Coming to Terms with God

"But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up."

Jonah 1:4 NKJV

Jonah is one of those figures who has always captured my attention, to the point that I wrote a book on the theme of divine mercy. His story is the very epitome of someone who, keeping his eyes fixed only on himself, flees from standing before God, and thus from His service. He represents those who, by fleeing, place themselves in a state of separation from God. The reasons may be many and varied; some understandable and justifiable, others incomprehensible and intolerable. On a psychological or, if you prefer, relational level, one might hypothesize that at the root of this transformation lies a grudge—or, more precisely, an understandable resentment—toward a hostile and invading people. Some have described it as “an underlying version of hatred and anger ready to explode when provoked. It is certainly a reaction to a suffered action, a withdrawal into oneself that amplifies one’s own pain by silencing everything else.” But there is not always a triggering pain. In fact, one can often be a victim of one’s own paranoia, projecting the consequences onto others. In this specific case, Jonah appears, in his stubbornness, tormented and persecuted by God, Who almost grabs him by the hair to lead him to do what He wants, much like a parent who grabs their capricious child by the arm and pulls them away from their toys.

We might hypothesize that Jonah is in the grip of a persecution complex, which keeps him from the truth, constantly obscured by his conviction that he is in the right. In this back-and-forth with the Lord, the events take on an ironic tone in some respects, while in others they are imbued with divine mercy. As we retrace them, each of us can discern aspects that can be applied to our own current vicissitudes. Initially, Jonah is sent to Nineveh, the great and bloodthirsty city, to denounce the evil of which Israel itself has been a victim. He apparently flees for no reason. The Assyrian capital is the great monster, and walking into the monster’s mouth frightens anyone. We all know the silent company of fear when, in fleeing, we refuse to be who we are. The prophet is also resentful; he feels the burden of a mission he does not share and tries to flee from his responsibilities, but he will soon discover that one cannot flee from God, especially when God does not accept indifference to the need that surrounds us. The first weapon prepared against Jonah is a strong wind. The verb “to unleash” conveys the idea of the force deployed by the Lord, which results in “a great storm.”

The wind alone should have been enough to bring the prophet back on his tracks. The story of Elijah fleeing from Jezebel should have suggested to him what that strong wind was (1 Kings 19:11). Not only the passage, but the presence of the Lord gives no respite to those who resist or try to numb their conscience. The context of the ship in the storm demonstrates this, even offering us the paradox of the sailors trying to save the life of the apathetic Jonah. How often has life shown us people, too hastily deemed insensitive or faithless, setting themselves up as teachers of so-called believers. The prophet had fled in the face of fear, thus silencing his faith. The “frightened” sailors, on the other hand, pray, reacting in faith. The only alternative for our prophet, after the summary trial and the examination of evidence against him, is to be thrown into the sea, to touch the depths of “mediocrity, compromise, and inconsistency,” in order to experience a surge of dignity and the strength to react, rediscovering the joy of faithfulness and the shining example of consistency. In the silence of the sea, whose waters reveal human powerlessness, in the darkness of the belly of the great fish, Jonah finally begins to dialogue with God. …

(continued next week)

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Weekly Bible Reading Plan #19

May 4, 1 Kings 16–18; Luke 22:47–71

May 5, 1 Kings 19–20; Luke 23:1–25

May 6, 1 Kings 21–22; Luke 23:26–56

May 7, 2 Kings 1-3; Luke 24:1-35

May 8, 2 Kings 4-6; Luke 24:36-53

May 9, 2 Kings 7-9; John 1:1-28

May 10, 2 Kings 10-12; John 1:29-51