⁴ But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. ⁵ Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship.

But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. ⁶ So the captain went down after him. “How can you sleep at a time like this?” he shouted. “Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.”

⁷ Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit. ⁸ “Why has this awful storm come down on us?” they demanded. “Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?”

⁹ Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”

¹⁰ The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the Lord. “Oh, why did you do it?” they groaned. ¹¹ And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, “What should we do to you to stop this storm?”

¹² “Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.”

¹³ Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it. ¹⁴ Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah’s God. “O Lord,” they pleaded, “don’t make us die for this man’s sin. And don’t hold us responsible for his death. O Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.”

¹⁵ Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! ¹⁶ The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.

Jonah 1:4-16

Dear God, I want to stop before verse 17, when we first hear about the big fish. If the story were to just stop here, it would still be interesting. Man runs from God. God kills man through storm. Gentiles worship God when they are saved through miraculous end to storm. The end. So I want to sit with that for a second. I want to sit with Jonah and his willingness to die rather than go to Nineveh. It’s almost as if he kind of wants to die, but he’s just not willing to throw himself overboard (which was an option). He wanted some other Gentiles to do the dirty work for him.

I guess my first question would be to ask why you chose Jonah. He doesn’t seem particularly likeable. He runs from your request. He is resting peacefully while the sailors are scared. If the crew had been Jewish, would he have cared more? Was he just indifferent about all Gentiles and hostile towards the Assyrians? Yeah, it’s hard for me to understand why you chose Jonah in the first place. It seems like you could have picked someone else.

So you picked Jonah, but he was a bitter mess. So you decide to correct him through these other people. I wondered for a moment why you didn’t just strike him personally until he knuckled under. You could have given him leprosy or something like that. But then again, you knew how hard his heart was, and you knew that he would sink, even to death, before he obeyed you. So you set up a situation that was simply so miserable for him that, while he never will quite repent, he will agree to obey.

Then there are the men who are seemingly moral men. They don’t want to just kill a man on the “chance” (playing off of the idea that they cast lots) that it will end the storm. They are willing to look at all of the solutions available to them before they get to their last resort: throwing Jonah overboard.

Jonah gives them the solution. He doesn’t confess his sin, but he does acknowledge that this is between you and him and has nothing to do with the sailors. I wonder if they hoped he would just throw himself overboard. I’m sure at least a few of them did. I would have if I were them.

Their human efforts to survive are proving to not be enough, so they chunk Jonah into the sea. He will surely die. But when Jonah path finally diverges from theirs, you leave them alone. Did you do it to save them, or were you indifferent? I’d like to think that you didn’t cause Jonah to run, but you made the pain count and used the situation to impact these men’s lives. I wonder how those changed lives that day flowed into history.

Father, show me if there are ways I’m obstinately not obeying you. Reveal to me whether or not I have a hard heart. As I get closer to you I can feel less and less hate in me. I’m grateful for that. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t any left. Help me to love as you commanded me to love. Help me to obey when you command me to do something I don’t want to do. Give me ears to hear you. Give me eyes to see. Give me a heart to love. Grow your fruit in my life so that others my see me and join the path that goes through the narrow gate.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen