Jonah and the Storm

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0:00 The story that I want to think about for us is I want to start with the Old Testament reading. I don't know if you've picked up one of these yet, but I have been carrying this with me this week and I am enjoying it. It prompts me to look at these texts throughout the week and reminds me that we're on a trajectory together. I just like having them. And so this week I want to start with this Old Testament reading.

0:31 And if you have one of these, you can see it's in Jonah. It sent me a minute to find Jonah. I had to actually go to the table of contents. I did. It's short. In my paper copy of the scriptures, it's only two pages. It's tucked in those minor prophets where it's very hard to remember the order of the minor prophets. I don't know that I ever actually really learned them. So it comes after Amos and before Micah, if you're flipping around in the paper copy, trying to find it.

1:07 And the reading is from Jonah chapter 1, verses 1 to 17, which is kind of a lot of the story. When I was in seminary, the guy teaching us minor prophets was writing his commentary on Jonah. And so all we did in the minor prophets was just translate the book of Jonah. I don't know if that was self-serving for him, but it was nice for me. I learned a lot about the story of Jonah and his plot, and nice because Jonah is only four chapters.

1:41 It is pretty short. Thanks, Dee. We're sure the place isn't burning down. We checked. Jonah, the story of Jonah is only four chapters, and it's like what's interesting is like because Jonah has the business with the fish, it can be easy to be a story that's written off. But Jonah, as the person, is referenced a couple other places, like in Second Kings, there's mention of him.

2:17 And so we are pretty sure that Jonah himself exists. And we could debate whether or not there was a fish that was the right size to swallow him up. But that debate might get us away from looking at why the story has been included in the scriptures for so long and what we might learn from engaging with it. And so I just want to move through this reading first. Jonah chapter 1 verses 1 to 17.

2:47 It says, now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amatai. Remember the word of the Lord before we had scriptures, like in the time of the prophets, was a different kind of thing. If the word of the Lord comes to you now, if you are sitting somewhere and we say the word of the Lord comes to you, it might be in the form of the Lord. It might be in the form of the scriptures. And it might be in an idea that you have or something somebody says to you. But of course you can cross-reference it with the scriptures.

3:20 Like you know the word of the Lord is not going to contradict the scriptures. But in the time of the prophets, in the time of Jonah, it was a unique experience to have the word of the Lord come on you. It seems like it was a bigger experience, like a harder to miss experience. Like when the word of the Lord came on the prophets, remember before Christ people didn't have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And so this word of the Lord that comes to him is like the word of the God of the Lord that's finally incarnate in the person of Jesus.

3:54 This is a substantial encounter. And at a couple of times we can see the prophets, they try and dismiss the word of the Lord because they don't want the responsibility. Jeremiah says, I'd rather not carry the word of the Lord with me, but it's welling up inside of me like a fire. At different points we see the word of the Lord is so compelling that people like Elijah are willing to take on hundreds of other prophets. The word of the Lord, when it comes on a prophet, the release of the Holy Spirit, pre-Pentacost, it is an unmistakable experience.

4:31 These prophets know that they have encountered the word of God and that there is a sense of responsibility to it. Jonah has the word of the Lord come to him. It's like a fire alarm. You can't ignore it. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amatized Saint, get up and go to Nineveh, that great city and call out against it, for their evil has come up to me.

5:05 Nineveh is the capital of Assyria, the enemy country. And so Jonah is told to go prophesy a word of the Lord from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to a foreign country, right, to an enemy capital city. But Jonah rose to flee to Tarsish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Jopa and Dapa and found a ship going to Tarsish.

5:38 He paid the fare and went on board to go with them to Tarsish away from the presence of the Lord. Nineveh from where Jonah was would have been to go up. And Jonah not only doesn't go to Nineveh, he goes actually down, like he goes down and then gets on a boat to go further down. What we have is Jonah encountering an unmistakable word of the Lord telling him to do a thing and Jonah going in the opposite direction.

