"Jonah, The Elder Brother"

There really are two ways to read the Bible. Either it’s all about you or it’s all about Jesus. If we read it as being about us then Jonah has to be the hero and the Jonah story can be broken down to three points. 1) When God calls you answer, 2) When you don’t answer the right way there are consequences, 3) So answer the right way and you’ll be rewarded. The problem with looking at the Bible this way is that it will crush you. It is meant to show you your sin and so reading it this way will do exactly that. You’ll quickly realize that you don’t answer God when he calls, that you don’t want to most of the time, and that even when you want to you don’t have the power necessary to do it perfectly as you ought. If we read the Bible as being primarily about us then we will end up viewing it the way Jonah viewed it. When he was doing well, he was filled with pride and so he looked down on those who were different than him or those that didn’t measure up in his mind. Yet when things didn’t go his way he became despondent and despaired of life itself. And those are really the only two options. Reading the Bible as if it’s about you will turn you into a Pharisee. It will turn you into a Jonah, and let me tell you the last chapter of this story shows us that Jonah is most definitely not the hero. But the Bible isn’t primarily about you, it’s about Jesus. When we read the Bible as if it’s about Jesus, Jonah doesn’t become the hero but rather points past himself to the true and better Jonah. Where he failed, Jesus succeeded. Jesus was in a better and even more privileged position with the Father than Jonah was and when he was called he gave it all up and he went. He did not share what was rightfully his, his glory and honor and power but willingly laid it down for the sake of his enemies. Though no one deserved safe passage through this life more, Jesus was thrown into the storm of god’s wrath against sin that we in the boat might receive the calm weather of God’s mercy. When the story becomes about Jesus it moves from being a three point sermon to a four point sermon 1) God calls each and every one of us to obey, 2) but we don’t obey, we can’t, 3) so Jesus perfectly obeyed, and 4) by faith in what he accomplished for us we can do likewise.