Jonah - "Greater Than Jonah"

 What does Jonah have to do with Easter?

Matthew 12:38-41   

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.  But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 

The sign of Jonah.  The preaching of Jonah.  Greater than Jonah.  There’s a lesson for us here.  Let’s take a look…

You probably know the story.  Jonah was a prophet.  Ooo ooo.  But he never really got it…

God tells Jonah to go preach to Nineveh.  That was a month’s journey, to what was then the center of the Gentile world.  A huge city.  Capital city of Assyria.  Not Syria.  This was different - the most powerful empire in the known world for 200 hundred years.  They were not Arabs - they were semitic people, more closely akin to the Israelites.  There was probably an element of trepidation, Jonah might have been a bit scared to go preach in that infamous city.  But in the eyes of the Jews, filthy Gentiles is what they were.  The Assyrians were uncircumcised pagans like all the rest.  As we know no self-respecting Jew had any dealings with Gentiles.  And Jonah’s greatest fear, he tells us later, is that God might have compassion on those filthy rotten undeserving people.  Because that’s how He rolls…

So what does Jonah in effect say to God?  He gives God the Heisman.  A spiritual stiff-arm.  He flees in the exact opposite direction, trying to escape from the presence of the Lord - Who is everywhere present.  Yeah, good luck with that.  But what does this say about Jonah, about his heart?  Doesn’t care about the Ninevites.  Doesn’t care about the sailors.  Jonah cares mostly about himself.  Doesn’t care about the glory of God.  Cuz really, what’s happening in Nineveh?  God created those people to worship Him.  To bear His image, to know Him and glorify Him by enjoying Him forever.  And they are not doing that.  They are robbing Him of glory.  Glory-robbers is what they are.  But SO is Jonah, as he withholds God’s message from these would-be worshippers.  Which brings us to a powerful point - which do you think God would rather have, fearfully and wonderfully made (and re-made) image-bearers who are filled up with and showing off His goodness, or image-bearers who choose to live in rebellion and wind up needing to be punished?  Easy answer - He’s not wanting that ANY should perish…

So the Ninevites are in rebellion, but now so is Jonah.  And God sends him not a swarm, but a storm.  And a great fish.  The word is more akin to sea monster.  Possibly a Leviathan.  Even in the midst of the storm, the pagan sailors care more about Jonah than he does about them.  Jonah has put them in harm’s way because of his selfish disobedience, and we see them trying to spare his life.  And I love how once the sailors have exhausted all other options and they reluctantly throw Jonah overboard, we’re told that they saw the storm stop and began to fear the Lord.  They sacrifice to Him, and make vows.  God is able to use even Jonah’s disobedience and callousness to bring Himself glory.  But I would suggest that Jonah’s is not an example for us to follow.  The Lord would greatly prefer hearts of compassion and obedience in His people…!

Three days and three nights in the creature.  And THEN Jonah prays?  Have you ever noticed his prayer?  He mentions himself almost twice as much as he mentions God.  It’s still all about him.  He’s still only making it all about himself.  What have you done for ME lately, God?  God, can you get ME out of this one?  God, if you get ME out of this one… I guess I'll pay my vow (2.9).  I’ll do what You want.  If I really have to…

And so Jonah gets vomited back out.  And God tells him a second time to go to Nineveh and proclaim what God tells him to proclaim.  So he goes.  And his message (3.4) is this: in 40 days Nineveh will be destroyed.  The dwead piwate Woberts takes no pwisoners - he will destwoy you!  That’s it.  That’s all we have.  Maybe he said more.  But I think it would be very consistent if that was in fact all he said.  There’s no word about the possibility of mercy for the Ninevites.  Nothing about repenting or fasting or wearing sackcloth.  We saw last time that Joel at least told Israel to declare a fast.  But none of that from Jonah.  We don’t have a single hint that Jonah cares in the least about the fate of the Ninevites.  They’re going down, and that’s fine with Jonah.  He can’t wait.

