"THE SIGN OF JONAH", an Easter story!

 

Jonah and the large fish, c1400

[T]he scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But [Jesus] answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. (Matthew 12:38–39)

Jonah is mostly remembered for surviving inside a large fish for three days. Jesus refers to that event as similar to his death, burial, and resurrection. But is the sign of Jonah simply about a large fish? Is the prophecy of Jonah just about a judgment against a wicked city? What is the message of Jonah that Jesus was giving to “an evil and adulterous generation”?

You cannot separate events and dictates, duration and occupation from the person. It is not the locations or vocations, the miles or the smiles that define us. As it is with everyone, our well-played lives become our legacy. The lesson of Jonah is the story of the man!

When reading about someone recorded in scripture, do you put flesh and blood into the narrative, do you see them as real people? Their thoughts and feelings are not much different than ours.

Elijah had problems struggling with depression. “Take my life, Lord, I’m the only one left who loves you.” What a pity party! If he wanted to die, he just needed to stay around Jezebel. She would have loved to oblige him. Yet, this melancholy man was used by God to bring fire down from heaven, destroy falsehood, restore rain, and run a marathon—all in a single day. (1 Kings 18)

In an insignificant way, I can identify with a prophet named Elisha because, like me, he was bald. But he could not take bald-headed jokes. If children teased him about his receding hairline, they had to watch out for she-bears. (2 Kings 2)

The beloved John was a successful fisherman. He mentioned catching exactly 153 fish in a single haul. Why? Was John simply amazed at the size of the catch and wanted his readers to be equally astonished? He was a fisherman; they tell stories of great moments in fishing. That is what seamen do! (John 21)

The characters of the Bible were characters, and Jonah was no exception. In the archives of time, there was a real person named Jonah, a prophet of Judah, and the core of his story is the man himself.

Chapter One: Running from God.

To Jonah, this was the worst day of his life. He was filled with hate for a certain people group, he was prejudiced, and God was directing him to warn them of their destruction. If they were to be annihilated, then so be it. Why did they need to be alerted?

“Lord, just do it, why don’t you!”

The only possible reason for telling these people of judgment was to prevent it from happening, something he did not want to prevent. Jonah fully knew the loving nature of God and what could possibly happen if they were warned.

The prophet did not possess the heart of Isaiah who said, “Here am I, Lord, send me!” (Isaiah 6) He was more of the persuasion of, “I would rather not get involved!” He reminds me of an old R&R song of the ‘60s that included the lyrics, “Please, Mr. Custer, I don’t want to go!”

Jonah was instructed to go to a mean, oppressive people that resided in a very wicked city. “Lord, if I have to go somewhere, could it possibly be to some nice, clean, upper-middle-class suburban community? There are sinful people there, too, but they’re nicer and kinder and show more virtue, they better deserve being warned.”

So the hate-filled Jonah does not journey northeast by land but gets on a boat heading northwest by sea and puts the sailors and passengers at peril. When people disobey God, others are affected, usually those closest to them. Jonah tells the crew that everything will be just fine if they simply throw him into the water. It sounds very noble, doesn’t it?

This is where maybe we misread the story. The storm is raging while the ship is in the middle of the sea. The chances of swimming to shore are next to nil. Was he thinking, “I’ll simply drown and won’t have to go to Nineveh!”?

The sailors fulfill his request, the sea grows calm, and Jonah treads water. As he floats along the surface, a large fish approaches. Was he thinking, “I guess I won’t be drowning after all; my life will end sooner than I thought? But that’s okay because I still won’t be going to those despised people living in Nineveh. The wrath of God will consume them, just as I want!”

The large fish swallowed Jonah in one big gulp. He found himself alive in a small, shadowless, stinky, sticky space.

A day passed and he was still alive. Another day passed and he was still alive. A third day comes and he comes to his scenes: “God could keep me alive in this gooey gunk forever!”

Talk about holding a grudge. Most of us would have lasted maybe three minutes, probably no more than three hours before calling out to God, but Jonah held out for three days before he had a change of heart. That was one bitter and angry dude!

