Rev. Nick Cheek
Genesis 12:1-10 and Jonah 1:4-17
As the night grew darker and longer… so also did the storm rage stronger. It was our second winter living on the coast of Maryland. Maryland isn’t known for Nor’easters so this storm was unique. Our house sat alone on top of the highest piece of land in the area. We were surrounded by asphalt – a space devoid of any wind-breaking structures. The children were already in our bedroom, but I wasn’t content to even allow us to stay the night on the first floor. Peering out of the window, the trees bent with ease under the force of the wind as though they were twigs. The freezing-cold gusts of air seemed to flow right through the window panes. To Nicholas’ relief, Ashley and I decided to move to the basement. Because that’s what you do in the midst of storms like these… you descend… into the earth… You descend into the safety of what lies below. With sleeping bags, pillows, blankets, flashlights, and stuffed animals in tow, we headed down the stairs. The wind howled all night as our children curled up around us like pretzels. I didn’t sleep a wink until about 5:30 am when the wind finally ceased. The rest of the first chapter in Jonah is about a storm. As Jonah flees the presence of God, his faithful and steadfast God follows after – determined to find him and bring him back on course. HERE NOW THE WORD OF THE LORD.
In our passage this morning, a violent storm is thrown toward the boat heading for Tarshish. The wind is so strong that the crashing waves threaten the integrity of the ship’s hull. The sailors are petrified – men who make a living on the Mediterranean Sea, scared to death. Their fear leads the reader to believe this storm is unlike any they’ve ever encountered. The sailors cry out to their own gods for help while also resorting to throwing all the cargo overboard in order to lighten the load. They feel in their gut that something is not right – this is supernatural… this is beyond nature. The force of God must be around us. [Pause]
Physical storms are used in the Bible to emphasize God’s power over nature. We love these stories, because they usually end with God or Jesus, silencing the storm. That’s what happened our first reading from Matthew. It makes sense for us to focus on the physical storms in these stories because they’re exciting and wonderful… But if we closely examine Jonah’s story, we may find there is another storm raging – one we tend to overlook.
In Jonah’s story so far, we’ve already witnessed some of his remarkable behavior. After the Word of the Lord comes to him with a command to go to Nineveh… Jonah gets up and goes in the exact opposite direction. He deliberately disobeys God’s command. Like I said last week, prophets just don’t do that. But Jonah’s not like any other prophet… he is unique. And now… in the middle of a violent storm… where do we find Jonah… but asleep… below deck. Why? Who even has the ability to sleep through the violent rocking of a ship? [Pause] The language of this chapter is curious. The writer gives us hints about where Jonah is, mentally and emotionally. For example, in verse 5 four different words are used to emphasize Jonah’s present state. It reads, “But Jonah had gone below deck… where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.” It’s as if the author is saying… Jonah is not just down there… below deck… but…he… himself… is down. And this is not just a passing feeling… or a bad-day feeling. This is something heavier. Something deeper.
Several commentators notice that this repeated downward movement reflects a spiritual and emotional descent. Alastair Roberts, for example, argues that Jonah’s descent moves toward “the depths” and even carries echoes of Sheol, the realm of emptiness. Jonah’s progression downward, step by step, not only in space but in posture. He disengages from the sailors, from the storm, and notably, from God. His sleep is not rest so much as retreat from what is unfolding around him. It is not a sleep of peace, but of heaviness, grief, and perhaps indifference.
This, again, is where we peer into the deep human side of Jonah. Instead of viewing Jonah as a defiant prophet… the text opens for us other possibilities for his behavior: that he is overwhelmed, burned out… exhausted… That whatever is happening within him has outpaced his ability to respond. That he no longer has the energy, the clarity, or even the will to engage in what is unfolding around him. In other words… he has, in a very human way, shut down.
Episcopal Priest and author Debie Thompson reminds us that the Bible is unflinching in its portrayal of human frailty. Again and again, it shows us people who falter not because they are faithless, but because they are tired, afraid, and overwhelmed. Sometimes,” She writes, “what looks like indifference or disobedience is actually exhaustion of the soul — a weariness so deep that even the work of hope feels impossible.”
