Jonah 2:1

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish's belly, and he said: "I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice. For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me; all Your billows and Your waves passed over me." ... "Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord." So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

When a prophet runs from God, his greatest enemy isn't the storm or the fish—it's the unforgiveness gripping his own heart.

An Unusual Book That Reads Us

Welcome to Cross Connection. I'm Pastor Mark, sitting in for Pastor Miles as we work through the book of Jonah. It's an exciting book to revisit and dig into.

Jonah is a little different from many books in the Bible. It's almost satirical in nature. You have a prophet who is not doing what he is supposed to do, and the book is more about what the prophet is doing than about the word God meant to speak through him. All the characters seem out of place. The prophet runs from God, while pagan sailors, a pagan king, and a pagan nation repent and move toward godliness. Even the cattle of Nineveh bow their heads.

This is a book you start out studying through a magnifying glass, but by the end you're looking into a mirror. It causes us to think about the tendencies we have—both nationally and personally—that resemble Jonah's. As we read, we begin to see ourselves in the hard actions of Jonah and the people he brushes up against.

From a Fisher of Men to Fish Bait

A quick review of chapter 1: Jonah is commanded to go to the Ninevites, the capital of the Assyrian empire. They needed to repent; their sin had risen to a point where the Lord was going to deal with it. The nation was already being softened—there was famine and pestilence in the land, making them susceptible to a spiritual change. God sends His word through Jonah, but Jonah, rather than obey, jumps on a boat to Tarshish to flee the opposite way.

During the voyage a terrible storm arises. The lot falls to Jonah, the pagan sailors learn he is in disobedience to God, and reluctantly they throw him overboard. He is immediately swallowed by a large fish. That sounds like a whale of a tale, but Jesus Himself refers to the story of Jonah, so we know it is 100% true—we just don't know exactly how the fish worked out.

This leaves us with a question: how does a prophet of God, a man who knows the Scriptures, go from a fisher of men to fish bait? The history between Israel and Assyria gives us a clue about where Jonah's heart was. As I researched it, I began to soften toward his disobedience and to understand it a bit better.

Understanding Jonah's Hatred

The Assyrians had done terrible things to all the nations around them. They were greatly feared, and they were exceptionally cruel toward Israel—a constant thorn in Israel's side. Among the people of Israel there was hatred, dread, and a very high level of unforgiveness toward the Assyrians. (I know "unforgiveness" isn't technically a dictionary word, but I'm going to make it a word today, because I'll use it often.)

This had gravity with me because I have many observant Jewish friends, some for more than 40 years. To hear their families' stories—the persecution during World War II and the Holocaust, in places like Dachau, Auschwitz, and Treblinka—and how much that hatred and grief still exists today, woven into the very fiber of their lives, is sobering. Much of it was passed down to generations who never met the family members who suffered, and it is fueled today by those who would deny it ever happened.

I have no right to question their attitude, because this wrong was not done to me. But I have observed it, I understand it, and I sympathize with it. And it adds gravity as I consider ancient Israel's treatment by the Assyrians, and how Jonah certainly picked up how he felt about Nineveh.

The Affliction of Unforgiveness Is Separation from God

Notice that Jonah is in the belly of a fish—no flashlight, no candle, no scroll to read. He didn't take the Scriptures into the water with him. Yet he quotes the Psalms, Lamentations, and 1 Kings. These come straight from his heart, scriptures he had memorized and taught to others.

That strikes me. Here is a man who knows a great deal about God and His word, yet I don't believe he actually knew God—not in the way God wanted to be known. That is a temptation for us too: we can read His word and know about it without truly knowing Him, His personality, His thoughts and intentions toward man.

Jonah's nationalistic hatred had blinded him and put him in the grip of unforgiveness. That grip is powerful—as much an influence as an addiction to a substance. Bitterness and unforgiveness change us into people God never intended us to be, people who are hard to be around. We never reach our full potential while clinging to it. It separated Jonah's heart from God's intention and made a prophet disobedient, because he would rather hold his hatred than obey the living God.

