The story of Jonah the Prophet is a story of conflict between the human self and God. Jonah the Prophet was a man with human weaknesses like us, and his self troubled him.
In this lecture, we would like to contemplate the struggle between his self and God.
Whoever wishes to walk in the way of God must deny himself, reject and forget it, and place before him only God alone. The problem of Jonah the Prophet was that his self was prominent and important in his ministry, standing as an obstacle between him and the commandment of God. Perhaps he often thought to himself:
What is my position as a prophet? What about my dignity, my word, and people’s opinion of me? What should I do if my dignity collides with God’s way of working?
Jonah could not overcome himself…
God commanded him to go to Nineveh and proclaim its destruction. Nineveh was a great city with more than 120,000 inhabitants. But it was pagan, ignorant, and very sinful, truly deserving destruction. Yet Jonah began to think about it: I will proclaim the city’s destruction, then it will repent, and God will have mercy on it and not destroy it. Then my word will fall, and God will have destroyed my dignity on the altar of His mercy and forgiveness. It is better then to avoid this path that leads to the loss of my honor!
So he found a ship going to Tarshish, boarded it, and fled. Jonah was not the type to obey immediately; he would argue with God’s commands to see whether they suited his own personality and self.
It is not so with the angels. They obey without discussion or hesitation. God is all-wise, and they are merely executors of His will, not partners in His plan to debate or object. Whether it is mercy or punishment, angels obey without question: God commands one to shut the lions’ mouths and save Daniel, and he obeys; with the same obedience, another angel strikes down all the firstborn of Egypt. Angels are commanded to save Peter from prison, or Paul, or Lot, or to visit Hagar—and they obey. Likewise, the angels who sound the trumpets in the Book of Revelation obey when commanded to pour out the woes that devastate the earth. They do not say, “Have mercy, Lord, spare them, take this task from us.” Their duty is execution, not planning or reasoning. They are humble; they do not consider themselves more compassionate than God their Creator.
This reminds me of the personal status laws and the prohibition of divorce except for the cause of adultery, and of the tender words of those who defend remarriage for divorcees—as if they were more loving and compassionate than Christ who gave the commandment.
Our duty is execution, not discussion. We should not act like Jonah, who received a command from God, argued it, and thought himself wise to disobey! So he boarded a ship to flee from the Lord! Poor man—how can one flee from God? Where can he run?
No matter how you flee from the commandment, it will pursue you wherever you go. It will ring in your ears, turn in your mind, and trouble your conscience…
The word of the Lord is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, able to penetrate the heart and mind, resounding through the depths of the soul.
Jonah fled to Tarshish, forgetting that God is present there too. He boarded the ship, knowing that God is Lord of the sea as well as of the land. But God did not allow him to reach Tarshish. He seized him at sea, stirred up the waves against him and the whole ship. Strangely, Jonah slept deeply in the hold. The waves did not wake him, nor the noise of the cargo thrown overboard, nor the voice of his conscience!
Jonah slept, unconcerned with God’s will or command, unconcerned with Nineveh’s destruction or salvation, or the sailors endangered by his sin. He was centered on himself, feeling he had preserved his dignity—and so he slept heavily.
This heavy sleep required a decisive divine act: to save the sailors physically and spiritually, to fulfill God’s will regarding Nineveh’s salvation, and to save the fleeing prophet himself, teaching him obedience and wisdom, keeping him in service with wondrous patience despite his disobedience and errors.
And who are Your soldiers, O Lord, that You will use in these great rescues? God answers practically:
I have the waves, the winds, the sea, the fish, the sun, the worm, and the plant. If My rational creature disobeyed Me, I will rebuke him through the inanimate and the animals.
So God commanded the winds, and the sea raged, and its waves struck the ship so that it almost broke apart. The storm increased, for God’s command had to be carried out swiftly and precisely. The sailors acted wisely and carefully, doing all they could, praying each to his god, and casting lots to discover for whose sake this calamity had come. The lot fell on Jonah.
The only one not mentioned as praying was Jonah. Even after the shipmaster rebuked him, he did not pray. His stubbornness was greater than the danger around him.
