Throughout Jonah 1:5-16, we see how the prophet Jonah said one thing but lived another. However, the pagan sailors, who did not know God, were sensitive to Him and worshipped him genuinely. On this episode, “The Heart of the Sailors,” we see how the sailors’ response to their fears shows Jonah who He should be. It challenges us to be authentic and to ask ourselves the question, “Who really am I?”
Transcript
We’ve been journeying through the incredible book of Jonah, and today, is our third episode. Our focus today is a deeply personal and a somewhat uncomfortable question: Who really are you? This question is for each of us. The prophet Jonah, as we will see, was a bit confusing. He was a man who said one thing but completely lived another. He presented one identity, yet his actions told a different story. Causing us to ask, who really is this guy?
This isn’t foreign to us, is it? It’s a challenge that Christians, and the Church as a whole, wrestle with regularly. Christians often get accused of saying one thing and living another, sometimes correctly. Think about the headlines we sometimes see, a pastor accused of lying or abuse or some kind. We say, “That’s a problem!” and it absolutely is a problem. But have you ever wondered, why is it such a big deal when a pastor, or someone from the church, acts contrary to what they preach, versus someone else? Society, in a way, holds us to a higher standard. They know and expect, that a pastor is supposed to be trustworthy and real.
Sure, the world is full of hypocrites. We see it every day. People who tell you not to eat fast food while they’re grabbing a burger or urge you to exercise more while they’re on the couch. Hypocrisy shows up in many places, not just the church. But when it’s someone from the church, someone who is supposed to know better. It just feels so much bigger. It adds another layer of disappointment, another level of betrayal. You have probably already heard someone say, “I don’t go to church because it’s just a bunch of hypocrites there” And this may seem to be true. Some people live one way on Sunday but look out on Monday you would never know them, because they are so different. This disconnect is real and is unsettling to those looking on. It is very true, hypocrites have damaged the cause of Christ, but if that is what is holding you back don’t allow it. It is not a good reason to reject Christianity and church. It is not worth missing out on so much because of a few hypocrites.
The challenge for the Christian is real, be authentic. Don’t pull a Jonah. Yes, we know we have our faults, but how do we demonstrate genuine faith? God gives us one answer in Micah. It’s a great summary, that says, act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God. This is a great place to start. Then we can model authenticity and be real to everyone who is watching.
So, how does this challenge to authenticity fit with Jonah? Well, in the passage we’re going to explore, Jonah Chapter 1, verses 5 through 16, Jonah gives us a prime example of a hypocrite. He says one thing but is living the opposite. The astonishing part of this story is that the people who call him out on it are the sailors. These were pagan sailors, lowercase “g” god worshippers, people far away from the God. Yet they were sensitive to God and saw Him at work while Jonah continued his stubborn downward path away from God. It’s almost unbelievable. Remember, Jonah was on the run, basically going as far away from Nineveh as he could go – literally going to the opposite side of the world. And when you look at the sequence of events mentioned in Chapter 1, what he doesn’t do, and what he does do, it makes you wonder: “What kind of guy is this? Jonah, who really are you?
As we step into Jonah 1, let’s understand the hearts of these sailors. Our ongoing theme throughout the book of Jonah is looking at hearts. First was God’s heart and now we have the sailors. We’ll examine their interactions with Jonah, and you would expect the godly man, a prophet of God, to come to his senses in this terrible storm. He was staring death in the face! Surely now he would make his wrongs right, repent and get right with God, right? But here’s the weird thing about Jonah, he doesn’t. He stays stubbornly on his path away from God.These pagan sailors show Jonah who He should be, and this challenges us to be authentic.
What we’ll do today is use the sailors’ fears as an outline for our lesson. Each time their fear is mentioned, it highlights how Jonah should have been living yet wasn’t. It seems like each time the sailors are afraid God is hitting Jonah trying to get His attention. With this in mind, let’s read the passage together. Open Jonah chapter 1 if you can and I will start reading in verse 5.
5 Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried out to his god, and they hurled the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the stern of the ship, had lain down, and fallen sound asleep. 6 So the captain approached him and said, “How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.”
