Jonah 3:1-5, 10
What do you think the most dangerous job in America is? According to an on-line journal called Mental Floss, which published data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, timber cutting is the most dangerous job in America, with an annual mortality rate of 117.9 per 100,000 workers. The ten most dangerous jobs are timber cutters, fishers, pilots and navigators, structural metal workers, drivers, roofers, electrical power installers, farm workers, construction laborers, and truck drivers.
In addition to that list of dangerous jobs, I would like to add one more: Biblical prophet. There was no more dangerous job in the Bible than being a prophet. Prophets were frequently harassed, imprisoned, ignored, or even killed. And yet, when God called, the prophets answered. And they met with varying degrees of success. But there is no doubt that the most successful prophet in all of scripture was Jonah.
Jonah knew very well how hazardous to his health it could be for him to speak for God, and he was nowhere near enthusiastic when he received a word from the Lord. He was even less enthused when he got the details on what God wanted him to do.
Jonah lived in the 8th century BCE, a time when the Near East was under the domination of the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians were a cruel enemy, and the Assyrian kings were so proud of their terrible reputation that they went to great pains to see that it was preserved for posterity. There were written descriptions of the torture of prisoners. The kings boasted about their cruelty to captured peoples, and their victims were not limited to enemy soldiers. People were dismembered, or skinned, or burned while still alive. Their heads were displayed on posts. The survivors were taken to Assyrian cities to serve as slave labor for building projects. And tens of thousands of towns and cities suffered this fate during the 250-year-long period of Assyrian domination.
The people of Israel and Judah, the two kingdoms that emerged after the reign of King Solomon, were among those who suffered under Assyrian domination. Parts of the population were captured and enslaved. The city of Samaria was sacked, and Israel fell in 722 BCE. Over 27,000 Israelites were taken into slavery at that time. The city of Jerusalem was later besieged but managed to survive; the surrounding cities and towns were all plundered.
So when the word of the Lord came to Jonah and God told him to go to Nineveh, the capitol of Assyria, it was a great surprise. It would be like the word of the Lord coming to a citizen of France in 1943 and telling him to go to Berlin and deliver a message to Hitler. Or the word of the Lord coming to someone in the United States in January 2002 telling him to go to Afghanistan and deliver a message to Osama bin Laden. The Assyrians were enemies of Israel; they were hated and feared. If God had some kind of judgment planned for them, why in the world would a Jewish prophet want to go and warn them that it was coming? Nothing would be better than to see them get what was coming to them.
So even though God told Jonah to go up to Nineveh, Jonah chose instead to go down to the port city of Joppa and buy a ticket for Tarshish; it might as well have been Timbuktu. Jonah then went down into the hold of the ship and fell fast asleep. But God was not going to let Jonah off the hook that easily. God sent a storm that caused the ship to be tossed about so violently that the sailors thought it was going to break up. They threw the cargo overboard to try and lighten the load. They tried their best to row the boat to shore. And where was Jonah during all this? He was still sound asleep.
The ship’s captain finally woke Jonah up and told him he could at least pray to his God for help. After all, he had told them that he was trying to run away from God. Well, things got worse and worse, until finally Jonah told them to throw him overboard; it was the only way they could save themselves. And even though they didn’t want to do it, they did. And the sea grew calm. And the sailors bowed and prayed to Jonah’s God.
At that point, God provided a big fish to swallow Jonah. The first submarine transport on record. Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of that fish. I don’t even want to think about what it was like in there. But for Jonah, it was an opportunity to think about his situation. And after three days, Jonah decided to pray. His prayer was more of a complaint than a petition, but God heard him and answered. He caused the fish to spit Jonah up on dry land. And what a sight he must have been! Seaweed and fish bile and who knows what else on him!
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah again: “Go up to Nineveh.” And this time, Jonah went. And he delivered his message. Just 8 words in English, and 5 in Hebrew: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” Not even one mention of God. He shouted like a madman, this smelly prophet in the midst of 120,000 residents of the capitol city of his enemy, not knowing if they would hear him and respond to his message, or just tear him to pieces.
Then Jonah went outside the city walls, sat down, and waited for the fire and brimstone to take out the city of Nineveh. But the fire and brimstone didn’t come. Instead, something miraculous happened. The people heard the message of Jonah and believed it and responded to it. They took Jonah at his word, and they repented of their sins, from the oldest to the youngest, citizen and king alike. They declared a time for fasting and put on sackcloth, a sign of repentance and grief. They hoped that God would see what they were doing and change his mind about destroying them. And God did see, and God did, in fact, spare them.
At that, Jonah went over the edge. He had taken on the mission and he had been successful. In five words, Jonah had done the impossible. He had convinced an entire city of the error of their ways, and because they were willing to accept his message and they responded with sincere repentance, God decided to spare them. Jonah had done what many greater prophets had failed to do: he had gotten the results; he had been successful. It was an experience that came infrequently even to the heavy hitters, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. And it had come, not because Jonah had been committed to his task, not because he agreed wholeheartedly with God’s plan, not because he had worked hard; it came because, in the end, Jonah had obeyed.
Jonah was not happy with his success, however. In fact, Jonah was angry about it. He said to God, “I knew this was going to happen! That’s why I ran away in the first place. I knew that you are a gracious God. I knew that you were merciful and slow to anger. I knew that you were abounding in steadfast love and would be more than happy to decide not to punish them after all. I knew it! So you might as well take my life now, because I’d rather be dead than alive.” And Jonah sat down and sulked.
What can we learn from the story of the most successful prophet in the Bible?
First, God is concerned about all people, even our most hated enemies. And if God is concerned about them, then that means we should be concerned about them, too. One of the worst things that happens is when we stereotype and dehumanize our enemies. It is easier to hate them that way. But the only way to work toward unity and peace is to learn to communicate with those who disagree with us, even those who are violently opposed to us. We have to focus on our shared humanity. We have to remember that they are children of God, too.
That isn’t easy. It isn’t natural. It requires an act of will. We have to choose to go against our gut feelings of self-preservation and self-defense. We have to admit that we might be in the wrong. And when we are in the right, we cannot be proud or contemptuous of those who are in the wrong. How hard is that in our country right now? We have a monumental task ahead of us, as we begin our journey with a new President and other leaders. We have to encourage our elected officials to work together in order to address the very real issues in our country. And we have to be willing to do the same thing in our communities.
Second, we can learn that Jonah succeeded in business without really trying. God took his half-hearted effort and created a fantastic outcome. Sometimes we only give half-hearted efforts on behalf of God or the church. And yet God blesses our efforts and uses them and somehow brings something good out of them. Just think what might happen if we gave our best effort! If we made service to God and to others a higher priority. If we gave not what was left over of our time and talents and resources, but the best that we had to give.
Third, we learn that it is God who saves people, not people who save people. We are only bearers of the message. And sometimes we don’t even know the affect we may have on someone. After all, Jonah never tried to tell the sailors about God, and yet they came to believe in him and worship him. And the people of Nineveh responded to God even though Jonah never even mentioned God when he delivered his message. God is at work in the world, through us and in spite of us. We just need to be sure we are on board!
Obedience to God can be dangerous. It might get us laughed at. It might mean that we are misunderstood. It could send us into a foreign territory. It is dangerous because you never know what God might ask you to do.
But before you book your ticket for Tarshish, remember this: While being in God’s service can be dangerous, it is the only way that leads to ultimate life and peace. It may be high risk, but it is also high reward. As a cross-stitch pattern I saw one time put it, “Work for the Lord. The pay isn’t much, but the retirement plan is out of this world.”
