Matthew 12/Jonah 1 | Sign of Jonah
August 11, 2024

Car crash and Tylenol
Sign of Jonah

Heaven and earth
Layers of story
Sign of Jonah - Jesus
Sign of Jonah - us

Tension - God’s

and our obstruction

How are we lost?
Who is God for the lost?

Jonah 1

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”
7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. —Jonah 1

Ninevah
Enemy

Jonah
Prophet
Like the mail

Tarshish
The other way
At the end of the world

Why do we

it?
Jonah went the wrong way because he thought God was wrong
Tarshish
halls of power, behind our fortress wall
Million other places where we go because God is doing it wrong

Storm
So obvious, even to the guys on the boat
if God calls you you’ll know
don’t assume a storm is punishment unless the storm is actually punishment

We are all called to go
We all go a different way
Jesus did not

More lost than we want to


More found than we can
This is where we meet Jesus

You and I
Look out over the contours of our life
Won’t be saved/Can’t be saved
Lose heart and run away
Think of those things this morning
Name them

You

believe
Jesus was sent to that very
Not on the side or along the way
of God’s mission

Gratitude
Grace
Courage