7 And each man said to his mate, “Come, let’s cast lots so that we may find out on whose account this catastrophe has struck us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us, now! On whose account has this catastrophe struck us? What is your occupation, and where do you come from? What is your country, and from what people are you?” 9 So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 Then the men became extremely afraid, and they said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 11 So they said to him, “What should we do to you so that the sea will become calm for us?”—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. 12 And he said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, because I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.” 13 However, the men rowed desperately to return to land, but they could not, because the sea was becoming even stormier against them. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord and said, “We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life, and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, Lord, have done as You pleased.”
15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. 16 Then the men became extremely afraid of the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
Fear #1 Afraid of the Storm
Right away, in verse 5, we encounter the sailors’ first fear. And this is our first point, their other fears are our next 2 points. Each of them I believe are God’s way of trying to get through to the hard-headed prophet.
It tells us they were afraid of the storm. Apparently, this wasn’t just any storm. These were experienced mariners, men familiar with the sea and its dangers, yet this storm had them truly scared.
And where is Jonah in all of this? He’s sound asleep. He’s down in the lowest part of the ship, completely oblivious, fast asleep. What does this really say about Jonah? What kind of person is he? He seems to be out of touch, detached, spiritually oblivious to the power and presence of God that is causing this storm. The sailors fear shows they were paying attention, this is not a “normal” storm.
The ship’s captain, seeing the dire situation and Jonah’s sleeping, wakes him up and tells him, “Cry out to your god!”. Apparently, all the other sailors were already crying out to their gods, yet the prophet of the one true God had to be told to pray. Actually, first they had to wake him up to tell him to cry out. After all of this we don’t actually have any record of him doing this in this chapter. It never mentions that he followed through and cried out to God. And you would think, wouldn’t you, that he, the one whose God controlled this storm, would be the very first person praying! But he’s not and we are left wondering if he ever did.
This gives us a little pause, a check in our spirit. We ask ourselves: Does he actually believe God? Apparently not, if he doesn’t even ask Him for help. If we truly believe in God’s power and sovereignty, wouldn’t our first instinct in crisis be to call upon Him?
The sailors, desperate to understand what’s happening, try to figure out what’s causing this trouble. So, they cast lots to see whose fault this is. We don’t know exactly how they did this and that’s okay, but they had a way of discerning what their gods were saying. Think about it, people everywhere have methods to hear from deity. The sailors were no different, they had faith in their gods and trusted them to answer their question through casting lots.
It is awesome that our God can intervene in any religious system. He is big enough, he is the capital “G” God. Here, they cast lots, and God uses it, He makes the lot fall on Jonah. This isn’t the only example we have of God intervening and using a pagan system. In the Old Testament, when Saul seeks to hear from God, he goes to the witch of Endor, a forbidden practice. But what happens? God intervenes in that situation, even bringing someone back from the dead to speak to Saul. Another one is Elijah on Mt Carmel, God shut down Baal and allowed no response to his prophets, but the moment Elijah prays God responds quickly and powerfully. Praise God, He is mighty enough to intervene in any situation, in any system, where people are calling on their gods. He can interrupt and make His will known.
So, the lot falls on Jonah. Naturally, they have a ton of questions for him. Verse 8 is filled with questions, a true grilling, and rightfully so. They want to know everything: “What is going on? Whose fault is all this trouble? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country and what people are you?” You can imagine how this was.
And what does Jonah say? He tells them, “I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land”. And this right here, is where the hypocrisy becomes very obvious. This gives us a second pause. Wait, what is he actually saying, he fears God? Does he not realize where he is and what he’s doing? What kind of fear of God is this? He’s actively running away from God, doing the exact opposite of what he was commanded to do. As the saying goes, “Talk’s cheap.” You can say anything.
This leads us to a crucial question for us. Do we do this today? Is there ever a time we say one thing and live another? Or do we just know how to act and what to say in certain situations. Perhaps in church we act one way because it’s “normal” its “what’s expected.” But then, outside of church, we are a completely different person? That’s the feeling we get from Jonah. He wasn’t authentic. He says, “I fear God,” but he’s running away from Him. And not just any God, but the God who “made the sea and the dry land”. How do you get away from a God who made everything? He can’t and I am sure Jonah knew this. Here he seems to have forgotten, and his actions don’t line up with what he knows.
