Reading Jonah Backwards
Simon Dean

The Book of Jonah begins strongly and then ends...kind of awkwardly. First words that come to mind: ‘Whale’, ‘storm’, ‘man overboard’, ‘prayer from the belly’, maybe ‘Nineveh’. We are draw in: hooked. But that fourth chapter is not on our radar: it's weird, uncomfortable. Have you seen anyone so angry with God? Jonah rages; and his anger is directed at God. God reaches out to Jonah. But his response - I want to die. And then the prophecy ends unresolved. And God's final appeal to Jonah goes unanswered. Silence.

And yet the end of the book is the heart of the book. Which is where we must start. And read 'backwards':

'Backwards' as a corrective to our front-end focus

It is only at the end that we discover Jonah's reason for running. It is deliberately withheld from the reader. When Jonah runs away, we do not know why. Which draws us in and gets us thinking. Why did he run? Why does anyone run from God? Why might I run from God? Why am I running away? And to what? 

'Backwards' from that cliff-hanger ending

We like everything to be resolved. Problems and issues fixed. But life is not like that. God tries to reason with Jonah. But in the end, we are left with a white space of silence, challenge and crisis: nothing is fixed. And God knows that such a situation rings true for us too given that He finished the book that way. In the silence, He can create an arena where the hard, spiritual work can begin. What does God want from me now? How do I respond? What do I do? God shows He is sovereign in Jonah's life with a special word - He 'appoints' a fish, a plant, a worm and an east wind to bring him to that place. And He can and does appoint moments of crisis, a silent space, for us to reflect and respond and move forward.

'Backwards' from the New into the Old

We look backwards from the vantage point of the end, from Calvary and the empty tomb. Seeing these would have soothed Jonah's anger and quietened his distress. But let's not miss the lesson found in Jonah's intemperate reaction to God's mercy shown to Israel's enemy. God's grace is scandalous, undeserved and provocatively open to all. Don't imagine it is God's 'job' to forgive sin, costless and mechanical. How dare God say He is prepared forgive those people over there who are not like me? If that is what God is prepared to do - what am I doing for them? What is the last picture we get of Jonah? He is sitting and watching and waiting (Jon 4:5). Is that you and me, are we just sitting and watching and waiting? We have a call to 'rise up' (Jon 1:2 and 3:2) and do God's bidding beyond the familiar and easy.