“Jason! Come out of the water this instant!”
“Aw, Mom, what am I doing wrong? Can’t I ever have some fun?”
“Now!”
Jason didn’t see the huge shadow slowly moving thru the water towards him. Two reasons: first, he was facing the shore, and second, the morning sun was in his eyes. Behind him, far off to the west, the last remnants of a vicious storm could be seen dissipating into the warming sky. With one hand shielding his eyes, Jason looked to where his mother was standing – back about three feet from the edge of the wet sand. Mama, however, was terrified. What was that thing? A Shark? And my baby is standing out there not even aware?
Realization finally dawned and Jason snapped to full attention as he began running thru the waist deep water of the Mediterranean. He didn’t know why exactly, but with his mother standing there shrieking and screaming, crying and alternately clutching her arms to her chest and flailing them in the air, Jason knew. Something seriously scary was behind him in the Sea and he would turn to see what it was as soon as he got up on the beach.
When Jason reached her, his mother grabbed his arms, his chest, anything she could get hold of dragging him as far from the water as she could get. Twice they fell, tumbling over each other. One time he caught his mom in the jaw with his elbow, as her knee collided with his stomach. Finally, the two of them stood fifty feet from the water, trembling with fear.
It looked as if the huge thing, some kind of fish or something, was coming after them. It pushed its massive bulk into the shallow water, heading straight for them. When the water was too shallow to swim, the creature twisted and flopped, arching its body as it pushed itself onto the beach.
“Is that a whale?” The curious child took a tentative step forward.
“Jason, stay away from that thing!”
“Mom, I think that’s a whale. Omar told me that sometimes they beach themselves. He said it’s like they know it’s time to die and they climb out of the water to die on dry land.”
“Jason— Do. Not. Go. Near. That. Thing! I don’t care what it is!”
“Cool! Look at how it’s moving! I think it’s going to barf!”
“Disgusting! I’m going to be sick.”
“Oh, mom, you’re such a wuss. Yeah, it’s barfing! Whoa! What is that? No way! No way in — “
“Jason!”
“Sorry, mom. Oh my God! What ever it ate is still alive it’s moving!”
He didn’t know whether to be glad or disappointed. He had hoped to die. That was what he wanted when he told the sailors to throw him overboard. There was no way he wanted to accept the assignment he had been given.
Yes, the need was great. Yes, if he did what he was told it could turn out wonderful for those people. Yes, he was well aware of the resources waiting in readiness when he completed the task. It was just that he would rather die than take the assignment. It wasn’t fair. If the project had ben offered to a group then one of the others could have taken it. But there was no group offer. He had been singled out. He hadn’t even been asked if he wanted the job. If it had been an offer, he would have politely declined. Grr! If only it had been an offer.
“Jonah, go preach to Nineveh. Tell them that in thirty days I’m going to destroy their city if they don’t repent of their ways and submit to me.”
It galled him when he first heard the message. And thinking about it right now, while his skin burned from the creature’s stomach acids, it still galled him. Getting on that ship bound for— bound for somewhere— oh, who even cares where it was bound for. The point of getting on board was to go somewhere, anywhere, except to Nineveh.
Those poor sailors were scared. Terrified. Jonah was certain that some of the moisture on their clothing was not from the raging storm. And that businessman? He wasn’t so much scared as devastated. All his precious cargo had been hurled into the sea. When you’re afraid the ship’s about to sink and you’re about to die, somehow things take on a less important status.
And Jonah knew. He knew that all the loss, the devastation, the fear, exhaustion and turmoil was his fault. He was well aware of the LORD’s power. He hadn’t seen all that much of it himself, but the stories? No way they were phony. I mean, if your friends tell you stuff that’s unbelievable because they are getting the good stuff the stories talked about— that’s one thing. Maybe they’re exaggerating. But when your enemies tell the same story? And those enemies got the brunt of the backlash from what those stories were describing? That was too much to ignore.
The LORD was God. Still is. And the LORD brought those millions of people across— not the soggy, waterlogged sandy bottom of the Red Sea— but on dry sand while the water piled up left and right in impossibly frozen waves that just shouldn’t be there. And the Manna? And the Jordan crossing at flood stage no less? Then Jericho?
And over by the Dead Sea? The smoldering stopped years ago, but you could still see the burned out remains of two very prosperous cities that refused to do things God’s way. People knew about the LORD. They didn’t like him. But the person who’s more powerful than you, leaves you with very few options. You can resist, and likely die. You can run, and likely get caught. Or, you can give in. Giving in still has a couple options. Giving in can be merely going thru the motions, or it can be a genuine turn around.
That ‘genuine turn around’ option was what bothered Jonah the most. He had no doubt that the graciousness of God would only last just so long, and when it reached its end, the LORD would bring the hammer down. Hard. But the LORD wanted peace. Yeah, everybody wants peace and everybody wants peace on their own terms. However, the LORD is the only one with the real power. Nineveh wants peace. Their way. And while they were able, they were going to get peace. Their way. It just meant killing the people who wanted things some other way.
“Mom! It’s a man! He’s alive!”
Jason didn’t hear Jonah’s mumbled response as he quietly growled out, “Yeah, kid, I’m alive. Unfortunately.”
Jonah could feel the body of the monster that swallowed him, still quivering around his legs. Wriggling free of the beast’s mouth, he dragged himself onto the sand and rolled over.
As the blinding mid-morning sun drove its light thru his eyelids, Jonah put an arm up to shield his eyes. That was when the calmly authoritative voice of the LORD spoke again. “Jonah, go to Nineveh, that huge city, and tell them that they have thirty days to repent of their evil ways before I rain down my judgment on them.”
Jonah sighed, “LORD, I’ve been thru a lot.”
This time the LORD’s voice sounded like a parent about to cut a willow switch and discipline an errant child, “Jonah, go to Nineveh, that huge city, and tell them that they have thirty days to repent of their evil ways before I rain down my judgment on them.” The ‘calmness’ that Jonah noticed the first time the LORD spoke to him as he lay there on the sand was gone.
“Are you for real, LORD? After all I’ve just gone thru?”
Did the LORD have teeth? It sure sounded like it. The voice of the LORD sounded like it was being spoken thru clenched teeth. “Jonah, go to Nineveh, that huge city, and tell them that they have thirty days to repent of their evil ways before I rain down my judgment on them.”
“No disrespect, LORD, but ‘no.’”
“Son, I asked you nice. I sent a storm. I sent the fish. You’ve got two strikes and it’s the bottom of the ninth.”
“Two strikes? What is ‘the bottom of the ninth’?”
“Never mind that. My point is I’ve got more storms, and lots more fish. Or, I could just take you out of the way, and get someone else to do what I ask. Jonah, you do realize that I’ll make your obedience well worth your while, don’t you? What I want done will get done. I reward my workers beyond their wildest dreams, Jonah.”
“I know. I know, LORD. The thing is those people deserve to die for the things they’ve been doing for years. Your people have suffered a lot at the hands of those foreigners!”
“My people have been just as bad as those foreigners, Jonah. Should I lower the boom on my people since they are just as bad?”
“I’ll go, LORD.”
“Good boy. Get up. Say good bye to your ride. Nineveh is that-a-way.”
George T Weitemeyer
Updated: 20200904.1406