When We Fail to See People as God Sees Them

What happens when we fail to see people the way God sees them? It is easy to classify an entire people group and say, "All of those are like this," and to harbor hatred toward them. It's catchy. It becomes a national mantra. I have family who fought in World War II, and to hear the words they used for the people groups they fought, you could say they came by it honestly—but it was a national hatred all the same.

Harder still is when it's an individual. On my recent boat trip, I usually don't reveal that I'm a pastor; I ask questions, hear people's stories, and end up encouraging or teaching someone until they realize my life is built on a relationship with Jesus. But on this trip there was a man who claimed to be a believer, and before I said anything his venom poured out—his hatred of "liberals," "dems," and the president.

I thought, how off-putting would that be for someone who needed to hear the hope of salvation, the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ? Instead of speaking of those good things, he spoke the things of politics and television that ramped him up. He was a hard man to be around on a small boat. We can be that person. We can carry that spirit of Jonah, and it is not beneficial to the kingdom.

Forgive Seventy Times Seven

Jesus gives us a powerful example in Matthew 18. Peter asked:

"Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."

Then Jesus tells of a king settling accounts. A servant who owed ten thousand talents could not pay, and the master, moved with compassion, forgave the whole debt. But that servant went out, seized a fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii, and threw him into prison. When the master heard, he said:

"You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?"

This parable shows God's heart. The lesson is not merely that God has mercy, grace, and forgiveness—it's that this is designed to be passed on. We are to operate in the same grace toward others that has been extended to us. And it is a challenge, because we forget.

Remembering Our Need to Be Forgiven

In verse 4 Jonah says he is cast out of God's sight, yet he will look again toward God's holy temple. He references the temple twice, without notes. He is drawing on 1 Kings 8, where Solomon dedicates the temple and the Lord promises that when—not if—the people sin and there is pestilence and famine, they could look toward that temple, remember the covenant, repent, and find salvation. Jonah, in the depths of a fish's belly, reaches for that promise as his ticket to redemption. That is his repentance.

This is one of the challenges of daily life. God has blessed me everywhere I look, and I'm thankful both for what He has given and for what He has withheld. But we get overwhelmed by what we see in the media, and we forget—and when we forget, we become like this cranky prophet. So God calls us to remember.

For the Christian, there is a plan for remembrance. At Cross Connection, every seven weeks we take communion—a cracker and a cup—to remember the perfect, violent, costly sacrifice of our Lord, done for someone who didn't deserve it, who took our place. Remembering for the Christian involves a bloody cross and, thankfully, an empty tomb.

I sometimes stop during communion and visualize that sacrifice. I think about how, when we are in the glorious, sinless presence of our Lord, the only thing that will appear imperfect is the scars we put there—and yet there is perfection and beauty in those scars as a reminder of what He went through. That is a place we need to visit mentally to maintain a healthy spirit of forgiveness.

It Is Harder to Be a Christian Than to Act Like One

One of my favorite books, and many pastors', is Gene Edwards's A Tale of Three Kings. It confronts us with who we are in any situation—whether we act like David, a king after God's own heart; like Absalom, who dishonored his father and his God; or like Saul, who started well and didn't finish well. Mel Gibson's The Passion is hard to watch, and not completely accurate theologically, but its depiction of the crucifixion should humble us by showing how violent and horrible the sacrifice for our salvation was.

In modern America it's quite easy to be seen as a Christian—a beautiful church with heating and air conditioning, fantastic music, encouragement we benefit from. That is one aspect of our relationship with the Lord, but it is not Christianity. It is much harder to be a Christian than to act like one.

The proof is in our values and conduct. Is our life aimed toward the cross, or toward the things of the world? How do we serve? As someone painfully and truly said, every Christian wants to be seen as a servant until we are treated like one. How do we give, of ourselves and financially? And finally, how do we forgive the trespasses of others—do we hold on to the hurt, or let it go as we want the Lord to let go of ours?

A Testimony from Lebanon

In 2018 my oldest daughter, whose background is in Arabic studies, went on a short-term missions trip to Lebanon. After the Arab Spring, roughly seven million refugees came out of Syria, and over a million ended up in Lebanon. The history between Lebanese Christians and Syrians is not good; much harm—war-crime-type harm—had been done to the Lebanese Christians by Syrians, within the memory of people alive today.

