Episode Transcript  

One

The Frustrated Prophet

Jonah is counted as one of the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament, but he’s kind of a strange prophet. The other prophets might not be thrilled about being prophets, but Jonah actually runs away from God’s mission. And then, after a storm at sea and a whale together force him back to his job, Jonah’s totally disappointed that the Ninevites convert and that God doesn’t wipe them out. So not only does he not want to go preach in the first place, but in retrospect, he’s dissatisfied that his preaching actually worked.

In other words, Jonah resists God’s will beforehand and gripes about God’s will afterwards. He consistently refuses to conform himself to the pattern of providence. The result is, he’s not a very happy character. 

How does Jonah get into this mess? What does Jonah not understand about God’s plan, and how can we avoid Jonah’s mindset, and so avoid a life of frustration?

Two

Why Conform Yourself to Providence?

Before we get deep into the story and character of Jonah, let’s ask a very basic question: Why should we abandon ourselves to God’s providence? Why should we accept God’s will? Why should we conform our lives to God’s directions and the course of events as guided by the divine plan?

Probably, there are two reasons, and both of them are based on divine attributes.

The first attribute is God’s omnipotence. That means that God is all-powerful. And the fact that God is all-powerful means, very simply, that what He wants to happen is going to happen. So if you try to thwart or resist God’s plan, guess what? It’s just an exercise in futility. You might as well get with the program, because you ain’t stoppin’ God from doing whatever He wants to do. 

And the second attribute is God’s omnibenevolence. That means that God is all good and all-loving. And that means that you shouldn’t even want to get in the way of God’s plan, throw a wrench in God’s projects. Because God’s projects are really, really good, really, really loving and merciful and generous.

So why would you want to get in the way of that? The only logical solution, then, is to go along with God’s will. Accept His directions, and accept the course of events as they unfold.

Three

God’s Omnipotence

Jonah doesn’t want the Ninevites to hear the saving message, and he certainly doesn’t want to be the one to deliver that message himself. So he tries to run and hide. To run and hide from the all-powerful, all-knowing God! It’s like a fish in a small glass bowl with nothing but water, trying to run and hide from its human owner. Not going to happen.

God tries to show Jonah that He (God) is in control of everything. When Jonah tries to catch a boat for Tarshish, God raises up a mighty sea storm, and when the sailors and Jonah realize what’s going on, the other sailors throw Jonah into the sea. Then, a great fish swallows Jonah and swims with him inside it for three days and nights, and spits him up on the shore of Ninevah. That’s when Jonah starts to realize that there is no way to block God’s will. No way to escape from the inexorable orchestration of the Almighty. The laws of nature themselves are at God’s beck and call, and shall we thwart His will? No. We say, “God’s will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven,” because nothing can happen unless God wills it or allows it, and whatever He wills or allows is the best.  

God’s permissive will is done on earth, and God’s antecedent will is done in Heaven. We don’t pray those words of the Our Father because we think, somehow, God’s will might not be done. We pray that prayer so that we can learn to desire what will come about inevitably. Because in that desire is our peace.

Four

God’s Omnibenevolence 

Now God could say to us, or to Jonah, “Look, I’m all-powerful. So you’d better get with my program, because at the end of the day it’s going to happen whether you like it or not.” But God doesn’t leave it at that. God doesn’t just want to flex His omnipotence. He wants us to conform to His will not just because He’s mighty, but because He’s good. 

So when Jonah throws a fit that Ninevah actually isn’t going to be destroyed, God tries to help Jonah see how screwed up his value scale is. God causes a shade plant to spring up, and then the plant dies shortly afterwards. And Jonah’s upset, he really liked that shade-plant. And God says, “Look, Jonah: can’t you see that your priorities are wrong? You value this little plant more than you value all those thousands of people. You wanted to save a plant, can’t you see that I wanted to save Ninevah?” 

In other words, we don’t just worship of God of power. We worship a God of Love. God’s going to win, but that’s not the main reason we want to be on His side, that’s not the main reason we want to conform our will to His.

We want to conform our will to God’s because the Lord is kind and merciful, and what He wills is good. And that’s exactly what we should want too.

Five

Conforming to God’s Will

There are two ways we conform ourselves to God’s will, and it’s by doing the opposite of what Jonah did. Jonah disobeyed God’s instructions. We conform ourselves to God’s will by following God’s instructions as expressed in the Scriptures and the Church’s teaching.

And Jonah complained about what had happened. We conform ourselves to God’s will precisely by not complaining, but by accepting that what God does and what God allows will all work together for His glory and our happiness if we accept it.

Jonah provides a model for living a frustrated life. God give us the grace to do the opposite.

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