VBS Recap: Jonah

Well, we had another wonderful week of VBS! From Monday through Thursday, 75 kids and over 40 volunteers gathered each morning to sing, laugh, play, create, and learn. The theme of our week was the story of Jonah. Yes, many people know about Jonah and the whale, but, as we found over the week, there’s a lot more to the story than that - and we dove right in.

A few notes about the book of Jonah: it’s a short book found in the Old Testament, a prophet nestled between Obadiah and Micah. Its four chapters are packed with humor, irony, and exaggeration, making it more of an extended parable or work of literature than an accurate accounting of facts. Even so, the truths it contains are powerful and timely, even today. 

As we moved through the story, each day had a specific theme. On Monday, our theme was God calls. In our story, God called Jonah to bring an important message to the people of Nineveh. After all, he was a prophet, and this was his job - delivering messages from God to the people. But Nineveh was a whole different story. Nineveh was one of the capital cities of the Assyrian empire. And, to put it simply, they were enemies of Judah. Other passages in the Bible describe Assyria as violent, arrogant, and oppressive. 

So, I suppose it makes sense that Jonah was not interested in going anywhere near there. Instead, Jonah decided to run away from God and God’s call. Rather than heading east to Nineveh, Jonah hopped a ship headed to Tarshish, a city far in the opposite direction.

Partway into their journey, God caused a great storm to arise. Winds howl and waves crash, threatening to break apart the ship. While the fearful sailors prayed and threw cargo overboard, Jonah was fast asleep below decks. Finally, the captain woke him up and urged him to pray. 

After casting lots as an attempt to get to the bottom of this great storm’s cause, the lot falls on Jonah, and he lays it all out - he’s a Hebrew, he worships the God of the land and sea, and he is running away. At his insistence, the sailors throw him overboard, and the sea ceased from its raging.

In this part of the story we are reminded that we can’t hide or run away from God. God’s presence is everywhere. And, just as God called Jonah to do important work, so too does God call us to share the message of God’s love, mercy, and grace with the whole world.

On Tuesday, our theme was God saves. As Jonah sank into the sea, God sent a large fish to swallow Jonah. It may seem like a kind of punishment, but it was salvation for Jonah, who was kept from drowning. Jonah is in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, and finally seems to be getting back on track. He spends his time in prayer, calling to the Lord in his distress and thanking and praising God for delivering him from death. Finally, God spoke to the fish, instructing it to vomit Jonah out onto the dry land. 

As we heard in our Gospel reading, Jesus references the story of Jonah as he foreshadows his own three days and three nights “in the heart of the earth” as he lay in the tomb. Just as Jonah’s time in the fish was a means of salvation for him, so too are Jesus’ death and resurrection the source of our life and salvation. God saves us - not because we deserve it, or do everything right, but because God loves us, and sees our need for salvation. 

On Wednesday, our theme was God forgives. God forgives Jonah for running away and offers him a second chance to listen. And, this time, Jonah does. He sets out for the great city of Nineveh, and…gives a really pathetic sermon. “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Yes, he shares the message God gave him, but he doesn’t seem to try very hard to convince the people to listen. 

Despite that halfhearted proclamation, to Jonah’s great surprise, the people listen to God. They put on the clothing of mourning and repentance and declare a fast - and not just the priests or ordinary people, but even the king, and all the animals. The king, in fact, gives a fuller proclamation than Jonah’s, declaring, “All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.”

And, this is exactly what God does. God sees Nineveh’s sincere repentance and forgives them. God does not destroy the city.

Now, you might perhaps think that Jonah would be celebrating, right? He was an effective prophet, delivering a message that was received and obeyed. Amazing! And you might think that, being in a religious line of work, Jonah would feel some compassion for the people of Nineveh, especially since he himself had also just experienced the power of God’s forgiveness. 

You might think that, but, alas, that’s not what happened.

Instead, Jonah is angry, and he lets God know it in what is one of the funniest paragraphs in the whole Bible. “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning, for I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Dramatic, much?! Jonah received God’s forgiveness - was given a second chance - but his heart sure doesn’t seem to show it. He takes all these really wonderful qualities of God - mercy, compassion, love, patience - and makes them seem terrible, or like liabilities, all because they’re directed at people Jonah doesn’t like and doesn’t find deserving.

On Thursday, our theme was God loves. Jonah, still hoping to see Nineveh get destroyed, sets up camp outside of the city and waits. As he waits out in the hot desert sun, God offers Jonah yet another chance to learn an important lesson. God makes a bush grow right over Jonah, shading him and saving him from his discomfort. Jonah is very happy about the bush. But the next morning, God sent a worm (played quite theatrically in our skit by Pastor Michael) to attack the bush, so it withered. And Jonah is mad all over again.

The book ends with powerful words from God, pointing out that Jonah cares so much about one little bush, which he didn’t even labor over or grow, and shouldn’t God care about all the people in Nineveh who don’t know right from wrong? After all, God loves them, too. God’s love and forgiveness is not just for Jonah, and not just for God’s chosen people in Israel and Judah, but rather for all creation, people and animals.

And that’s the end! We don’t hear Jonah’s response, which gives us the opportunity to put ourselves in his shoes. Do we welcome God’s mercy, forgiveness, and love just for ourselves and the people we love, or can we rejoice at the expansiveness of this gift for all people?

It was a wonderful take-away from our VBS week as we celebrated, once again, God’s love for all creation. Toward the end of the week, one of our participants asked her group leader, wait, wasn’t “God loves everyone” the theme last year?! 

To be fair, it was the theme last year - love God, love your neighbor - and I could not be more delighted that it’s called to mind so easily a year later! And, also, it turns out that “God loves everyone” is the theme every time we gather - whether it’s for worship, or study, or fellowship, or service. God loves everyone, God’s grace is for everyone - even us: sinful, forgetful, and undeserving as we are. God loves everyone, and we are blessed to receive it.