Week 4: Thursday

Jonah 1.1-4,7-17

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, ‘Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.’ But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up.
The sailors said to one another, ‘Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us.’ So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, ‘Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?’ ‘I am a Hebrew,’ he replied. ‘I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.’ Then the men were even more 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 them so.
Then they said to him, ‘What shall we do to you, that the sea may quieten down for us?’ For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. He said to them, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quieten down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.’ Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. Then they cried out to the Lord, ‘Please, O Lord, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood; for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.’ So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
But the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

The Book for Jonah is a very interesting part of the Bible. It tells the intriguing story of a prophet who runs from God only to find himself in the belly of a whale, a quiet place.

While Jonah’s three-day retreat inside the “great fish” is referred to in Matthew Chapter 12 by Jesus to explain his own coming death, burial and resurrection, it is Jonah’s anger that is perhaps the most striking feature of the book as a whole. Jonah is sent to the chief city of a colonising power to declare judgement. He holds on to this long-awaited judgement, but at the last moment God grants mercy!

Jonah’s anger then turns toward God. How dare God grant mercy when justice is needed? This is too often the dilemma facing peoples who have experienced oppression and persecution. Mercy and justice are hard to balance. Jonah remains trapped in his anger – unwilling to accept that mercy has a place alongside justice.

When have you felt most angry against God?

for a deeper faith to trust God's silence in the face of injustice.

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