Jonah Part 3

Catch up with the previous posts here and here. And even read Jonah (it won't take you long) here.

Jonah gets to work

Jonah gets his call from God a second time. This isn't surprising, and God's unrelenting handling of Jonah to get him facing the right way is somewhat of a comfort to the thousands, if not millions, of people trying to do what God's calling them to do, but then deciding an easier option would be to go on holiday and decide about that later.

Has Jonah learnt his lesson? It's a good question. He seems to be eager to get on with whatever it is that God wants him to do, and ends up going to this 'great city' of Ninevah. It is pretty awesome. The text tells us that Ninevah took 3 days to visit the whole city. Seems like a long-weekend break destination, only without any of the comforts, because it's a pretty pagan city. Jonah walked through the whole city shouting a simple message (like God had told him to do, though truncated for sake of conscience on Jonah's part as we shall see).

"Yet forty days, and Ninevah shall be overthrown!"

In the original language this 'sermon,' if you can call it that, is 4 words. Literally: "Forty days, Ninevah destroyed." No mention of God, no mention of a hope of salvation, no 3-step program on how to repent, no '30 second prayer,' Nothing. Just: This city is going down.

Now it's Ninevah's turn.

It did work, and the interesting phrase "And the people believed God" creates questions about how they knew it was Him that had spoken (unless there is some underlying knowledge we haven't seen reference to), and more importantly, in my opinion, how on earth did they know what to do? They fasted, mourned, put on sackcloth; all repentant type behaviour in my opinion.

This underlying knowledge is quite important to their salvation. It seems to me that these people had seen something that gave them and idea of who God was (rather than god or gods), and they had also seen how their actions were not merely different to another nation or city, but actually evil in comparison. The nation that would have modeled this (or at least should have, as their calling was) was the nation of Israel. They were called to be a light to the nations, to show the rest of the world who God really was and what He expected of His creation as a whole.

Their distinctness was their defining attribute that set them apart from the rest of the world in order for the world to truly perceive God. And the Ninevites had seen this and were being told by someone from Israel that the consequences to their complete lack of acknowledgement that their actions had any negative effect on them, would now be brought in front of their face with a big red cross marked "wrong". And yet, this knowledge didn't bring them to despair. They were just told how they would be wiped out by the all-powerful God, and instead of shouting "meaningless, everything is meaningless!" the king decreed a nationwide repentance. (It wasn't just people either, their livestock were covered in repentance clothing as well - take note of this for the future.)

Now, at this point God relents from bringing about doom on this city, which is explained later, and questions come into being about whether God changes or not. Which is a ridiculous premise because, actually, God doesn't change, though his actions do seem to react to the repentance of the city. His verdict is seemingly replaced. This deserves more detail so I'll leave it for next time...

Jonah Part 2

This is the next part of an extended summary of what the book of Jonah is about.

The build up

And Jonah runs in the opposite direction, in complete knowledge that the God He worships is the God of the whole world and wherever he runs it won't do much good to those around him, or himself. (That also happens to be a commentary on sinfulness in general: To go the opposite direction to where God wants you to be doesn't just hurt yourself but those around you as well.) When a storm begins to brew, like a nice cup of tea, the pagan sailors have more fear than Jonah, seeing as Jonah is asleep 'on the cushion' (remind you of Jesus...? Well, let's not get quite so carried away yet). Jonah, sleeping soundly in the boat, while a storm begins to tear the whole ship apart.

The captain went down to see if Jonah knew anything about the commotion, ("What's with all the commotion?!") and the answer was, of course, yes. Jonah knows exactly what's going on, it's almost as if he expected it. It looks like, this is funny, he thought he could run away from God, then, because God would punish him for running away, get killed by whatever that judgment would be (and let's have out in the open sea just in case) so that he would have no more to do with doing something that is against his own selfishness. It boils down to Jonah being a racist.