The sailors tried to save Jonah by all means but could not. Jonah admitted he feared the Lord who made the sea and the land. If you truly fear Him, obey His will! What does it mean to fear Him and remain disobedient? But Jonah’s pride still controlled him. When a person clings to his self and dignity, he may sacrifice everything for it. Jonah knew the truth, yet clung to disobedience, driven by pride into stubbornness. They asked him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may calm for us?” He answered, “Take me up and throw me into the sea.” Here I pause in amazement!
Despite all these divine warnings and punishments, Jonah did not repent. He did not say, “I have sinned, O Lord, in fleeing; I will obey and go to Nineveh.” He preferred to be thrown into the sea rather than confess his sin!
He did not plead with God, did not apologize for fleeing, did not promise to go, did not pour out his soul in prayer before God. It seems he preferred to die “with dignity” rather than let his word fall. So they threw him into the sea.
But God’s will had to be fulfilled. Do you think, Jonah, you can resist God and succeed? Never! You must go, whether you obey or disobey, whether you go or flee.
Jonah was thrown into the sea, and the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow him.
O Jonah, it is hard for you to kick against the goads. If you wish, you will reach Nineveh by your feet; if not, you will reach it by the sea, the waves, and the fish—by command if not by will.
Inside the fish, Jonah found a quiet spiritual retreat and began to think. He was in a state neither of life nor death, and he had to reason with God. So he began to pray. He did not want to confess his sin or apologize, yet he did not want to remain as he was. He chose the tone of complaint, saying, “I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and He answered me… for You cast me into the deep… I was cast out of Your sight.”
Clearly, God had not cast him into the deep nor away from His sight—Jonah’s sin was the cause. He brought the trouble upon himself, then complained and attributed it to God. Yet the bright side is that Jonah returned to his faith in the belly of the fish. He believed his prayer would be heard and said, “I will look again toward Your holy temple.” He believed that even in the fish’s belly, he would come out and see the Lord’s temple.
This great distress accomplished its purpose. The fish succeeded in its mission. It appears that Jonah made a vow: if he came out of the fish, he would go to Nineveh. For he said to the Lord in the fish, “But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed” (Jonah 2:9). What vow could that be but this? When the fish vomited him onto dry land, and God’s command came again, Jonah fulfilled his vow and went to Nineveh.
But it seems he went with his feet unwillingly, not with his heart gladly. He went out of obedience, not conviction.
He delivered the message, and it succeeded spiritually. The people of Nineveh repented, humbled themselves before the Lord, fasted, and prayed. The Lord accepted their repentance and did not destroy the city. Jonah saw that his word had fallen, and that the city was spared—and he became angry.
Jonah’s anger revealed the self-centeredness he had not yet overcome.
It was never fitting for a prophet to be angry over the salvation of more than 120,000 souls who returned to God in repentance and contrition, for Scripture says, “There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.” Surely, then, there was great joy in heaven over Nineveh’s salvation. But Jonah did not share in that joy because of his self. Just as the elder son did not share in the joy over his younger brother’s return, for the same reason—his self.
In all this, Jonah’s will was not in harmony with God’s will.
And not only that—Jonah reproached God, justified himself, and thought the right was on his side. He prayed and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and merciful God” (Jonah 4:2).
How could he pray in such a wrong, angry state of heart? How could he speak as if he were the one wronged, saying, “Ah, Lord”? How could he think himself right, saying, “Was not this my word…”? How could he justify his flight, saying, “Therefore I fled…”? He did not say this in remorse or humility but as one who believes he has a right, enduring suffering patiently!
Strange is man, when he flatters himself at the expense of truth, refusing to admit his faults no matter how obvious!
Yet God used four of His irrational creatures to teach Jonah: the waves that nearly sank the ship, the fish that swallowed him, the sun that struck his head till he fainted, and the worm that ate the plant.
Jonah sat east of the city to see what would happen, as if waiting for God to destroy the people to please his pride!
And God gave him a lesson from all those creatures, which obeyed His will better than this great prophet. Yet the Lord did not abandon him but guided him back to His way.
May the blessings of his prayers be with us all. Amen.
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