Have you ever felt that way, church? Has the weight of life in general just felt too heavy…even lately? Sometimes the demands of our lives don’t come to us in manageable pieces… they flood us all at once. They overwhelm us. Life has a way of placing more on us than we expected to carry. And before we realize it, we are holding more than we know what to do with. The pressure to keep up. The desire to do right by the people we love. The anxieties and demands of our professions. And on top of all of that… we also carry concern for the world outside ourselves… This constant awareness of conflict, division, and instability… all the things we know we can’t control but still rest on us… they are still so heavy.
With all of this, it’s easier to see ourselves in Jonah’s story. The weight of the world and our circumstances… pushing us down… deeper and deeper to where we want to disengage… to retreat… to go quiet… to separate…to withdraw… to curl up in a ball… close our eyes and sleep it all away.
We are in the middle of Mental Health Awareness Month.
Mental Health awareness reminded us that our inner lives matter. That what we carry—emotionally, mentally, spiritually—is real. And it shapes how we live… how we respond… how we show up in the world. And the truth is, many people carry more than we realize. In fact, about one in five adults in our country will experience a mental health challenge this year. Which means there are people in every room—every community, every church—who may be battling a storm we can’t see. And part of what this month invites us to do… is to pay attention. To remove the stigma and make space for honesty. Mental Health Awareness invites us to remember that we are not meant to carry all of our burdens alone. It invites us to check in on one another and seek help when we need it… because caring for our inner lives is also a part of faithful living.
I was talking with Andria Petry-Siage this week about the class she is facilitating on Mental Health, which explores God’s love and presence in our everyday struggles. And she brought up a powerful thought about Jonah. She said that even prophets—those handpicked and called by God—still face deep trials. They don’t escape struggle… they walk through it. Jonah’s story reminds us that while faith doesn’t remove hardship… it meets us within it… Faith holds us and carries us through.
In the midst of Jonah’s, what we find is that God and the people around him show up. This is a beautiful part of our story this morning, church. As the storm is raging, and he is in the deep part of the ship’s hall, the call Jonah received from the beginning… the call he was running from in the first place shows up again through the voice of a sailor, “Rise… Jonah… Get up… Jonah…Get up and call upon your God.”
When Jonah arises… he tells the sailors the reason for the storm… that he is running from God. And I love how they respond – the sailors react not in anger, but in understanding. They ask him questions: “Jonah, why this storm upon us? What do you do for a living? Who are you? Where do you come from?” [Pause]
In the original language, the Bible uses the word “Neighbor” to describe the relationship between the sailors and Jonah. It is a very significant term from the Torah. Philip Cary, from Yale University, teaches about the importance of this word and its use in this passage. He writes, “Neighbor is the key term used in the word of God to indicate those who are bound together in the ethical bonds of community and mutual obligation… to this, the book of Jonah now prompts us to add that our neighbor means everyone who is in the same boat with us, threatened by the same storms, and fighting against the same sea. All of us need one another, and that is why Scripture calls us neighbors.”
Acting as neighbors should, the sailors ask Jonah what they can do to relieve the storm… they want to help. But Jonah, in the darkness that has befallen him, sees himself as the burden. He suggests that they throw him overboard… like excess cargo. The sailors, rightly so, want nothing to do with that idea. Instead… they tirelessly work to get Jonah back to shore… back to the dry land… away from the storm… away from the depths… where they can all plant their feet on solid ground again. With all their might… they paddle veraciously… they try everything… but the storm is relentless.
Eventually, Jonah slips into the sea, continuing his descent. But even as he sinks… and the water engulfs him… and the darkness surrounds him… there is hope. For sometimes it’s in the deepest darkness where God accomplishes the most transformative work. Fleming Rutledge reminds us, “God’s saving action often comes to us in forms we would never choose or recognize as grace.”
God’s transformative work often meets is the most surprising ways. Just ask Jonah… who is about to be swallowed up and rescued by a big fish of all things.
Even as Jonah descends… even as he moves deeper into the earth… the Lord of the seas… and the dry land… meet him there. That is the recurring theme of our story, Church… God’s relentless pursuit.
Contemporary Christian Author, NT Wright, also struggled with depression… and one Psalm in particular was essential in helping him overcome the sinking feeling he was experiencing. It is a Psalm for all of us… especially those who may be in the midst of their own storm today. Hear now the Word of the lord.
“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts…and lead me in the way everlasting.”