But we know what happens - the Ninevites do repent (3.5).  From the king all the way down to the least of them.  The king himself declares a fast.  The whole city comes back to God in their hearts!  And God relents (3.10).  This word occurs over and over in the OT.  Sometimes it is translated as God repented.  But that’s not it at all.  What God does next in these circumstances is based on our response to His message.  Over and over again, we have a choice.  I set life and death before you - so choose life!  It’s up to you.  God’s response to our response might be different once we choose a different path.  And Jonah knew it.  He knew the heart of God - and he didn’t have it in himself.  He knew what God had told His people from the very beginning, that He is gracious and compassionate and slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and One who relents concerning calamity (4.2).  Over and over again, when people come back to Him in their hearts, when they finally and fully turn around from their rebellion and trust in Him, in the way back which He has provided, God relents.  They get grace.  They get compassion.  And Jonah was having none of it.  God told him twice to go warn the Ninevites, and he finally does so out of obligation (“I will pay my vow”, he says - 2.9).  But when God shows compassion for these Gentiles, these filthy heathen, Jonah, with not an ounce of compassion in his heart for the Gentiles, instead gets angry.  He famously shows compassion for a plant - which God subsequently takes away, and Jonah gets angry over that as well.  He cares about a plant - which gives HIM shade. And twice we see God calls Jonah on his anger.  “Do you have good reason to be angry, Jonah?” (4.4, 4.9).  Your anger is misplaced, in other words.  You are caring about all the wrong things.  You don’t have My heart.  You’re missing what’s most important to Me.  Your priorities are all out of whack.  You need to realize what is greater…

So what we have then is this imperfect messenger, delivering an incomplete message, horrible motives - and an entire city of unreached people turn back to God!  And what do you think - did Jonah tell them about his great sign, his experience with the great fish?  Did he confess his disobedience to the filthy gentiles?  I’m guessing he did not.

Something greater than Jonah is here, Jesus says.  Some ONE greater.  Instead of a flawed prophet, we have the holy Son of God.  A greater messenger - far greater!  A great High Priest Who has passed through the heavens, willing to lay it all aside to seek and save and rescue the lost.  Me, and you, and the whole world of filthy Jews and Gentiles.  A greater Messenger by far.  Miraculously conceived, an impeccable life, an incomparable Savior, with an incomparably greater message.  Good News.  Yes, there’s bad news, but that makes the Good News even greater.  Something greater than Jonah.  And there’s a greater sign as well.  Jesus says that generation (and ours) would be given the sign of Jonah.  3 days and 3 nights in the fish - and it’s not that Jonah was IN the fish so much as he SURVIVED the fish.  But in Jesus' case we’re talking about three days and nights in the grave.  And then He rose.  It’s not just that Jesus was IN the grave for 3 day and nights - it’s that He SURVIVED!  He’s alive!  He was buried - but He rose from the grave.  He is risen indeed!  He died - and came back to life.  He was dead - you know He dead.  Back to life, and not just any life - resurrected life which was eternal and full of glory.  Never to die again.  Greater than Jonah.  Far greater.

The grave is empty.  That borrowed tomb is empty.  Guarded by elite Roman soldiers, sealed by the governor himself - lest anyone should think about trying to steal the body of Jesus and promulgate a hoax that this dead man had somehow actually come back to life like he said he would.  But He did.  He did say that, and He did do that.  He came back to life, and rose out of that grave.  And all they needed to do, those Jewish naysayers, was produce a corpse.  All they needed to do to shut down this whole Nazarene thing, stop it dead in its tracks, was roll that dead body of Jesus right out there for all to see.  It would have silenced everybody.  It would have disproven everything.  But they didn’t - cuz they couldn’t.  You can’t produce a body - when it is gone.  So they fell back on promulgating their own lie - that the disciples stole the body.  Right.  The guys who had all either fled in fear on Thursday night or denied they had any connection to Jesus whatsoever - these guys suddenly got brave enough to take on Rome - and elite Roman guards - and overpowered them and stole the body.  And then they lived the rest of their lives for a lie.  And most of them were executed - for something they knew to be a lie.  IF they stole the body.  Right.

