Sunday Reflections: Bible Study, Faith, and the Book of Jonah

At least three times a month, some friends and I get together for a Bible study.  Picture it, a Catholic, a Catholic/Presbyterian, and a Lutheran discussing the Bible in public space.  Openly reading Scripture aloud and having a thoughtful conversation and coffee (or sometimes wine).  Most people my age don’t do this sort of thing.  But you know, getting back to my Christian roots and all.  I came up with this wonderful idea at the beginning of the year; read the whole Bible cover to cover.  Sounds great right?  Even greater when you have friends doing it too.

It was a great idea until my classes started and I got stalled in Genesis around Joseph (and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat).

Yes, my Bible study has three people in it.  We are a hodgepodge of insight on many questions that may arise, plus three different Bibles.  Before my classes started back up, we were reading around 4-5 chapters of Genesis at a time.  I, personally, would read a chapter out of my Lutheran Study Bible (the New Revised Standard Version), summarize it in my journal, write down numerous questions, and then write down any residual questions after the assigned reading was over.  It is quite the work, but I do put a lot of thought into everything I do, so why not Bible study?  Once school started, it became hard for me to keep up.  So, we decided that if we didn’t do our assigned reading, we would have to read Revelations during our get together.  That worked for a bit, as did reading random sections on other things such as Lucifer’s fall from Grace and The Lord’s Prayer.  However, nothing prepared me for the dramatic book of Jonah.

Most of us know that Jonah was a prophet (maybe) who got swallowed by a fish.  This story is in every children’s Bible out there.  But did you know there was more?  Neither did until I read this four-chapter book.  See, Jonah seems like a cranky guy.  The Lord asks him to go to Nineveh (a bad place, picture Sodom and Gomorrah on a grander scale) and let them know that they are wicked and to be prepared for God’s wrath.  Most people to receive this message would be like “Hey!  This is cool, I’m like a prophet or something! Let’s Go!” Not Jonah.  He hightails it on a ship to Tarshish.  The Lord was like “Hey, dude, what’s up with you?” and started a storm.  Now, the sailors on the ship weren’t believers and were afraid.  They went to find Jonah, who had fallen asleep during this and asked him to make it stop.  Jonah was like “Yup, throw me over, it’ll stop.”  They did, and the storm subsided.  The Lord, not wanting Jonah to drown, sent a great fish (Pinocchio anyone?) to save him from drowning.   Jonah spends the whole of chapter 2 praying to God and telling Him that if He gets him out of the fish (whale?), he will do what the Lord asks.  So, the Lord made the fish (sturgeon?) throw him up on the dry land.  That’s about all of my knowledge of this book in the Bible.  But wait!  There’s more!

Jonah marches into Nineveh, which is HUGE by the way!  Think New York City huge.  He starts shouting “40 days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”  That’s it, one sentence, over and over.  Guess what.  People instantly believed his words and began to repent.  They wore sackcloths and fasted.  Even the king.  The author of this book makes it a point that they believed so much that even their COWS repented their sins.  The Lord saw they repented and changed his mind about destroying the city.  Jonah immediately starts having a temper tantrum.  A very dramatic temper tantrum: the kind teenagers and toddlers have when things don’t go their way.  “I KNEW you weren’t going to destroy the city!  I KNEW you were a compassionate and caring God!  This is why I didn’t want to come!  Kill me now!”

I know you all can picture this.  The exasperated sighs and dramatic flailing.  He then stomps out of the city and sits on a nearby hill to sulk, sort of like a teenager stomping off to their room and slamming the door.  God makes a bush grow to shade him while he sulks like a caring parent who waits patiently outside the room while their child cries and pouts.  The next day He has a worm eat the bush which immediately riles Jonah up even more.  “Geez!  You don’t destroy this wicked city BUT you destroyed MY bush!  I should just be DEAD!”  The Lord finally speaks up and tells Jonah what’s what.  “You’re concerned about a bush that I made for you, but not about a city full of people who repented?”

All hilarity aside, this story represents God’s forgiving nature.  He’s not all fire and brimstone like He can be portrayed to be throughout the Old Testament.  He is compassionate and loving.  The moral: Forgive and trust that God knows what he is doing!