Jeremy L. Berg

Today we look at the Waters of Repentance and Enemy-Love through the much-loved but often misunderstood story of Jonah. Let’s dive in!

The Book of Jonah is a Sunday school favorite, yet hidden beneath its cartoonish drama lies a scathing socio-religious warning—a warning aimed at the people who would claim to be on “God’s side.” What’s it all about?

In a nutshell, Jonah finds himself on a storm-tossed ship that is going to sink because Jonah has rebelled against God by refusing to love his enemy. Jonah despises the Assyrians in Ninevah whom God has told him to go preach to, and instead boards a ship headed in the opposite direction of enemy-embracing-love.

Jonah wants to draw the religious boundaries around who is good and who is bad, and who are the “godly” and who are the “godless.” Tribalism is a very, very old game, and God is tired of it. Jesus came to inaugurate a new Kingdom society that breaks down all social and religious barriers. This new society of Jesus is then sent out to bring love and good news to all people.

Let society be our collective boat, and ask the question: Is our presence on this boat a blessing or a curse? If our church and ministries packed up and moved out of town, would anybody notice? Would people weep and beg us to return and open back up? Or would people celebrate and say, “Good riddance?” What about Jonah’s ministry?

Jonah’s ship full of non-believing “godless atheists” or “secular liberals” (just go with me) was about to sink because the would-be “Christian” refuses to love the Despised Other. Instead of buoying up and blessing the sea-faring society of sinful sailers, the one person onboard who is supposed to know the one true God is bringing the ship down because he has forgotten that his God “causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt 5:45).

What a sad day it is when those called to show the world the true character and embracing love of God end up preaching bigotry, withholding grace, and turning a cold shoulder to those we’ve labeled the Other.

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God spare us the day when Christians in this nation, called to be a blessing and prophetic voice for good, end up sailing in the opposite direction of God’s Kingdom values and ethics, for example, labeling all efforts at social justice as liberal “wokeism,” and choosing instead the warmth and safety of our tribe’s applause and acceptance than obedience to an enemy-loving, barrier-breaking God.

In this story, Jonah eventually realizes the storm will not abate until he is tossed overboard and undergoes a process of repentance in the belly of the fish. He says, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you…” Wow, what humility he showed in this moment. How humbling for anyone to realize that their presence tends to only intensifies the chaos, and things are calmer when we are not around. When I’m not emotionally and mentally healthy, I sometimes bring more rain than sunshine through the front door. Keri has told me. Those are moments when I need a retreat to the belly of the fish, to find God in my pain and darkness. So we read:

Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.” (Jonah 1:12, 15). On the other side of repentance, there is hope that Jonah will begin to reflect the heart of God in relationship with a world in need of God’s mercy and grace. 

Is there a message here for Christians navigating this current societal storm aboard this American ship? Are we tempted to blame the despised other for the waves that are currently rocking us? Are not political liberals blaming everything on Trump and the Republican Party? Are not Conservatives blaming President Biden and the political Left for every current storm we’re navigating?

Jonah was a bit of a scoundrel, but even he was able to humble himself, to look in the mirror, and see that he was also a big part of the problem.

Are we willing to look in the mirror and ask if maybe we’ve been sailing in the wrong direction in our attitude toward others? Are we convinced we’re more righteous than the godless pagans aboard the American ship? I know for a fact that many unChristian people have been looking at people of faith for the past 5 years and wondering if, like Jonah, we’re big part of the reason we’re in this mess.

But there’s good news!

There’s always good news for those who would humble themselves and approach the throne of grace with a repentant heart. There is mercy on the other side of repentance. And if Jesus himself had to spend three days and three nights in the belly of the fish (Matt 12:40) before ushering in the light of a New Day, perhaps Christians need to do the same. Sometimes Jesus calms the storm, and sometimes he lets the ship go down. Still, at other times he invites his servants to cast themselves into the seas of sober-minded reflection and humble repentance.

Currently, many of our nation’s leaders and media outlets are constantly stoking the flames of partisan animosity. Many seem to relish making waves and stirring the waters, and our deep seated division and lack of civil discourse is in some measure due to this epidemic of non-conciliatory public discourse. And this unbending gridlock and polarization has infected so-called leaders on both sides of the political aisle.

But finger-pointing is not going to solve anything, and for Christians the place to point the finger first is at our own wayward hearts. “Why do you point out the speck of sawdust in another person’s eye,” Jesus asks, “and ignore the 2×4 plank protruding from your own eyes?”

Christians have clear marching orders from above to “make every effort to do what leads to peace” (Rom 14:19). Let me say that again: Christians are called to “make every effort to do what leads to peace.”

I have created a chart exploring three typical postures toward culture and approaching new ideas, differences, and learning in general. I have unpacked it a bit here, but will include the graphic below.

In the Scriptures, there are two ways to be swallowed up and vomited out: Like Jonah, we can be swallowed by the great fish in an act of repentance and spat out onto the shores of a New Beginning (Jonah 2:10). Or, we can be a well-meaning but compromised Christian whom God will spit out of His mouth like a cup of lukewarm water on Judgment Day (Rev. 3:16) because we “honor God with our lips, but our hearts are far from him” (Matt 15:8).

So, let me ask again the probing questions Jonah had to reckon with:

1. Do we live in such a manner that our presence at work, at home, at church, in our parenting, as a spouse, is gracious and life-giving? Or do we bring a storm wherever we go and leave a path of destruction in our wake?
2. Do we believe God loves and longs to bless our enemies, and that Jesus was serious when he commanded his followers to learn to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us?
3. Who are the Ninevites you are tempted to write off and avoid? Who is “the other” you are tempted to despise and avoid, whom God is wanting you to learn to love and listen to? May God give us our own “belly in the fish” experience to humble us and makes more like Christ in our attitude toward others.

Yes, the Book of Jonah is a Sunday school favorite, yet hidden beneath its cartoonish drama lies a scathing socio-religious warning—a warning aimed at the people who would claim to be on “God’s side.” The only way we can know if we’re on God’s side is if we’re standing with Christ, and we only need to read the Gospels to realize the kinds of folks Jesus hung out with.

Let all who have ears to hear, listen and follow Jesus by learning to love, and not despise, the other.

Note: This is part of a larger “Spirit on the Water” series exploring God’s activity over the various water-stories of the Bible. So far we’ve explored:

1. The Waters of Creation
2. The Waters of Wrath
3. The Waters of Liberation
4. The Waters of Inheritance
5. The Waters of Faith
6. The Waters of Mentorship

(Note: These are snippets from (hopefully) full chapters in a book I am working on, and you can find podcasts on these messages as well here.)