Chuck Colson blows a hole in that story in his autobiography…

Greater than Jonah.  That’s what Jonah needed to learn - that it was not all about him.  He was not the center of the universe.  Jonah didn’t care about anyone other than himself - and how amazing is it that God still found a way to use him?  But Jonah needed to understand God’s heart - that God does make it all about us (all people!), SO THAT we can make it all about Him.  He blesses His people - us - so that His people will spread that blessing to others.  To every nation - so that people everywhere will do the same, make much about Him!  That’s exactly the heart of Jesus - He made it all about us, so much so that He lowered Himself to the point of taking on the form of a slave.  A servant.  Nothing from selfishness or empty conceit.  Others-first.  Others-better.  Others greater.  That’s the attitude which Jesus embraced as He stepped down out of heaven and climbed up onto that cruel Roman cross - for us.  Making it all about us - so that we could make it all about Him.  Others greater - because God is ultimately greater.  Greater than Jonah.  Greater than me.

Jonah is ultimately this beautiful story of redemption and hope - in the midst of and spite of the ugliness and uncharitableness of God’s own people.  Nobody is so far away, so wretched that He doesn’t want or is unable to reach out to them, to warn them and urge them to come back to Him - thru the way He has made.  There is nothing anyone, any one of us has done or will do that He cannot forgive through Jesus.  His arm is never too short.  It is about our God of compassion, and the compassion which He would unleash through the lives of those who have received it through Jesus.

This is our God - the One Who made us, made us to know Him and enjoy Him forever.  And even while we were His enemies, He sent His Son to die for us to make a way back.  Our great and thrice-holy God, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness, full of grace and mercy and relenting of calamity - He provided a way for the Ninevites to come back to Him - but something greater is here.  Greater than Jonah.  A greater sign - we have not the empty belly of a fish but an empty grave.  A greater messenger - not a dead prophet but a risen Savior.  This is our God, life laid down, arms stretched wide, body laid out, and ultimately risen with forgiveness and healing in His wings.  The power of a resurrected life, ready to open up and unleash itself in each of us, and through each of us.  A greater message.  Greater than Jonah.  So much greater.

An unpleasant task, Jonah’s.  Disdainful.  Was his life at stake?  Or was it his comfort?  Spiritual pride?  Was God rooting out some ugly uncharitable lack of love in Jonah’s heart?  At the same time God was desiring to show compassion to the people of Nineveh?  And maybe reach some sailors as collateral blessing in the process?  God has asked you to do something, and you don’t want to do it.  It is unpleasant.  It is not your gifting.  It might be uncomfortable.  It involves some one (or some ones) who you really don’t like.  Surely that’s "not your calling".  Surely they aren’t deserving of God’s mercy.  Yet who am I, this lump of clay, to question even in the least the heart and mind of the Master Potter?

God is saying, am I not able to take even the most contrary, horrific person/place/or thing, and turn it to glory?  The most detestable, least desirable thing and accomplish exactly what I want through it?  Am I not greater than Nineveh?  Than Jonah?  And can I not take even the least Jonah, and do something far greater than Jonah?

And so we have this greater Message.  The Gospel, the Good News.  God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.  Do you believe that?  God sent His Son into the world on a great rescue mission.  He sent Him to make a way back, literally to buy us back.  Come back, He says.  Jesus paid the price, paid the death penalty for our sins on the cross, and then God defeated death by raising Him back to life on the third day.  That’s what we celebrate today - and every day!  Jesus is the way back - do you believe that?  God cares - do you believe that?  God cares about plants - and definitely animals.  Check out v 4.11.  He also cares about people - all people.  And He cares about His glory.  He wants people to make much of Him in their hearts.  So He goes to great lengths to bring people back to Him in their hearts.  He makes much of us, so that we will make it all about Him.  So that we will come to the end of ourselves and live into the reality that there is something - Someone - greater than us.  This is precisely what Jesus did.  And precisely what Jonah did not do - and still, God brought about that result in the hearts of the Ninevites.

But that leaves the question of OUR response.  How will we respond?  Because even with such an inferior sign and message and messenger, Nineveh still repented.  They came back to God in their hearts.  Something - Someone far greater than Jonah is here.  Greater than Jonah.  What we have here is a greater Messenger, a greater sign, and a greater Message.  The question then remains, what are we going to do with it?

One response, the ideal one, the essence of repentance is saying that, God, You are greater…