the throat.  The ancient Abyss grabbed me and held tight.
My head was all tangled in seaweed at the bottom of the sea where the mountains take root.
I was as far down as a body can go, and the gates were slamming shut behind me forever--
Yet you pulled me up from that grave alive, O GOD, my God!
When my life was slipping away, I remembered GOD,
and my prayer got through to you, made it all the way to your Holy Temple.
Those who worship hollow gods, fake gods, walk away from their only true love.
But I'm worshiping you, GOD, calling out in thanksgiving!
And I'll do what I promised I'd do! Salvation belongs to GOD!”
Amen!

Homework: compare Jonah's experience to Paul's shipwreck experience in Acts 27.

Image credit: karen horton @ Flickr. Love how the Israeli stamp is focused on Jonah at Nineveh, while we always focus on the whale.

Bonus video:

Our family's favorite Jonah song.

Jonah's Work

Part 1. A men's study based on Eugene Peterson's Under the Unpredictable Plant adapted for youth.

by dnkemontoh @ Flickr

Besides his own book, Jonah comes up in a few other passages.  In 2 Kings 14: 23-25, he’s identified as the son of Amittai, as he also is in Jonah 1:1, and he had the message of the restoration of Israel’s borders during Jeroboam’s reign.  In the gospels, Jesus makes two references to Jonah, one in Matthew 12:38-42  and again in Matthew 16:4.  (In Luke 11:29-32, the author seems to refer to one or both of these stories from Matthew.)  Jesus describes his own death and resurrection as “the sign of Jonah” and says of the Jews of his time that they will be condemned by the Ninevites, who heard Jonah and repented, while they have one greater than Jonah, but have not repented.  But that’s not what this study is about.  This is about Jonah’s job.  It’s adapted from Under the Unpredictable Plant, by Eugene Peterson.

Tarshish or bust
Read Jonah 1:1-3
1The Lord spoke his word to Jonah, son of Amittai. He said, 2“Leave at once for the important city, Nineveh. Announce to the people that I can no longer overlook the wicked things they have done.” 3Jonah immediately tried to run away from the Lord by going to Tarshish. He went to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid for the trip and went on board. He wanted to go to Tarshish to get away from the Lord.

Dream job: prophet? 

• What would be cool about being a prophet?  

• What is your dream job as of right now? Why?

• What is your “job description” right now?

Why not Nineveh?  Nineveh had a long history of terrible occupants, misery built on misery.  Nobody in their right mind would want to go there, least of all a Jew, one of their traditional enemies.

• What are the worst aspects of what you have to do?

Why Tarshish?  Tarshish was almost mythical.  An exotic Phoenician settlement, it was like the Wild West to Jews of that time.

• What’s your Tarshish?  If you were to run away from responsibilities, where would you go or what would you do?  

• Would you really go there if you got the chance?

It’s not like he was running to Tarshish to be a villain.  Jonah probably would have still been planning on doing God’s work.

• So what was so wrong about going?

The Storm
Read Jonah 1:4-16
4The Lord sent a violent wind over the sea. The storm was so powerful that the ship was in danger of breaking up. 5The sailors were afraid, and they cried to their gods for help. They began to throw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship’s load.  Now, Jonah had gone below deck and was lying there sound asleep. 6The captain of the ship went to him and asked, “How can you sleep? Get up, and pray to your God. Maybe he will notice us, and we won’t die.”  7Then the sailors said to each other, “Let’s throw dice to find out who is responsible for bringing this disaster on us.” So they threw dice, and the dice indicated that Jonah was responsible. 8They asked him, “Tell us, why has this disaster happened to us? What do you do for a living? Where do you come from? What country are you from? What nationality are you?”

9Jonah answered them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship the Lord, the God of heaven. He is the God who made the sea and the land.”  10Then the men were terrified. They knew that he was running away from the Lord, because he had told them. They asked Jonah, “Why have you done this?”  11The storm was getting worse. So they asked Jonah, “What should we do with you to calm the sea?”  12He told them, “Throw me overboard. Then the sea will become calm. I know that I’m responsible for this violent storm.”  13Instead, the men tried to row harder to get the ship back to shore, but they couldn’t do it. The storm was getting worse.

14So they cried to the Lord for help: “Please, Lord, don’t let us die for taking this man’s life. Don’t hold us responsible for the death of an innocent man, because you, Lord, do whatever you want.” 15Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the sea became calm. 16The men were terrified of the Lord. They offered sacrifices and made vows to the Lord.[a]
17The Lord sent a big fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

Jonah was contentedly asleep in the hold while the storm built and raged.  As far as he knew, things were all right.

• Was there ever a time in your life when things weren’t going well, despite all signs being to the contrary?  How did you wake up?

The amazing thing about being thrown into the sea is that it saved the sailors and Jonah.

• Is there a time in your life when you saved the ship by throwing someone/something overboard?  Is there something in your life today that needs to be thrown overboard?

• Has there been a situation in your life when you were thrown overboard and it worked to your good? 

Jonah’s act, and, more so, God’s response has an amazing effect on the sailors.  They go from each worshipping their own god to worshipping the true God.

• Why do you think?

• Do you think God has a calling for you?