Wake Up. Jonah

Jonah sat down, cleaned the dust from his sleeves, and leaned on his staff. His discoloured skin showed prominently now in the sunlight. How many days was it since he had so unceremoniously been delivered onto the sands of the beach? He shuddered and shook his shoulders. The memory was too unpleasant to dwell on. 

Reaching up to shield his eyes, he looked down on the city below. Such a wretched place. “I spent three days wandering among them, giving them the warning You asked me to give. Do you know what that was like?”

The wind gusted and blew around him. Jonah closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“They are bloodthirsty, immoral, unclean, and care nothing for proper rules of living! Their violence is unmatched in the world.” Jonah drove his staff into the dirt. 

The wind moved on leaving Jonah in the stillness of the day’s heat. He was thirsty but water brought back the terrible memories of his journey. Before he could stop his mind, it cast itself back to the moments of his drowning, deep beneath the ocean. Dragged down by grasping currents, Jonah was certain he would die. The saltiness of the sweat on his lips now reminded him of the terrifying taste of the sea.

There, in the dark depths, buried under the fathoms, he had seen the gates. He passed beyond the roots of mountains and heard the heavy doors of death close up tight. 

Tears, salty as well, flowed from his eyes as his heart lived in that moment once more. Jonah bent his head and whispered. “When the eyes of my soul dimmed and all grew dark as when a man faints, I remembered You. With the last of my life’s being, I sent my prayer up through the deeps to You, hoping You would hear me in Your holy temple.”

The wind swirled around him. Small towers of dust swirled up from the ground. Jonah lifted his chin but kept his eyes closed. “Yes, you lifted me out of the pit and you saved me,” he said. His lips came together and drooped. He opened his eyes and colour appeared in his cheeks. He pointed at the city below. “I told them what was going to happen but I know… I know the truth, do I not? It’s why I ran the other way!”

Jonah stood and leaned on his staff. He was still weak from the days in the fish and his skin was still healing from the… vomit. He paced about his small camp and watched the city closely. He imagined them dressing up in their hideous garments, hugging whomever they pleased, and proclaiming a feast for everyoneregardless of who they were. These Ninevites were the worst! He gave them forty days to rethink their sins, to change their ways. Forty days? “Not possible!”

Jonah sat down hard, closed his eyes, and fell asleep. 

In a dream, he saw the streets of the city. Peasants, artisans, nobles, soldiers, criminals, and the other vile ones, all were pondering the message he gave them. They began standing and turning around together pointing in the opposite direction. Jonah inwardly groaned. He tried to wake up but he could not. He felt the wind blowing in the dream and he saw the king’s court, the king’s throne, and the hateful king of the Ninevites… weeping, tearing his royal robe, and putting on sackcloth. 

“Bring me ashes! Bring us all ashes!” His command echoed through the dream. 

Jonah awoke with a cry. It was night. He stared up into a clear, star–filled sky. “I knew it,” he muttered. 

He fixed his gaze on the stars as they shimmered and danced far above. “They’ve listened,” he growled. “And You, in Your patience that never gives way to anger quick enough, have shown them gracious mercy. Your abundant, loving–kindness has once again proven more powerful than your willingness to do harm! I look the fool! I hate these people! Kill me! I would rather be dead than watch them live with your affirmation and approval! How could you do this to me?”

The wind gusted and kicked up dust into his face. Jonah sputtered and spat. “Yes!” he cried out. “It is right for me to be angry!”

Silence surrounded him. He watched the dawn and scowled at the city below.

The day was going to be hot. Jonah shifted uncomfortably. He threw small rocks at the ground. Sweat beaded and flowed from his forehead. He was angry and now he was miserable. Suddenly, beside him, a small shoot appeared from the ground. Jonah watched and as a plant began to grow, his anger and misery turned to awe. Within a very short time, the plant had grown large and tall. He was sheltered in its life-giving shade and his heart was grateful. 

The next day, a worm ate away at the plant, and it died as swiftly as it had come to life. A wind out of the east rose and made the heat of the day even worse than it was before. Jonah stared at the dried, yellowed remains of his precious, shadow–providing plant. His hands opened and closed into fists. He squeezed his eyes shut, felt a deep pressure build in his chest, and then he shouted. His rage shook his body. 

A wind swirled around him, a counter–movement out of the west. Jonah’s eyes snapped open. “Of course, I am angry that this precious vine died. It was beautiful and worthy. I needed it to survive.”

The western wind moved all around him like a small tornado and a voice spoke out of the swiftly moving air. “You love this one plant with such deep passion, yet it only lived a short time.Yet, you are angry to the point of death over the thousands of human lives in the city below that I love and have shown mercy? You would see them judged with destruction because you hate them, they are your enemies. But, Jonah, you are My prophet. How can you not see what I see? They are my children just as much as you are. I brought you here to warn them not so that we could gloat over their deaths. Rather, I sent you to wake them up and look! They have awoken just as I knew they would. They were never worthy of my anger but have always been worthy of my grace, mercy, forgiveness, and abundant love. Look! Behold, there is coming a day when all of my children will hear this good news.”

“I want to die,” Jonah said. “How can you show this kind of love toward your enemies?”

“Only enmity is my enemy, Jonah,” the voice from the wind said. “If the salvation of your enemy enrages and offends you, then you have not yet grasped the fullness of the good news, the love, the grace, and the mercy that flows from my heart.”

The wind departed. Jonah trembled. He looked down at the city of his enemies then westward toward the presence that had just left him. He sat down on the ground in the dirt and allowed the heat to wash over him. 

“Wake up, Jonah!” He raised his face to the sun. “Wake up!”