And sometimes, we find ourselves in that very same predicament. Let’s not be overly critical of Jonah, because there are moments when we, too, find our actions diverging from our convictions. Perhaps you are in circle where truth isn’t allowed, where expressing your doubts feels forbidden. It feels impossible to be real. If you find yourself in such a place, I urge you, go somewhere where you can be real, where authenticity is embraced. Because when truth is stifled, when it’s stuffed. You can know other wrongs are going on and if you are not careful you will soon be endorsing it.
Unfortunately, those who speak the truth, those who point out uncomfortable realities, often get themselves in trouble. In a way, this is what the sailors are doing for Jonah. His statement leads to our second point and their fear shows they understand what He said, and his lack of fear shows his hypocrisy, he is so missing it.
Fear #2 Afraid of Jonah’s Confession
Jonah had tried to give the sailors the quick, “normal” answers to their questions. But their response reveals the second fear. In verse 10, they respond with a greater fear when he tells them what he’s doing. Think about that. These sailors had their own gods they worshipped, and maybe they weren’t fully convinced, they may have had their doubts. But when Jonah expresses this truth about his God, it terrifies them. From their perspective, they don’t know this God. They hear a man talk about Him, and they begin to wonder: What if he’s right? What if Jonah’s God is real, and there truly is this all-powerful God who controls the sea? Then they are in serious trouble.
Now, just imagine this. Imagine if Jonah, at that point in the conversation, would have realized their fear was correct and he was wrong. And then, right there in front of them, he had repented and gotten right with God. Imagine if he had shown them how a godly man really acts. I believe it would have been a powerful moment for those sailors. Do you think God could have calmed the storm right then and there? And imagine the incredible opportunity Jonah would have had to disciple these sailors, to teach them about the true God. But no. He remained stubborn, continuing his downward path. He’s going the wrong direction. He could have asked the ship to turn around, he could have gone back, but none of that happened. It seems his mind was made up.
The storm, meanwhile, is getting worse by the minute. So, the sailors, at their wit’s end, ask Jonah, “What should we do? How can we fix this?”. And he tells them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea.” Earlier, the lot had simply confirmed what he already knew in his heart. Inside, Jonah knew this was his fault. But as the storm intensifies, his response isn’t repentance, it’s “Just get rid of me”.
One might ask, is Jonah committing suicide at this point? Think about the sheer stubbornness, the mindset he had to adopt to even entertain that thought. He doesn’t repent. He doesn’t admit, “Hey, I was wrong”. Instead, he says, “Throw me overboard!” Before we all die in this storm, throw me overboard then there will be just one death. He doesn’t know a fish is nearby. It reveals how dead set he is about going to Nineveh. It’s also a nasty display of pride. For Jonah, in this particular situation, it’s all about him and what he wants. “I don’t want to go and God is not going to change my direction.
And what do the sailors do? They don’t immediately obey. No! They try even harder to save him. This is so ironic, don’t miss it. You have these pagan sailors, trying harder to save the godly man, the prophet of God. It should have been the other way around, shouldn’t it? They had already thrown their cargo overboard at the beginning of the storm to lighten the load. Their trip now was basically worthless. Ruined by Jonah. On top of that it was because of Jonah these guys were about to lose their lives. and yet here they are putting up an immense fight, trying to save their lives.
It is useless, the storm gets worse. Imagine how bad it must have been by this time. They are left with nothing else to do. Then, in verse 14, something truly remarkable happens. The sailors do what Jonah wouldn’t do. They cry out to the Lord! And I can’t help but imagine Jonah being right there, hearing and seeing them cry out to his God. “Jonah, what are you thinking?” Here are these pagans doing exactly what you, the prophet of God, should have been doing this entire time! Yet, he doesn’t change. He hears their powerful prayer and still allows them to throw him overboard. At this point, they had a very real fear of God. They understood that this God, who was controlling the storm, was a greater force than anything they had ever dealt with. These sailors had enough spiritual sense to know something is going on.