6:10 He went down to Jopa and he got on the ship and he was trying to get away from the presence of the Lord, verse 4. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship threatened to break up. And then the mariners were afraid and each cried out to his God and they hurled cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had laid down and was fast asleep.

6:48 The folks who are Jonah is a prophet in landlocked Israel. He is not a sea mariner. He is not a fisherman. He is not used to being on ponds or on oceans. He buys a fair and is a passenger. I can imagine someone in that situation would get sick pretty quickly.

7:18 Would get sick pretty quickly. The guys that he pays are professional sea mariners. It is their job to get people from one point to another in the Mediterranean Sea. They know how to handle themselves on a boat and they are terrified and afraid. They are throwing stuff over. They have been paid to carry this cargo and they are like, we will lose money on this trip. It is better than losing our lives. They are afraid and Jonah is down at the bottom of the boat sleeping through it.

7:49 And that is crazy. The sea mariners are afraid and Jonah is not. The sea mariners are like worried and confused and Jonah is just sleeping through it. He has put his head in the sand and doesn't care about the situation of the world. He has decided he is against the God controlling all things, stuck his head in the sand and is just waiting it out. The captain came and said to him, what do you mean you sleeper?

8:23 Arise and call out to your God and perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not perish. Verse 7, and they said to one another, come let us cast locks that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. It is a thing they did a lot in the Old Testament times to determine what God thought they would cast locks. And it seems like God would work through it. I don't think God would work that way now because we are in a different relationship to them.

8:55 But they would cast locks and God would work through it. So they cast locks and the locks fell on Jonah and then they said to him, tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation and where did you come from and what is your country and of what people are you? And he said to them on a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea in the dry land. And then the men were like, whoa, what? They are like, your God made the sea in the dry land.

9:27 Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, what is this that you have done for the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told him. When he got on the boat he said, I got to get away from my God. He said, make sense. If you're from the Israel area, go down to Tarshees and get away. They didn't realize that God that Jonah said he belongs to made the heavens and the earth, the land and the sea. The first thing that I forget sometimes but it's good to read in order and see, Jonah is running away from the God.

10:01 He's encountered unmistakably the word of God calling him to do something and he does the opposite. And then when God begins to respond he's so persistent in his rejection of the call of God that he's just sleeping through him. He's completely ignoring it. And when they call him up to the thing and they cough for lunch he just waits for the lot. He doesn't say, I know the problem. And then when they ask him who he is, this is the thing that's interesting, when they ask Jonah who he is, he owns it.

10:40 Jonah still has some kind of recognition about who God is. They ask him who he is and he says, I'm a Hebrew and I fear the Lord. He doesn't say, I was a Hebrew but that dude's crazy and I no longer believe in him because he wanted me to go to Nineveh. In his obstinents and persistent rejection of God he carries faith yet.

11:11 He understands and knows who God is and still willfully picks something different. He knows who God is, understands who God has called him to be and still says, I'd rather go this way. Of honesty, I've been right there before. I've been right there before.

11:43 Then if someone stopped me, woke me up from sleep and said, what are you doing? Who are you? I'd answer who I am and then I would betray and yet still I choose I'm running man, it's our speech. Because I think God might be crazy. I think there's no way I would survive a trip to Nineveh. So he just is like, that's the situation he is. He's in. It doesn't seem like he lacks faith.

12:15 It seems like he has at least intellectual knowledge but also it seems like he says that he, here it's the Lord, I guess just not enough. Or like his fear of the Lord doesn't, he doesn't move him to respond appropriately. Like look at what he does next. They all said to one another, oh wait, the cash lot, tell us okay. And then they were afraid because he told them he's asleep, verse 11. And then they said to him, what shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us?

