“I really, really hope somebody was standing on the beach when Jonah came flying out of the whale. Imagine telling THAT story for the rest of your life.”
At Crash, we try to keep it real. As we walked through the book of Jonah this spring, we constantly attempted to imagine ourselves in the literal events of his story. When we stopped to think about the logistics of being inside a whale’s stomach, everyone gagged a little bit. And the former quote resulted from trying to picture Jonah’s (messy) exit onto the shore.
These elements of Jonah are familiar, making for fantastic stories and movies. But, to be honest, those were the only parts I really knew. They were nothing personal, just a familiar Sunday School tale.
So we asked Jesus to move, to reveal heart-changing truths as we gathered around tables to dissect chapters.
Oh, be careful what you pray for!
I read the passages quietly at first. The words reverberated in my heart, bouncing around more loudly as I recognized myself in Jonah’s pride and derision. I felt my conscience grow hotter and my pulse race as forgotten scenes played out in my mind.
I had been deeply wounded by someone close to me. Pain and anger are a dangerous cocktail, and I was wallowing in indignation. I wanted to move on to forgiveness and reconciliation, but not until I had proved this person to be wrong.
Gracious forgiveness meant relinquishing my self-righteousness. A dear friend looked me in the eyes, and said, “You have to stop trying to be right. You must stop instituting your own brand of justice.”
Oh, Jonah. It looks like we have some things in common.
Jonah reacts to God’s mercy for Ninevah and it reeks of self-righteousness. But then again, so often do I.
“Please Lord, was this not what I said while 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.”
As Jonah yells, “I told you so!” at the heavens, God’s response is almost satirical. “Do you do well to be angry?”
I imagined, for the first time, what I must look like to a holy, sovereign God as I refuse to extend the same compassion given me to someone else. They say you criticize others most harshly when you share their same flaws. I realized that Jonah’s speech resonated so strongly because my heart contained all the same elements that his did. I was humbled at the grace extended to each of us.
We don’t know how Jonah’s story ended. His book of the Bible leaves him sitting outside of Ninevah, cloaked in bitterness. However, the sweet truth is that it’s not too late for me, or you.
As Blue Ridge moves into a corporate study on these four intriguing chapters in Scripture, I rest in the knowledge that God is readily responsive to our pleas for help.
Just ask the guy in the whale.