BONUS SESSION

Unit Three: Major Message, Minor Prophets

Jonah: The Runaway Prophet

Scripture Focus:

Jonah 1—4

Session Truth:

God wants true repentance from His followers.

Session Goals:

To understand that God’s love for all people is far greater than our perceptions of His particular favors shown to us.

To acknowledge the barriers in our own hearts to loving others as God loves them.

To repent of any prejudice that keeps us from expressing the love of God to our enemies.

Key Scripture Ideas

A Runaway, Reluctant Prophet (Jonah 1)

Jonah ran away from the Lord. Not only did he not go to Nineveh, he went the opposite direction. The level of his intentional disobedience is staggering. It gets worse.

Jonah boarded a ship headed for Tarshish, and went below deck. God sent such a huge storm that the sailors feared for their lives. The captain confronted Jonah, calling him to prayer.

Jonah was a disobedient, self-centered prophet. He could have repented on the ship, but he would not. The sailors called on God to ask for mercy for throwing Jonah overboard. There is no evidence of Jonah praying for mercy.

A Recalcitrant, Unenthusiastic Prophet (Jonah 2—3)

God was pursuing Jonah. Instead of leaving Jonah in the bottom of the boat, God sent a wind. Instead of letting this poor excuse for a prophet drown, God sent a fish. Only when Jonah found himself on his last breath did he cry out to God from the belly of the fish. Instead of letting him slowly digest to his last breath, God allowed the fish to vomit. In this prayer, we have a view of a merciful God who rescues.

Notice there was no confession of wrong-doing by Jonah in his prayer. He did call on God for mercy, but he put the blame squarely on God for throwing him into the depths of the sea. “You hurled me” (v. 3). By the end of the prayer, Jonah had made a vow to God. We are not told what the vow was, but it was apparently not a vow to go to Nineveh. Jonah did not decide to obey until the word of God came a second time.

Jonah went into Ninevah proclaiming a simple message. “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned” (3:4). It would appear that Jonah didn’t offer repentance as an option. Yet, the Ninevites repented. They fasted and put on sackcloth. When God changed His mind and did not bring His judgment on them, Jonah, being the pathetic prophet, got angry.

An Impenitent, Prejudiced Prophet (Jonah 4)

Notice the great contrast of the story. Jonah was grateful for the second chance God gave him. But when Nineveh was given a second chance, Jonah was angered. The issue at hand was Jonah’s hatred and disdain for the Ninevites (v. 2). To be sure, there was a reason for the hatred between the Israelites and the Ninevites. Nineveh was being judged for its wickedness. Still, the point of the story was not the wickedness of Nineveh, but the ethical and spiritual conflict within Jonah.

After Nineveh repented, Jonah in anger went to sit on a hill outside the city to see if God was going to keep His word. He was sitting in the sun, and God graciously caused a vine to grow up and provide shade for Jonah. Jonah was thankful for the vine. The next day, God sent a worm to chew the vine so that it withered in the heat of the sun. Then Jonah was angry. Clearly, Jonah’s reaction to God’s relenting of judgment on Nineveh was a parallel to the death of the vine. In order to make certain that we understood the parallel, the question was the same: “Have you any right to be angry?” (v. 4 and v. 9).

In the last two verses, God brought it all together. Jonah was more concerned about a vine than he was about people. Jonah’s nationalism for Israel revealed a huge blind spot when it came to caring for people of another ethnicity.
What about the fish? Guess what? The story wasn’t about the fish. Many people in the church can tell you the story of Jonah and the fish, but they don’t know the story about Jonah’s blind nationalism and his hatred of Nineveh. At the end of the story, Jonah had a new venue, but his heart appeared to be unchanged.

1 engage interest

An Unlikely Destination

What is the one place in the world you would rather not go? (Allow time for several to respond.)

Transition: Today’s lesson is about a prophet who was asked to go and preach against the great city of Nineveh because of its wickedness. For Jonah, Nineveh represented the Assyrian empire with all of its wickedness, and he did not want to go!

2 explore the word

Runaway Prophet (Jonah 1:1-17)

What are the possible reasons Jonah decided to run away from God’s instruction?

Which was worse: (1) What Jonah imagined would happen if he went to Nineveh? (2) What actually happened when he was caught in the storm at sea?
When the sailors questioned Jonah, he said he was a Hebrew who worshiped the Lord (v. 9).

Was Jonah’s testimony true, or was there a discrepancy between what he said and what he did?

Did the pagan sailors show more reverence and respect for God than Jonah did? (See vv. 14, 16.)

Recalcitrant Prophet (Jonah 2:1—3:10)

What important elements are missing from Jonah’s prayer? (There is no repentance or admission of his fault. There is thankfulness for salvation, but no admission of wrong-doing.)

What evidences of genuine repentance are seen here (3:3-9)

What contrasts are there between Jonah’s response to God and Nineveh’s? (Jonah disobeyed the Lord; Nineveh obeyed. Jonah had to be physically forced into compliance; Nineveh obeyed immediately. Jonah never admitted his sin; the Ninevites confessed their sin.)\

Impenitent Prophet (Jonah 4:1-11)

What worthless idols did Jonah hold on to in chapter 4?

What does Jonah’s anger reveal about his heart?

What is the point of the Book of Jonah? (God cares and loves all people, yet there were some people Jonah would rather not love. The Ninevites were at the top of Jonah’s list.)

3 examine life

The Storm of Disobedience

Does disobedience always produce a storm?

Why are people stubborn in their relationship with God?

Considering the way Jonah ignored God, why would God go to such lengths to spare him?

The Prayer of Faith

Why do you think it was so hard for Jonah to call on God?

The turning of Jonah’s heart back to God began with remembering (2:7a). Outline the process of Jonah’s surrender to God’s will in 2:7-9.

The Cost of Revival

Name the greatest miracle in the Book of Jonah. (The greatest miracle was not the great fish, or even the miracle within Jonah, but the repentance of a pagan city.)

What is the meaning of the word “repent”? (It means to turn back, to make a complete about-face.)

Identify requirements for revival named in Jonah, chapter 3. (Proclamation of the message [v. 2]; obedience to God’s word [v. 3]; believing God [v. 5a]; expressing sorrow for sin [v. 5b]; calling on God [v. 8]; the turning of people from evil [v. 10a]; the turning of God in compassion [v. 10b].)

4 exercise your faith

You Did It for Me

Read Matthew 25:40 aloud.

What is one way you can extend God’s love and mercy toward others,?

How can you express thanks to the Lord this week for all the love and mercy He has given you?

Copyright © 2010 WordAction Publishing Company