Jonah 1-2
Dear RTB’ers,
Jonah! We leave Matthew for a couple of weeks while we cover six of the twelve “Minor Prophets”, Jonah being the first of these. Jonah is a story with which we are all familiar. It’s a standard in children’s Bible story books – and yes, it also has theological and historical intrigues for adults.
But getting beyond the essence of today’s reading – the basic story and Jonah’s prayer – we see something unusual in this historical context. I don’t imagine the average ancient sailor to be composed of a gentle nature, yet these sailors do what they can to rescue Jonah from his fate: Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the LORD, “O LORD, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.” (vv. 1:13-14) They first work hard to spare Jonah’s life; then when that fails they call out to the Lord – obviously a God stronger than any of the pagan gods they have known. So, a hint of compassion in these pagan Gentiles… Can it be that there is a hint of goodness in all of us, even though …all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… (Romans 3:23) and …None is righteous, no, not one…? (Romans 3:10) These sailors provide us a soft moment in an otherwise harsh story. Nice.
Blessings!