Here's the bit about the Fish

Jonah offers to be thrown into the sea, hoping desperately to drown. I can't think why else he would offer his own life. The reaction to the storm being settled by the 'Pagan Sailors' is awe and wonder and it causes them to worship. This is highly intriguing, but expected. The sacrifice of one man leads them to believe in that man's God. And yet, this is merely a highlight to the story. This still hasn't got to the main point. And we haven't got past the fish yet.

Jonah is in the sea, feeling sorry for himself no doubt, and God sends along a large fish to take Jonah into his belly. Then comes the prayer of Jonah. It pretty much takes up all of the second chapter of the book and there is one issue I have with the interpretations I've heard of it. The interpretations I've heard put this prayer down to a great faith stirrer, that even in the midst of his struggle Jonah prayed, and then God, in response, released Jonah from the fish onto dry land.

This isn't obvious when you read it. But I've heard preacher after preacher tell me that the application to this text is that if we have enough faith, and pray in this kind of way, Jesus will release us from the proverbial 'Belly of the fish.' According to the text, the prayer is in the past tense. It's all referring to something that's happened. "I turned to your holy temple" "you answered me" all these are about a past event. Anyone know what that past event is? (There aren't any prizes.)

Jonah is praying a great praise song to God because he was saved from drowning by a fish. He was grateful, secretly, that he had not died, and that God had saved him. He was immensely grateful for God saving him and prays a prayer that shows God he's sorry that he went the wrong way and he's grateful God didn't abandon him to death. I don't think we can deduce from the psalm here in chapter 2 that Jonah 'earned' (and I use that word for provocative reasons, not ever because I've heard a preacher or teacher say this outright) his salvation of being spat out of the fish through praying, but rather he responded to the salvation he had experienced from his drowning helpless state.

Then the Vomit happens.

We'll continue soon...

Who is Jonah? What was he for?

I read Jonah the other day. All of it. In about 10 minutes. So should you. Come back when you're done. Or read it here.

There is a traditional understanding that comes along with this book that gets on my nerves a bit. The main reason is there is so much focus on the 'large fish' that we lose the main thrust of the message laid out. You can tell what it's building to with the way the book climaxes then has an abrupt finish with a lot of questions left unanswered. Some are rhetorical, but some (the ones we're asking) linger for a while until we forget about what we were doing and go back to the washing up.

Why shouldn't we look at the big fish?

When I read the Bible, and most prominently the Gospels, the temptation is to jump in towards the end, read about Jesus suffering, dying, and rising, and then sit back and think about what just happened. I've been doing a series of Gospel overviews with my church at the moment and the impression I get is that the death and resurrection of Christ is incredibly important to the book, but the build up and implications of the events of Easter are what surround it in a profound way that would make it a mistake to overlook them.

We have a danger, also, of reading Jesus into the book of Jonah too soon. What I mean by that is, rather than allowing the book of Jonah to help us understand Jesus (especially when Jesus talks directly about 'The Sign of Jonah'), we see the big fish and spitting out of Jonah onto dry land, and assume that Jesus was talking about that and that that is what the story of Jonah is for: To see Jonah being swallowed and spat out.

This is not what the book is about. We know this because Jonah wasn't called to be swallowed by a fish and then spat out again. And before I get a lot of angry replies to all the masses who follow this blog with a great zeal, I want to say that just because Jonah wasn't called to be swallowed by a fish, doesn't mean Jesus wasn't called to die and rise again, we just need to read the story of Jonah in it's own right before we jump to conclusions about the author's intent.

Jonah's calling was to go tell the Ninevites that they were on the verge of destruction. Ninevah wasn't a particularly friendly place, and, more importantly, it was a pagan city, not a Jewish settlement. Jonah was reluctant to tell this pagan populous that God was going to destroy them for two reasons. (a) They were not Jewish, and if he told them it would lead to (b) the chance that they would repent of their sin if they heard the message of judgment.