She joined a Lebanese church running a vacation Bible school among Syrian refugees, bringing the gospel to Syrian children and the adults watching. These Lebanese Christians were serving the very people whose nation had harmed their parents and grandparents—and they suffered for it, looked down upon by their own families and neighbors for ministering to Syrians.

They set aside their national pride and hatred for the Great Commission. To have that kind of history done against you and your family, and to put it aside to bring the gospel to the forefront—what a testimony and testament to their faith. I pray our church can be more like them.

Repentance Is Complete When We Move Toward Obedience

Jonah wraps up his prayer:

"Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord."

His repentance is complete when it moves toward obedience. In verse 9 his changed heart produces action: "I will give thanksgiving. I will do what I vowed, because salvation is of the Lord." And then God responds—the Lord speaks to the fish, and it vomits Jonah onto dry land. Jonah moves forward in obedience, and God reacts.

We see the same in John 21. Peter had denied Jesus three times by the fire, and the rooster crowed; their eyes met and Peter wept bitterly. The next time Peter encounters Jesus is on a beach. I imagine Peter approaching cautiously. By a fire, over breakfast with a friend, Jesus restores him—asking three times if Peter loved Him, telling him to feed His sheep. This was no faceless offense; Jesus was wronged by a friend, face to face, and forgave him completely, handing him the keys to the kingdom. He gives us the model.

The Hard Work of Forgiving Those We Love

One of the hardest things you will ever do is forgive—or repent toward—someone close to you. It's not a faceless mob you can shout at and never see again. It's a person you know.

This is my 30th year of ministry, my 23rd of vocational ministry, and counseling couples and individuals is part of it. The damage unforgiveness does in a marriage is staggering. I have met couples carrying grudges for things said ten or twenty years ago, and it has slowly corroded their marriages, their walk with the Lord, and their relationships with everyone around them. Those closest to us know exactly which button to push and can use our own words against us. It seems so out of character for someone you love to go for the throat—but it happens, and it shouldn't be so among believers.

I've seen the same damage in people reflecting on how their parents raised them—unforgiveness shaping who they became as adults, hanging about them long after the parents' death, and likely passing on to their children and grandchildren. Unforgiveness changes us. It holds us in a grip and keeps us from being the people God wants us to be.

What Forgiveness Is Not

There are real-life consequences to disobedience and to unforgiveness. Let me describe what forgiveness is not. As executive pastor, I supervise much of our church's operations. We would never place someone who had harmed a child where they would be around children. We would never put someone who had transgressed with finances in charge of finances. That's wisdom. Would we forgive? Yes. But our actions still carry consequences.

Jonah faced consequences. Had he simply obeyed, he could have traveled at his own pace, fully equipped. Instead he is puked up on a beach 375 miles from Nineveh, a city that takes three days to walk through. No credit card, no change of clothes, no supplies—smelling like the innards of a fish for three days. A very difficult journey, all by his own doing.

The sad thing is that Jonah never really got over his prejudice. Even after his journey, the later chapters show he had no more love for Nineveh. The very reason he fled was that he knew the Lord would show grace and mercy—and he was afraid the Ninevites would repent and get off the hook.

A Closing Charge

My encouragement, brothers and sisters, is this: do not let unforgiveness be a component of your life. It will damage you. It will damage the reputation of our Lord and Savior. It will damage your family and those around you. It will turn you into someone you are not.

My old pastor, Ray Bentley, used to say that bitterness is the pill we swallow to poison others. How true. My prayer is that you would hold on to the grace, mercy, and forgiveness God has shown you and extend it to others.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You for allowing me to share this morning a perspective on a disobedient prophet—not without explanation, but disobedient nonetheless. I pray that as we go into the highways and byways, our mission field, and even into our own homes, we would not copy the behavior of the prophet Jonah.

I also pray for Northern California this morning, which is due for quite the storm; a state of emergency has been declared. I pray for the homes, the property, and above all the people. And I pray that the church—Your people—would be seen as constructive helpers, full of grace, mercy, and tenderness for their fellow man. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

God bless you, and have a great week.