I’m wondering today if Jonah had any friends. Folks he was close to and who thought kindly of Him. Did he know people who wouldn’t mind if he just showed up at their door. Perhaps he knew some folks who enjoyed his company and would seek him out for conversation and fellowship. I wonder what kind of family he had, if maybe he was close enough to his family to call some of them friends. Maybe some of his friends would have been thought close enough to be called family.
I wonder because the account we have of Jonah in the scripture doesn’t show a man of many friends. He doesn’t appear very friendly toward God. He didn’t seem to have much more than a need to know basis for a relationship with his shipmates. And he surely did not have a friendly attitude toward people who lived in Nineveh. From his response to God in chapter four, we can assume he did not think the people of Nineveh were worthy of God’s mercy and grace. What little we can glean from other stories about those who lived in Nineveh indicates they might have treated the Jews very poorly. So Jonah may hae been prejudiced against the members of that town. He probably would have been happy if they all just died without knowing God. He probably did not have many friends there.
So why didn’t God let him just hang out with his friends? Why did he have to be put on display as someone who was angry at God and His plan? Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh. He was a prophet of God. He was a man with enough resources to buy a ticket on a Mediterranean cruise. But He did not want to use his resources to go to that wicked city. Even God said they were wicked. In their conversation while Jonah was explaining to God why he did not want to go there, he told God he didn’t want to be embarrassed by God’s mercy.
So I wonder if Jonah had many friends. Would he have gone and complained to them about God’s insistence that he leave them for such a worthless cause? And if he did, would they have been sympathetic and encouraged Jonah to go on that cruise so he wouldn’t be available and God would have to get someone else? Or would they have been the kind of friend who would advise him to reconsider his position before the almighty God of creation? Would they have shown him the scriptures for trusting God’s hand in everything? Would they have challenged his self centered “me first”, “I’m the only one who can be right” attitude? Would they have prayed with him and for him that he might gain wisdom from on high?
And I’m wondering if I would be that kind of friend. Would I be honest enough to come along side someone who I see in self destructive, self righteous behavior and give them a friendly honest viewpoint? Have I been a real friend? To those I claim as friends and to God; someone who’ll stand in the gap and make up the difference in their understanding. The Lord Jesus knows that I want to be that kind of friend. I know it to. And I don’t want folks to ask if I ever had friends. I want them to know it because I was willing to show myself friendly, in a real way.
Proverbs 18:24 A man that has friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend thatsticks closer than a brother.