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Thoughts on Jonah's spiritual journey (part 2). . .

Jonah's Journey: A Second Chance

by Rev. Dr. Lee B. Spitzer

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I will give you." 

Life rarely progresses in a straight line.  Dreams yearned for seem to be just out of our reach.  Surprise opportunities seem to come out of nowhere.  Missed chances come back around.  In this month's article, we'll continue looking at Jonah's journey for insights into the meandering nature of our spiritual journeys.

Jonah's Shadow Journey

Jonah's spiritual journey becomes problematical right from the start of the story.  God calls him to travel to the Assyrian capital in order to confront the population with its wickedness (in the hope that they would repent), but Jonah is not enthusiastic about his new prophetic assignment.  Instead of embracing the call (phase 2) and moving immediately into phase 3 of his mission journey, Jonah attempts to run away from God:

But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish.  He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port.  After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarsish to flee from the LORD."  (Jonah 1:3)

Jonah's resistance to God's will prevents any progress in his mission journey - his life is no longer progressing in a straight line.   Instead of heading to Nineveh, he begins traveling toward Tarshish (a town in the western Mediterranean, probably off the coast of Spain).  God called him to head on a northeast course, and so he goes west (probably hoping to get beyond Yahweh's sphere of power, in the belief that God's influence was limited to Palestine).  To us, the notion that one can travel away from God's presence is foolish, since we believe in the omnipresence of God.  Nevertheless, there is an important spiritual journey lesson in all of this: when we reject God's call to journey, we move into a shadow journey which sails us away from God's will.  This shadow journey is inspired by our unfaithfulness, and its progress is negative in nature.  The further we travel off the track God has ordained for us, the more sin becomes our spiritual master.

Jonah's experiences on the ship illustrate certain salient features of the shadow journey.  First, even though the shadow journey represents an attempt to flee from God's presence, God refuses to go away!  By his grace, God reaches out to Jonah through a symbol of judgment (the great wind on the sea of Jonah 1:4).  It is as if God is calling to Jonah through nature and circumstances in an attempt to get him back on course.

Second, although the presumably pagan sailors properly respond to the storm by praying and lightening the ship, Jonah is oblivious to the danger he is in (Jonah 1:5).   When we are on a shadow journey, we are often lulled into a false security and peace becase our soul has become desensitized to God's presence and voice.  This is why Israel did not respond to the prophets, and why Jesus' message fell on deaf ears.  Shadow journeys facilitate the progressive hardening of our hearts, resulting in a diminished capacity of the conscience to speak to us and lead us into repentance (Matthew 13:11-16).

Third, God often uses others to speak to us when our conscience becomes so dull that it cannot discern God's voice.  The sailors confront Jonah, and he admits that their troubles are due to his unfaithfulness (Jonah 1:7-10).  They get him to admit his sin, and his self-imposed judgment is harsher than they wish to impose.  Ironically, these pagans have more concern for this stranger's life than he does for the lives of the wayward in Nineveh - the values underlying the journey are better expressed by the unbelievers! 

Fourth, the "low point" of despair and anguish that always manifests itself within the shadow journey represents an entry point back toward the original journey.  Within the sea creature, Jonah repents and turns back toward God (Jonah 1:17-2:9).  Similarly, the prodigal son "came to his senses" during his low point and embraced the opportunity to return to his father's home (Luke 15:17-18). 

Fifth, when we accept God's grace during the low point time, God gives us the strength to start over again.   Jonah is spit up onto dry ground and receives a repeat of his phase 2 call to journey (Jonah 2:1--3:2).  This time he responds with obedience (Jonah 3:3) and begins phase 3 of the original journey.  Better late than never, as Jesus says:

"What do you think?  There was a man who had two sons.  He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.'  'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.  Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing.   he answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go.  Which of the two did what his father wanted?"  "The first," they answered.  (Matthew 21:28-31a)

 

A Further Thought: The Roundabout Journey

Not all apparent detours in life are the result of our sin and unfaithfulness.  Sometimes, it is God's will for us to take a less than direct path toward the future.  Irving Howe, in A Margin of Hope, provides a wonderful illustration of this point.  Here's how he recounts how he was led to renew his interest in Judaism (pages 259-260):

". . . I had almost nothing coherent to say on Jewish themes.  At the time my main intellectual journey, difficult enough, consisted of a break from an earlier orthodox, anti-Stalinist Marxism.  Yet I also read the newly 'Jewish' writings of friends like Rosenberg and Greenberg with an intensity that suggested they had touched some unresolved personal involvement.  I could not release my true feelings because they were blocked by worn opinions.  Shapeless but strong, these feelings found their first major outlet in a literary activity that for the next few decades would become a significant part of my life - editing the translation of Yiddish stories and poems into English.  This wasn't, of course, a very forthright way of confronting my own troubled sense of Jewishness, but that was the way I took.  Sometimes you have to make roundabout journeys without quite knowing where they will lead to."

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