Chapter Two: Running to God.

Recorded in the next chapter is a flowery prayer, filled with laconic words. He made a sincere vow. A modest paraphrase would sound like, “God, if you get me out of this slime,…

I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,

O’er mountain, or plain, or sea;

I’ll say what you want me to say, dear Lord,

I’ll be what you want me to be.”

(A classic gospel chorus)

He gave an Isaiah response but not with an Isaiah passion. He simply conceded to do what God commanded.

Jonah was placed in a very unpleasant classroom, but he would not listen to God anywhere else—just like some of us. We dare not blame the Lord for some of the circumstances that we find ourselves in. We often place ourselves in repulsive situations through wrongful feelings, intoxicated with hate and prejudice.

Jonah in his self-induced predicament learned about the need for surrender, trust, and obedience to God. He discovered the value of repentance, the nature of mercy, the importance of praise, and the call for salvation. All this happened in the dark, smelly, gross classroom of a fish’s stomach.

Chapter Three: Running with God.

Jonah goes to Nineveh, but his spirit is not in the task. He hated these people; they were so cruel to his race. He was hoping to be the most unanointed, uninspired preacher that there ever was. Although it should take three days to cover the whole city, he gives one day to the task.

Try not to imagine a preacher zealously shouting a warning on a street corner with a loud voice. See someone walking unwillingly through the streets informing, not proclaiming—confidently strolling, casually speaking, cheerfully stating doom. He was fulfilling the letter but not the spirit of the command.

Did the delivery of the message, as well as the content of the warning, impact the response? Someone the townspeople detected despised them was so certain, so poised, so sure, so serene! His behavior was communicating an unequivocal verdict.

The citywide repentance grew and intensified until the whole town was impacted. Everyone had covered themselves with mourning clothes. People and livestock refrained from all forms of eating and drinking, an absolute fast. They meant business!

Chapter Four: Running against God.

The people’s response triggered a change of divine plans and Jonah’s anger boiled to new heights. He thought this would happen if they took his message to heart. That was the only reason for the judgment to be announced to them. He admitted as such in his complaint to God: “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” (Jonah 4:2)

God always responds to repentance with forgiveness. He changes not; it is an integral part of his nature. If anyone fervently repents, God will forgive, no matter how wicked! As far as the Lord is concerned, everyone is reachable, and everyone should be reached!

But what about Jonah? As the Ninevites repent, does he rejoice? No! He is more concerned about personal comfort than innocent lives, and the worm of bitterness destroyed the little comfort he possessed.

A COUPLE OF TAKEAWAYS

First, in many ways, we are not much different than the man named Jonah. Have you experienced cruelty at the hands of others—been hurt, been cheated, been stung by injustice? If the offender should repent and receive God’s forgiveness, how will you respond?

Corrie ten Boom tells the story of accepting an invitation to speak in Germany after her imprisonment when the war was over. At the end of the meeting, one of her former Nazi prison guards approached and acknowledged he had surrendered his life to God. He had become a brother in Christ and extended his hand to her. She wrote that she learned the importance of forgiveness when she shook his hand. God forgives, do you?

Secondly, the whole book of Jonah is about yielding to God, starting with the prophet himself. Jonah had to change his mind before the townspeople could receive the convicting message that would change their heart. Are you acting as a barrier, preventing others from repenting and experiencing God’s acceptance? What ill will are you harboring deep within that is keeping the love of God from being seen by others?

Finally, could Jonah also be a sign of the imminent return of the resurrected Lord? Could the “sign of the prophet Jonah” be about devout God-lovers harboring animosity and anger toward others as the day of his coming approaches? Resentful feelings obstruct divine solutions. One thing is for certain: slippery, stinker scorn is not a condition to be associated with anyone looking for his promised, “come again!” (John 14:3)

The message of Jonah is more than the story of a large fish. And the prophecy of Jonah is more than the gloom of death vomiting the resurrected Jesus from the grave into the garden of life. The sign of Jonah includes the anger and contempt of a demanding and lost generation that put Christ on the Cross in the first place.