Why Does Jonah Run From God, And Choose Death Over Life? (Jonah 1:1-16) Series

Part of being a pastor or teacher in any church, is having this desire deep inside of you to teach through the book of Jonah. You can't help yourself. It preaches too well; it's too good of a story to ignore. Plus, every pastor knows the OT is hard and scary, but they also know they are supposed to use both testaments. But when they read Jonah, it feels like cheating. It feels like the NT. So they use Jonah to mark a nice break from the typical NT/topical sermon series they feel more comfortable doing.

So what this means, is that many of you have heard multiple sermon series on the book of Jonah over the course of your Christian lives. Basically, as many pastors as you've had, is how many times you've heard a series on it.

Which means that you think you know the book. You're familiar with it. Comfortable with it. And when you get that comfortable with a story, it's really hard for it to actually hit you anymore. It's like reading about the Good Samaritan-- you read it, and it doesn't actually do anything to you. It lost its force, 5 or 6 sermons ago. 10 or 20 years ago. 3 or 4 pastors ago.

I'm a teacher. And part of being a teacher, is having an itch to teach through Jonah. I can't help myself. It's too good of a story not to work through.

But how can I teach you a story that you think you already know? How can I cut through all of that, and help you to hear it with fresh ears, and see it with fresh eyes? How can I teach it in a way that, just maybe, the Holy Spirit will go to work on you, from inside of you?

Well. I have some ideas.

Part of what makes Jonah a great story, is that it doesn't explain everything all at once. Not by any means. But most teachers find themselves wanting to spoil the story. They want to jump ahead. They want to cheat.

Imagine a mom, who is most happy when she does kindnesses to her children. She loves to bless them; she loves to help them. Her favorite time of year is Christmas, because that's when she can give her children gifts. Picture her carefully choosing her present, lovingly, thoughtfully, wrapping it carefully. On Christmas morning, beaming, she hands it to her daughter, and says, "I got you a guitar!"

That's how we read most biblical stories. We spoil the surprise.

I'm going to do my best not to do this. I'm going to do my best, to let the book of Jonah mess with you the way it's designed to. Because I'm not the kind of person who spoils surprises.

The other thing I'm going to do, to break your familiarity with the book, is say Jonah's name right. Every time you see a "J" in the OT, it's pronounced "Y." So we are going to read the book of Yonah.

And that's all the intro you get. I'm not going spoil the story (Hebrew numbering throughout, sorry).

Yonah 1:1-3:

(1) And the word/Word of Yahweh came to Yonah the son of Amittai, saying,

(2) "Rise!

Walk! to Ninevah the great city,

and call! against it

that their evil has come up before my face,

(3) and Yonah rose to flee to Tarshish from before the face of Yahweh,

and he went down to Yopha,

and he found a ship going to Tarshish,

and he paid its fare,

and he went down on board to go with them to Tarshish from before the face of Yahweh,

Our story begins with the Word/word of Yahweh. "The Word/word of Yahweh came to Yonah." And we don't expect a puzzle here, at the beginning of the book, so we maybe don't even realize what we are reading. What does it mean that the Word of Yahweh came to Yonah, and spoke to Yahweh?

How can a "word" come or go?

We find this expression constantly in the OT. It's everywhere. But do we ever think about what it means? How can the word of Yahweh come to people, and talk to people (2 Sam. 7:4; Jer. 1:4, 11, 13, etc.)? That's not how my words work. My words don't travel from my mouth and have conversations with people.

Maybe we think that what we have here is simply an expression. When Yahweh speaks to people, his word comes to them. Maybe it's just a way of describing special revelation. That's possible.

But let's turn to Genesis 15:1-6:

(1) After these things, the word of Yahweh came to Abraham in the vision, saying,

"May you not be afraid, Abram.

I am a shield for you.

Your reward shall be very great."