Edit: This was going to be a short summary, but it's turned into a bit of a longer exegesis. I hope I'm keeping you in suitable suspense.

Next time... The Build up.

Discern the body

Has anyone had communion recently? When I say communion, I'd like to say I was talking about good friends getting together and drinking good coffee just having good times. But good coffee is hard to come by in the current climate; which is slightly muggy, but sunny and warm.

I'm talking about the religious communion, or eucharist, or the Lord's supper, or something. The bit that, if you've ever been to a church service, has men in robes handing out free alcohol. I was reading the bit in the Bible where Paul is talking about the Lord's supper, communion. 1 Corinthians 11 for those desperate to know what on earth I'm talking about. Paul has been trying to correct this church because it has gone off the rails, somewhat. At least in this first letter. By the time the second letter arrives they appear to have sorted out some of their issues and have other ones instead. But Paul in the first letter is instructing the church on how to actually do church. It's a telling point when Paul, out of sheer desperation, tells them 'When you meet together, you are doing more harm than good.' Not a particularly good review of a church, which it's main object is to meet together.

So they must be feeling a little silly. Or worse. And Paul brings up the subject of the Lord's supper, the meal Jesus shared with His disciples right before He was tried, crucified, buried, and was raised; the meal Jesus told His disciples to keep doing in remembrance of Him. Broken bread and poured wine; Jesus' broken body and gushing blood. There's a definite parallel, which is probably why He did it.

Paul is encouraging the Corinthians, to sort out their meetings so they go back to how it was supposed to be. The main thing being that it is important for them to eat together. The point of eating together is having everyone together. The point is not, as Paul tells them quite straightforwardly, for the rich people to arrive and eat as much as they can and get exceedingly drunk, and then the poor to turn up and eat scraps. The main reason for this is this distinction of rich and poor is not relevant in the new identity they are celebrating with this supper. The new identity they have is actually that of Jesus Himself.

In Ephesians Paul states that through the death of Jesus the 'wall of hostility' between rich, poor, slave, free, man woman, young, old, black, white, Jew, and other has been removed so there is no need to hold to your own 'kind' as it were. In Galatians Paul goes further, and says that anyone found in Christ (that is found to have faith in the Jewish Saviour, Jesus, and therefore in Him; to have whatever is true of Jesus is true of the believer) there is no distinction between male and female, Jew or Greek, slave or free. That's more than simply people not being hostile anymore. There is no distinction between them. Why? Because they are not identified by their own birth, work, occupation, etc. They are defined by Jesus.

So back to this Special Supper: They are doing more harm than good. They are segregating off these various types of people for the sake of food. Later on in the letter, Paul describes this new set of believers as a body: that is they are all parts of the same thing, rather than lots of different things coming together to see what can happen. They are joined by Jesus. They are part of one another, and part of Christ; mysterious and true.

But Paul tells them this stark statement: 'Anyone who eat and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgement on himself.' Wow. What is this judgement? Does that apply to me? Well, if we understand that when Paul says 'the body' he means the church, of which they are all a part and joined together, then this is not merely looking at yourself and thinking 'Hmm... Are my hands clean today?' It's about discerning that you yourself are a part of something bigger. You are a part of everyone else. To miss this is to assume that Jesus mainly died for you on your own and this supper was made specially for you, and that does something terrible.

To miss the fact that anyone who believes in Jesus is part of something bigger of which Jesus is one with them and they are One with everyone else and Jesus (in a weird, but true, way), is to diminish the work of Christ. Jesus didn't die so you could have something to eat. Jesus died and rose again to bring all of these people to the same place, regardless of who they are, race, sex, class, aside. Through Jesus this diverse group of people is brought together to celebrate in the death that brought them together, and enjoy the resurrection life that brings into communion with one another and communion with Christ.

The one question you might still be thinking about:

Why does this mean judgement? If you diminish the work of Christ, His work wasn't fully sufficient for the history of the church. And that's bad news.

How to read the Bible...