12:52 Where the sea grew more and more tempestuous. And he said to them, just pick me up and hurl me into the sea. And the sea will quiet down for you. Like can't Jonah just jump? Like how passive, how apathetic is this dude? Like he is, he's like sleeping when the mariners are terrified.

13:24 I don't know if he's like so depressed, he understands the will of God but can't get himself to do it. He knows how to solve the problem from in the sea but can't get himself to solve the problem. Just pick me up. Like in my head for some reason, he's like cannonballing. Like they're picking him up and he's like wrapped up and they just like throw him over. Like what does it look like to hurl a guy into a tempestuous sea?

13:55 Like do you, I'm trying to get into the headset, the mindset of Jonah. I mean the dude is like conflicted at the least, right? I fear God and I can't get myself to do anything. I don't think Jonah, I think Jonah was like ready to die. Just like, let's just, I'll just die.

14:29 Just throw me over. I don't have the gumption or the courage to jump myself. It'll be done. I've not been in a spot. I can't remember one time freshman year of college, young, then. I went from like, I grew up all the same neighborhood, went to school with the same people.

15:03 Like when I graduated high school, I had kids that I had been in the class with kindergarten with. And I went up to the University of Florida and immediately I can remember when my parents left me in the dorm going holy cow, I'm completely alone in this huge space. I remember coming home after my freshman year, the first semester in my freshman year, and like being overwhelmed, meeting all these new people and being empathetic to the point where I can't remember walking down sidewalks

15:37 and seeing all these people I didn't know, and knowing my issues, and knowing all the issues of my friends, and for some reason I would imagine all these people I didn't know and all of the situations they were dealing with. And I had friends going through really hard times and I couldn't figure out how they were going to get out of it. And I remember coming home and telling my dad, it's not that I don't want to live. But this seems like really a difficult spot to be.

16:08 There's so much sadness and difficulty and hardship. What do I do with it? My dad, to my frustration as a kid, and to his wisdom overall, never answered questions like that. He just sat with me in it. He cried a little bit and he read me his favorite Bible first. Okay. Jonah must be in some place like that, right?

16:38 When he's like, just throw me over there. Pick me up and hurl me into the sea and then I'll quiet down for I know it's because of me. Verse 13, Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the seed grew more and more tempestuous against them. They're nice guys. They're like, throw you over, you're crazy. Verse 14, Therefore they called out to the Lord. Oh Lord, let us not perish for this man's life and lay not on us innocent blood for you.

17:08 Oh Lord, have you, have done as it pleased you. So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea and the sea ceased from its raging as soon as they put him in. And the men feared the Lord exceedingly, appropriately. And they offered to sacrifice the Lord and made vows. They get it. He's in control. Here's the last line. Verse 17, And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

17:39 One of the things I remember from that guy's commentary is that at the time of this writing, there was an idea that the trip to the underworld would take three days and three nights. And so that when the writer of Jonah is saying it's with three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, it's that God goes down into death and brings Jonah back up out of death. And I want you to see what's happening here. It is not the will of Jonah that he would be saved.

18:14 It is not the plea of Jonah even until he's in the fish. You could read the rest of the story. He has a beautiful prayer after God has saved him and said, save me now. But God moves towards Jonah when Jonah is at best apathetic and at worst outright rejected and faceless towards the word of God. And yet God goes down into death.

18:46 It's him. Your relationship to the God is based on the prerogative of the God. And I don't care how far away from his direction, his admonition, his care. I don't care how much rejection you have piled up against what you know to be true about the God.

19:21 You're never so far gone that you can't call out. You can imagine Jonah, he has endangered the lives of semen. He has given up and run against God. He has given up to the point of death. He's like, just kill me. And then God saves him. You can imagine an emotional position of Jonah in the whale where he's like two years old.

19:55 Where he's like two ashamed to call out to God. Where he's like two guilty and says, I don't deserve to call out to God. I've messed it up to that. But Jonah, God bless him. Find safe yet. It's not so embarrassed by his failure that he can't call out to the God. You are never so far in opposition to God that you are beyond saving.

