BY JASON SCHIFO
We hear a lot about “fake news” these days, and I think we all would agree that fake news is, well, bad news. This is important to all of us, and especially for those of us who call ourselves Christians. Those who have a clear message of the “Good News” of Jesus Christ.
This is why Christians have to be careful in not offering “fake news” by editing the good news; leaving this out and trimming that off. We are called to be God’s messengers, not God’s editors. It reminds me of a classic hymn that has been sung for hundreds of years…
I love to tell the story, ’tis pleasant to repeat,
What seems each time I tell it more wonderfully sweet;
I love to tell the story, for some have never heard
The message of salvation from God’s own holy Word.
It is lovely, beautiful and we love to sing it. But imagine if the words we sing were mirrored the ways we sometimes act…
I love to tell some of the story, the parts that won’t offend,
Because instead of God I fear the opinions of men;
I love to tell some of the story, I hope you haven’t heard
Because I decided to change some of the
difficult parts from God’s own holy Word.
Jonah is one of the many stories in the Bible where we tend to tell some of it, but not all of it, and in doing so we share “fake news” instead of the good news of God’s grace.
We often tell children about God calling Jonah, his running the other way, getting on a ship, being tossed overboard, and staying three days in the belly of a whale. Well, it isn’t really a whale, that’s fake news. The Hebrew of Jonah 2:1 actually reads “great fish” rather than “whale”, which would be “leviathan” in the original language. Unfortunately, we rarely hear the 4th chapter, which is, well I hate to spoil the party, but the most important part of the story.
Let’s start at the beginning so we can better understand the ending.
Jonah 1:1-2 “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
The city of Ninevah was a great city, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Historians say it was the largest city in the world at the time, an important capitol, and an intimidating place to go. So Jonah is being sent by God to his enemies, the Assyrians, with an invitation to receive His grace.
This is important because how does God defeat His enemies?
God does it by saving them, with grace. God called Jonah to go to a pagan city and call the people to be changed by the message of grace.
When God spoke to Jonah He told Him to do two things:
First, “go to Nineveh”, a scary place full of his enemies.
Second, “cry out against it”, that is to call them to repentance.
So, what did Jonah do? He ran the other way.
Now, before we are hard on old Jonah, how many times has God asked you to do something and you went the other direction? I am not just talking about going across the world on a mission trip, but instead across the room to repair a relationship. To seek restoration, to love and serve and to sit with others who are in desperate need of God’s grace – even if they are our enemies. Sometimes like Jonah, we go the opposite direction that grace calls us to go.
And he got on a boat and headed out to sea. I often wondered if he thought, “Well, God won’t find me out here”, forgetting that the God who seeks us is the one who made the earth and everything in it.
The Lord needed to get Jonah’s attention, so the Bible says He, “hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship threatened to break up”. It created such a stir on the ship that the captain came to Jonah and cried out, ”Arise, call out to your god!”
Even in our running away from God He doesn’t waste a thing.
Jonah 1:16 says, “ Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.”
What? Jonah ran from God, and along the way, grace is changing lives. Nothing is wasted, even our running away. That doesn’t mean that your life ought to be marked by running away, but just know that God wastes nothing, and pursues you to offer you and others grace along the way.
Jonah 1:17 lAnd the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
What a great fish story. And that is how it is treated by so many.
I know this detail sounds crazy and offensive to our sensibilities, but you know what sounds crazier and more offensive than a great fish swallowing a man?
Grace that seeks and saves our enemies.
Grace that looks at every atrocity and still says, “come to me”.
I know this is true because when I look around I don’t see a whole lot of grace in the world. Jonah was offended and ran the other way and wound up in a great fish.
What kind of fish was this? It doesn’t matter does it.
The great fish was a great grace, used to bring Jonah back to God.
And God called again to Jonah, “Go to Ninevah”. This time Jonah did and something amazing, something only God’s grace could do happened.
Jonah 3:6-8 “The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God.”
Wow! Grace took an enemy and made him a friend. This is amazing and something that we ought to find great joy in, but not Jonah. The Bible says, “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.” (Jonah 4:1)
Jonah is upset at what grace did. He wanted judgment for his enemies and instead, they got grace. How offensive is this to us? The salvation of the people of Nineveh is so painful to Jonah that he travels outside the city and sits on a hill, hoping that somehow God will still find Nineveh lacking, and destroy them after all.
But He doesn’t. Instead, He addresses Jonah’s heart.
Jonah 4:6 says, “Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah”. Just as grace prepared a great fish, He prepares a plant to shelter Jonah as he sits. But the shade didn’t change his disposition. Jonah was so angry that the Hebrew word here literally means “to be hot.” So now God would let Jonah feel some real heat by withering the plant.
Jonah’s discomfort, as crazy as it may seem is God’s grace at work again, withering the plant to guide him to the heart of grace: God’s heart.
It all seems so strange, but the strangest part is yet to come, and that is the way the Book of Jonah ends. God comes to Jonah and shares all that grace has done. Showing him how grace has saved more than 120,000 people from judgment, even the cattle, and then the Book ends. We don’t even get to hear Jonah’s response.
Why does it end that way?
The Jewish commentators say it is because God’s grace always gets the final word, not us. I don’t know about you, but I rather like it that way.
That is good news.