If you find a book of books on your shelf that somewhere near the end says about Jesus "Lord of lords, and King of kings," this is called a bible. I recommend opening it once in a while. I'd say it would be you reading the text, but it is more, if you become truly open to what it's saying, like it starts to read you. It points out your motivations you're not proud of, or brings you comfort as you see others failing where you failed, but being restored, or you see others suffering as you're suffering and begin to know someone else knows about it too.

If you're serious about discovering God, revealed through Jesus, and seeking relationship with the creator, there is something incredibly precious about seeking deep Truths from the Bible. It is a collection of inspired writings that are united by the theme of Jesus, though more than half the authors don't know His name. As you get deep into a text you're allowed to ask it questions. It's not a straight forward manual of 'Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth'. It hardly has any basic instructions at all. The first five books get so complicated it's hard to wade through the complexities. Reading about Jesus is refreshing and then challenging, as He represents the God of the Jews, not really fitting into the mould that others have created for Him. I'm not talking about those He came into contact with Him, though they do play a part, but more the thousands of people who try to explain Him as a person, outside the writers of the New Testament. Those writers clear up a few issues, then bring fresh mystery to His character.

There are some simple practical guidelines to reading a text from the Bible, but most of them involve reading it. If you've been in church for a while preachers begin to become predictable in what they'll say about a text. They stop looking at the text, instead find a theme that is flagged by the text and spend more time on the theme than what was written. You end up with a church that finds a letter written 2000 years very confused what he actually wrote.

Imagine reading Paul's letter to the Philippians, and getting to the instruction "shine like stars" and your preacher thought the application was "share Jesus with more people." Stars don't try and get brighter. But I'm told I should. I don't know who to believe. The Apostle Paul who wrote a lot of fine stuff about Jesus, or my pastor who admits his lack of knowledge all the time. The answer comes by reading. Faith comes by hearing. The Bible fills itself with power, and as I read sections of the Scripture I find myself truly enlightened by what is going on. The World makes more sense, I gain perspective about myself.

Here's what to do: Pick up the Bible, put down any pens you might have to relieve yourself of a temptation to underline that which is particularly relevant to you at the moment, and search for Jesus. What was He about? Is that here in the text? (The answer is yes, you just need to find it.) And then allow that to take over what you think about everything. Everything.

P.S. I've started to write a book. Proof-readers are wanted!

Responsibility

West Wing, Season 5. Leo claims that he and his friend had the duty to act with integrity and responsibility on behalf of the men that died to save him and his friend from their situation; being stranded in a jungle in the middle of a war.

Duty. Integrity. Responsibility. If I was told to be a better person because someone died being better than me (sound familiar) I don't think it would work. Look at him...your turn! He was the best at loving people. Now you've seen Him love people, you must. Now you've seen Him look after the poor, the sick, the dying, the outcast, the lost; you must.

An undying message that because he did I really should. Only that doesn't help me. It generally brings me to despair. Of course if I'm meeting the standards being represented, it doesn't lead to despair, but pride. So I either, by looking at another persons 'example', feel guilty, or proud.

I don't think those are good results. There is another way. Rather than look at how He cares for people; now you've seen it do it. It should be told: He cared for people much more than you ever would. His life, death, and resurrection was a fulfillment of all care for all time. So now you can. You CAN care, because He cared to the end.

He looked at the broken and loved them whole. Then, at the end of his ministry, he was broken beyond anyone had ever been, He was rejected by every friend and enemy, even by His Father, experiencing and absorbing all the brokenness ever experienced, and in His resurrection, He defeated brokenness forever. And in Him anyone who looks at and worships Him, can bring wholeness to the broken, and healing to the sick, and the outcast can come home, because He already did it. It isn't a Duty. It's a joy. It's a responsibility because we, who know Him (Jesus), want to do more than theorise. And integrity is a gift as we further increase, in our hearts, the understanding the He has done it.

What part of finished don't you understand?