Religion

Q UES T IO NS 6. Can l Control What l Shall Do and Become?

The Book of Jonah

Many childre~ first encounter Jonah as a somewhat silly character in a Bi- ble story that reaches its cl imax when Jonah is swallowed by a great fish , However, when we come to th is story as adults, we recognize Jonah as someone driven to distraction by a severe vocational crisis. Even though the path before him is fairly plain , he resists going down it - a response that is not all that uncommon. H ave any of us tried to flee our callings? Perhaps we resist because we don't believe we have a calling; what we are doing now may not seem important enough to take so seriously. Perhaps we suspect we do have a calli ng but aren't very happy about it - it just looks too demanding or is too poorly paid to appeal to us. Jonah's exam- ple challenges the not ion that self-fulfillment and happiness are reliable ind icators of a true calling; after all , his comes directly from God and is within the terms of this story, at least a true calling. Even so, it does no~ live up to Frederick Buechner's defi nition of "vocation" as "the place where your deep gladness and the worl d's deep hunger meet"(see Part I).

Jonah is not a bad person on th e whole. God does choose him, after all, and Jonah speaks words of sound biblica l theology; his prayer from the belly of th e fish is beautiful, and he piou s ly acknowledges that God is "slow to anger, and abound ing in steadfast love. " Yet his behavior is per- sistently dis obedient and ungrateful. Would it be better for Jonah - and simil arl y, for us - to atta in closer congruence between what we say we be- lieve and what we do in life?

Now the word of the LORD came co Jo nah son of Amitt ai, saying, "Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out aga inst it; fo r their wickedness has come up before me ." But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the pres- en ce of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and foun d a ship going to

From the New Revised S1andard Version of the Bible.

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The Book of Jonah

shish; 50 he paid his fare and went on board, to O . far from the presence of the LORD . g with them to Tarsh· h awaY h Id ts,

B ut the LORD ur e a great wind upon th

h h h eseaand h

came upon t e sea t at t e ship threat d ' sue a mighty storm f 'd d h . ene to break . ers were a rat , an eac cned to his god Th up. Then th rn•"~n the ship into the sea, to lighten it for th.e ejy

th rew the cargo th,:

was I Id f h m. onah down into the ho o t e ship and had lain d ' meanwhile, had gone d 'd h. own, and wast The captain came an sat to tm, "What are you <loin so ast asleep.

call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a th g hu nd

asleep? Get up, . h " oug t so that we do not pens .

The sailors said to one another, "Come, let us ca t 1 h

th' 1 · h 5 ots,sothatwe 1cnow on w ose account ts ca amity as come upon us." So th may

an d the Jot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him "Tell h ey caS

t lots,

Wh • ' usw yth,scala ·

has come upon us. at ts your occupation? Where d muy d f

o you come from' What is your country? An o what people are you?" ·

• 1 am a Hebrew," he replied. "I worship the LORD the G d f h dhdl 'ooeaven who made th_e se: an t. e ry and." Then the men were even more afraid' and said to him, What ts this that you have done!" For the men knew tha; he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told th

Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you, that the seam:; ::~t down for us?" For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. He said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know 1t ts because of me that this great storm has come upon you ." Nevertheless the men ro:,ved hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. Then they cried out to the LORD, "Please, 0 LORD, we pray, do not let us per- ish on account of this man's life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood; for you, 0 LORD, have done as it pleased you ." So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the LORD even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.

But the LORD provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. . Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish , say- ing,

"I called to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me;

out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.

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QUESTION S , 6. Can l Control What I Shall Do and Become?

You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me;

all your waves and your billows passed over me.

Then I said, 'I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look again

upon your holy temple?' The waters closed in over me;

the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped around my head

at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land

whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit,

0 LORD my God. As my life was ebbing away,

I remembered the LORD; and my prayer came to you,

into your holy temple. Those who worship vain idols

forsake their true loyalty. But I with the voice of thanksgiving

will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay.

Deliverance belongs to the LOR D! "

Then the LORD spoke to the fish , and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land. The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, "Get up, go

to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you ." So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh , according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across. Jonah be- gan to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" And the people of Nineveh be- lieved God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone , great and small, put on sackcloth .

When the news reached the king of Ni neveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth , and sat in ashes. Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his no-

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The Book of Jonah

No human being or animal, no herd or fl k bles: h II h d. oc ,shallc hall not feed , nor s a t ey nnk water. Human be aste anything. The

5 vered with sackcloth, and they shall cry rn· h . 1

mgs and animals h Y 11 be co . d f . tg tty to G d s a

their evtl ways an rom the vtolence th . . 0 · All shall tu front I dh attsmth · h rn

S? God may re ent an c ange his mind· h eir ands. '"'-1cnow . , e may tu fr ""O So that we do not perish." rn om h~ fierce anger,

When God saw what they did, how they turn d f . d changed his mind about the calamity that h he drom their evi] ways Go . . easa1dh '

upon them; and he did_ not do tt. e Would bring But this was very d1spleasmg to Jonah and he b . • • ecame angry H

the LORD and satd, 0 LORD! ls not this what I sai·d h'l · e prayed to . w 1elwas till• "~ country? That 1s why I fled to Tarshish at the beo; . , 5 tn my

o"" •. nnmg; ,or I knew h you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and ab di . t at

d I f ' Oun ngmste d fast love, and rea Y to re em rom punishing. And now O L 1 a -

r · • b c • ORD,peasetake my life from me, ,or 1t 1s etter ,or me to die than to live. A d h • · h , b ?"Th · n t e LORD said "lsitng t,oryouto eangry. enJonahwentoutofth . d

' . d ecuyan sat down east of the city, an made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.

The LoRD God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up the next day, God ap- pointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, "It is better for me to die than to live ."

But God said to Jonah, "ls it right for you to be angry about the bush?· And he said, "Yes , angry enough to die." Then the LORD said, "You are con- cerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand fro m their left, and also many animals?"

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