Jonah

God sent Jonah towards a city whose wickedness had come before Him. Jonah was to go to Nineveh and speak against it. Instead, he went down to Joppa, paid for passage and boarded a ship bound for Tarshish.

He was trying to flee from the Lord. The reason for his resistance would become clearer later, when Jonah spoke openly about the mercy he knew God might show. First, his chosen journey carried him into a storm. (Jonah 1:1-4; 4:2)

The sailors tried to save him

God sent a powerful wind across the sea. The frightened sailors called to their gods and threw cargo overboard while Jonah slept below deck. The captain woke him and urged him to pray.

When the sailors cast lots, the lot fell on Jonah. He told them that he worshipped the Lord who made the sea and dry land, and they knew he was fleeing from Him. Jonah said the storm had come because of him and told them to throw him into the sea.

They first tried to row back to land. When they could not, they prayed to the Lord and put Jonah overboard. The storm stopped, and the sailors worshipped God. (Jonah 1:5-16)

A prayer from the depths

God provided a great fish to swallow Jonah. For three days and three nights, he remained inside it. There he prayed, recalling the waters surrounding him and thanking God for bringing his life up from the pit.

His prayer recognised that salvation belonged to the Lord. God then commanded the fish to release him onto dry land. Jonah had received mercy himself before carrying God’s message to anyone in Nineveh. The prayer gives us his gratitude; the rest of the story would reveal how much he still resisted mercy for others. (Jonah 1:17; 2:1-10)

The city changed its course

God’s word came to Jonah a second time. This time he went to Nineveh and announced that the city would be overthrown in forty days.

The people believed God. They fasted and wore sackcloth. Their king left his throne, put aside his robe and sat in ashes. He called for people to turn from their evil ways and violence, hoping that God would relent.

God saw that they had changed their conduct and did not bring the disaster He had announced. Their wrongdoing had mattered, and so did their turning away from it. (Jonah 3:1-10)

Mercy Jonah did not welcome

Jonah was angry. He told God that this was why he had fled: he knew God was gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and willing to relent. The prophet who had welcomed rescue for himself resented the city being spared.

He went outside Nineveh and waited to see what would happen. God provided a plant to shade him, and Jonah was delighted. The next morning, God sent a worm that damaged it. The plant withered. A hot east wind followed, and Jonah grew faint beneath the sun.

God questioned his anger. Jonah cared about a plant he had neither grown nor tended. Should God not care about a great city with more than a hundred and twenty thousand people and many animals? The book ends with that question. It does not tell us how Jonah answered. (Jonah 4:1-11)

What Jonah’s story asks of us

One lesson we can draw from Jonah is that carrying out a task can leave deeper resistance untouched. He delivered God’s message while still objecting to God’s compassion.

We can ask whose restoration we find difficult to welcome, or where our comfort matters more to us than another person’s life. Mercy does not call evil harmless; Nineveh was called to change. God’s closing question invites us to examine whether we want His goodness only for ourselves, or are willing to let Him enlarge our concern for others.