20:28 Maybe that's not the message of Jonah, but it's a good message for those first 17 verses. And it ties into the gospel reading. So I just want to look at the gospel reading for a few minutes. Matthew chapter eight. In Matthew chapter eight, Jesus, the reading that we have is verses 23 and 27. But just a bit before that, Jesus is amazed by the faith of his centurion.

21:02 And he actually compliments his faith. Remember this centurion? It's like I have a servant who is sick. Would you heal him? And Jesus says, yeah, I'll follow you. Let's go get him. And this is a church like please. I'm not an Israelite. I'm not worthy of you coming into my house. Just say the word and I know that you healed. And Jesus is like, oh my gosh, this guy knows who I am, man. And I've not seen faith like this in the whole community of Israel. So he compliments faith right there. And then for our reading chapter eight, verse 23, is the story of Jesus calling me in the

21:37 storm. And when he got into the boat, he's trying to get away from the crowd. He gets into the boat. And his disciples follow him into the boat. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea so that the boat was being swamped by waves. But he was asleep. Jesus was asleep. And they went and woke him and said, hey man, he was floored.

22:07 We're perishing. You know, Matthew was a task collector. I don't know what Thaddeus did. But we know James and John and Peter. Those dudes were fishermen. They knew how to handle maybe on this actual sea. This was not their first time in a boat. So if they were scared, it was a serious storm. Like they're not messing around. And they can't believe Jesus is sleeping. Now I think Jesus is sleeping for different reasons than Jonah is sleeping.

22:39 I think Jonah was just done. He had given up on life. And so he didn't care if they died. I think Jesus is sleeping because he's tired. And he's not sweating the storm. And he says to them, why are you afraid, oh you of little faith? This is like mess with me for some time.

23:09 And I still don't understand it all the way. What would it look like if they had demonstrated faith? Like what was that? If he's like, they wake him up, hey Jesus, the storm is swapping the boat. Get up man. And his first reaction is why do you have such little faith. I don't know what he wanted them to do. He wanted to continue sleeping. But like what was the reaction of faith?

23:39 If it wasn't to go to Jesus, what's a better reaction of faith? I don't know if he wanted them to call him the storm. He wanted them to be okay if they drowned. He wanted them to know because Jesus is with them then they wouldn't drown. I don't know. I just feel like something there, they were afraid. But man, why are you afraid? But then look at what he does.

24:10 Oh you of little faith. Then he rose, rebuked the winds and the sea and there was great calm. And they marveled saying, what sort of man is this? That even the winds and the sea obey him. The disciples got something wrong, but Jesus fixed the situation for them anyway. But a good dude, their response was wrong and Jesus fixed their situation anyway.

24:53 Whatever situation you're in, whatever the scope or space of your faith, whatever experiences and choices you've piled up behind you, it is never too late to ask the God for help. And they can't ask him so wrong that he won't respond.

25:23 Like however you get to the God, just find your way back to him. However you can through people, through story, through nature, through scripture, however you find your way back to God, through quiet, through noise, through music, right? However you find your way back to God in any situation, out of any experience, find your way back to God. This come out of the ocean to provide solutions.

25:53 Storms magically disappear, right? The comfort in sleep in the midst of storm. Like the moving through life with the God is better, and the God is always ready to respond to you. So much that sometimes they'll just come when you didn't ask. I'm praying this week that I could be someone that is not deterred or inhibited by my past failures.

26:26 In a way that keeps me from coming to God. And it's not so worried about my lack of faith or the way I approach God that I might get it wrong that I don't go to the God. I want to be someone who goes to the God in every situation for every need, right? Recognizing that sleeping or awake the God is for me. I believe in people like that. Let's pray. Hey Lord, thank you for rescuing Jonah.

26:58 For bearing with those disciples. Bear with a rescue of us. You just how to approach you.