We don’t know how much they knew or heard about God before this storm. Maybe all they knew was what they learned from Jonah. Whatever the case they absolutely nail it in verse 14 with their prayer. They get it right. They express their repentance and apologize to God: “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood. For you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you”. This is the kind of prayer Jonah should have been praying.
Then, in verse 15, we reach the climax of the story. And I see this verse as a moment of simultaneous action: They throw him overboard, and the sea is calm. Immediately. Bam! Both actions happen at once. The raging sea simply ceases from its raging and becomes calm.
Fear #3 Afraid of God
And this brings us to the third fear. When the sailors witness this undeniable miracle, this instant calm, they become exceedingly afraid. This fear is greater than the others. They already had a fear of God, but now it’s magnified immensely. This reminds us of Peter, when he saw the miracle Jesus performed, saying, “Get away from me, I’m a sinful man”. It’s that deep, overwhelming response we have in the presence of holiness, in the face of the divine. They knew this wasn’t normal. There was no human explanation.
And what do they do in response to this overwhelming fear and awe? They worship. The Bible says they offer a sacrifice to the Lord and make vows. Now, think about that for a moment. If they had just thrown everything overboard to lighten the ship, what did they have left to offer as a sacrifice?
I’m inclined to believe they kept the things that meant the most to them. If you’re throwing things overboard in a desperate attempt to save your lives, you’re surely going to keep your most valuable possessions. And now, I picture them sacrificing what mattered most to them. That is what a true sacrifice is, giving up something of great value, something that truly matters to us. If you sacrifice something you don’t care about, we don’t call that a sacrifice. It has to be something valuable. And that’s exactly what these sailors were doing.
And they made vows. Again, think about this, when do you make vows? You make vows when you want to make a significant decision. One example is wedding vows. This is a huge commitment, not something you enter into casually, because with those vows, you are pledging your life to your spouse. And here, these pagan sailors are making a huge commitment, it’s not a light decision and them making vows shows the gravity of what they are doing. I see this entire experience as a life-changing event for these sailors. I would like to think they never went back to their old ways, although they are human, and we know how humans can be. But the story ends with this beautiful, touching scene of worship on a calm sea. It’s truly incredible.
God, in His incredible wisdom and power, spoke the language of the sailors and got right to their hearts. And it leaves us with this powerful scene of worship, contrasting sharply with Jonah’s hardened heart. After all Jonah is not there, He misses this worship service.
Conclusion
This brings us to our conclusion. We have these three examples of godless men, pagan sailors, who, by their actions show the prophet of God, exactly how he should have acted. Their hearts were soft to God, whereas Jonah’s wasn’t. From our viewpoint, we can’t help but think, “Jonah, what is your problem? How can you miss this? You had time, you had several chances.” Yet, Jonah doesn’t change. He keeps walking away from God.
The pagan sailors showed Jonah who he should be, and in doing so, they challenge each of us: Are we authentic? Are we real? And that’s the question we want to end on for ourselves today: What about me? Am I real? What if you recognize yourself as Jonah here? What if you are realizing that this narrative, this stubbornness, this hypocrisy, is exactly who you are and how you’re living right now?
The very first step is to be honest with God. That’s the starting point. In Christian terms, we call that confession. It’s when you agree with God. You look at your life, you look at His truth, and you say, “Yes, God, you are right. This is who I am. I’m a hypocrite, I have sinned. I’ve been running away. My actions don’t line up with what I say”. It’s seeing ourselves for who we truly are, understanding how terrible our sin is. And that, believe it or not, is a great place to start.
Be honest, be real, means that you repent where repentance is needed. It means you apologize where you need to apologize. If you need to get a “dumb phone” to reduce temptation, then do it. If you need to start a fire, like they did in Acts, to burn things that are hindering your walk with God, then do that. But above all, be real.
The life of Jonah isn’t farfetched. It is so much like we can be. This is a hard truth to absorb when we see ourselves in Jonah. But it highlights the huge need of repentance for all of us. So unlike Jonah may we allow God to get our attention and help us be real and authentic.
