A Street Triple's Sermon About Jonah The Preacher

Jonah was a good guy. He was a good Jew. He loved God, he loved his country, he loved his people, and he loved the heritage he shared as a son of Israel. Jonah was a good guy and God noticed him.

God decided, as God is known to do, that Jonah would go to the city-state of Nineveh and preach to them a message of repentance from their sinning ways. "Arise, go to Nineveh that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me." Jonah 1:2.

Now a big part of the Jewish heritage that Jonah loved so much is found in war. From the day the Israelites followed Moses out of Egypt until this moment in Jonah's life, war had been a major player in Jewish history. Their enemies had been numerous and fierce. Their many wars had been brutal and costly. As far as the Hebrews were concerned, their enemies were also the enemies of God. They were horrible enemies. One of those horrible enemies was Nineveh.

God's command to Jonah was brief, but Jonah read a lot into it. First, Jonah noted that God said that Nineveh's wickedness had come up before him. Part of that wickedness -- As far as Jonah was concerned, the big part. -- is that Ninevites killed Jews. Jonah considers that God is about to destroy Nineveh for the sins of its warring men. This would have been a great reason for Jonah to celebrate except that God wanted someone to preach repentance to the citizens of Nineveh. Perhaps they would repent of their wickedness and God would spare them.

Jonah did not want to see Nineveh repent. He wanted Nineveh to suffer the same fate that Sodom suffered -- complete and utter destruction. Well, Jonah would have no part in this plan. Jonah would become an unsung martyr for Israel. He would leave his people, his heritage, and his God. He would become a stateless vagabond and wander through the world, but Nineveh would no longer threaten Israel. No one would know of Jonah's heroic decision except Jonah and God, but all of Israel would enjoy the fruit of Jonah's martyrdom. 

Jonah found passage on a ship and he departed on his self imposed exile. God, however, is persistent. God sent a fierce storm to threaten the ship and her crew. The sailors, by their sailorish ways, determined that Jonah was the cause of their distress and they summoned Jonah to an inquest. At his hearing, the crew, who knew that Jonah was fleeing from God because Jonah had told them that much of his story, marveled at what horrible crime Jonah must have committed to so infuriate his God. The crew of the ship asked Jonah what they should do to quell God's wrath and calm the storm.

Jonah was going to be a martyr. This setback would not deter him. He told the sailors that if they cast him into the angry sea, God would be appeased, and the sea would settle.

The sailors took Jonah up, but before casing him into the sea, they cried out to God, "We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, has done as it pleased thee." Jonah 1:14.

Jonah splashed into the ocean and found it large. (It is large. It's huge. I crossed it in a container ship when I emigrated here to North Carolina.) All God's billows and waves passed over Jonah. The waters compassed him about and weeds were wrapped around his head. Then a giant fish swallowed Jonah.

The sea above had calmed and settled and Jonah had finally escaped from God, but the horror of that realization brought him back in prayer. Martyrdom was one thing, but to actually loose fellowship with God was far worse than Jonah could have imagined. He prayed, "I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord." Jonah 2:9.

After three long days and nights in the fish's belly, "The Lord spake unto the fish, and the fish vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." Jonah 2:10.

On the beach, God spoke to Jonah again, "Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee." Jonah 3:2.

This time Jonah went into Nineveh. He preached with anointing and, as Jesus said, the people of Nineveh "repented at the preaching of Jonas."

Uncountable souls were saved and the destruction of a great and ancient city was averted. "But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry." Jonah 4:1.

This was exactly what Jonah did not want. Israel's ancient foe would be spared and Jonah had become the instrument of their salvation. After three days and nights in the belly of the fish, three days and nights in what Jonah had assumed was his tomb, Jonah was raised from the depths to preach repentance. Though he resented the call, he preached in the power of the Holy Ghost and his sermons convicted the Ninevites. 

Jonah prayed again, "O Lord, take I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live." Jonah 4:3.

God asked Jonah if it was right of him to be angry with God. Jonah replied by walking away from God, again. Jonah walked out of the city and found a place in the wilderness from where he could watch the city.  He made for himself a little lean-to from the branches of a bush and he sat there in improvised shade.

God made a vine and gourd grow up and create more and cooler shade for Jonah and this pleased Jonah. Then God sent a worm to eat the stem of the vine and cause the plant to fall over and wilt in the heat. Then God sent a fierce, hot wind to plague Jonah further. It worked. "God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death." Jonah 4:10.

God reminds Jonah that the gourd came up in a night and perished in a night, but that in Nineveh there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand babies who don't yet know the difference between their right hand and their left. There is insight here. Though God can and does judge harshly some times, he is also the one who loves as a mother loves her sucking child. He loves even more deeply than that.

The Bible doesn't tell us how Jonah reconciled with God, but because Jesus speaks so highly of him, we must assume that he did. It did not go as well for Nineveh. Their repentance did not stick and soon God sent another prophet, Nahum, to prophesy that time was up for Nineveh.