Pastor Dan Mangler's Sunday Sermon

Jonah the Reluctant

Prophet Jonah 1-4

January 22, 2006

Jonah the Reluctant

Complete in your mind silently the following phrase: “Jonah and the...." (Pause) Right...Ninevites. Jonah and the Ninevites. No? You had a different answer? Jonah and the whale? Yes, I suspect so. That is, by far, the most common association with the book of Jonah.

A little boy was asked what we learn from the story of Jonah and the whale. He answered, "People make whales sick". I don’t mean to belabor this point, but we have so emphasized the whale swallowing Jonah and, three days later, vomiting him out on a beach that it is really easy to confuse Jonah with Pinnochio. Who, for instance, built a fire in the belly of the big fish to keep warm?

That God could cause a big fish to come and swallow up Jonah and, three days later, deposit him safe and sound, although a bit slimy, on a beach is a great miracle. But that isn’t the purpose of the book of Jonah. The purpose of the book of Jonah is to illustrate the love, grace, and forgiveness of God for even the most hated and despised in the world, and that it is only our petty jealousies that stand in God's way.

In the 3-year lectionary, the list of Bible readings assigned to be read for each Sunday in the church year that then repeats itself every three years, this is the only Sunday, and these are the only verses, that we get to read from the book of Jonah. So let's take this chance to learn, as Paul Harvey might say, "the rest of the story."

God comes to Jonah and commands him to go preach a word of warning against the city of Nineveh. Jonah doesn’t want to. Why not? Isn’t such a wicked city as Nineveh just the kind of place where a word of warning from God is needed? But, you see, Nineveh is also the capital of Assyria, the sworn enemy of Israel and God's people, and which is bent on Israel's destruction. Jonah is afraid to speak God's word of warning against Nineveh because, in Jonah's own words, "I know that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing." Can you imagine? Jonah rebels against going to Nineveh not because he feels like he will fail but because he is afraid he will succeed. He is afraid that his preaching will be successful and bring about repentance from these wicked people, and they will be saved.

Nineveh is north-east of where Jonah is, so he boards a ship to Tarshish, a port of southern Spain, due west of where he is, the exact opposite direction and absolute farthest that he can go from Nineveh. But we remember what happens.

A great storm comes up and, in due time, the sailors discover that it is because Jonah is running away from God and what God wants him to do that they are threatened by this great storm so, after unsuccessfully trying other things to save the ship, they reluctantly throw Jonah overboard and the sea calms.

But Jonah does not drown. He is swallowed by a big fish. In the belly of the fish he prays for deliverance. God hears his prayer and has the big fish vomit Jonah up on a beach not far from where he began. And he gives Jonah the same command: "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you."

And Jonah does so, although, as one can imagine, not with much enthusiasm. What he feared would happen did happen. To his regret and dismay, the Ninevites, from king to peasant, repent of their wickedness and turn away from their sins and, just as Jonah was afraid of. God relents from punishing them.

Do you want a comparison? Imagine that we had lost the Gulf War, and our dead numbered what the Iraqis actually suffered. Your only consolation is that God promises to destroy Iraq beginning with Baghdad. But God sends you to warn Baghdad of the coming judgment. And to your dismay, upon hearing your preaching, all of Baghdad, beginning with Saddam Hussein, repents of their evil and God relents from punishing them and enfolds them with love and forgiveness. Chances are you would feel like Jonah felt.

Jonah is displeased and angry, and goes into the desert east of the city to pout. And his biggest concern is that the plant that God caused to grow to give him shade has withered and died.

The book ends with these words of God to Jonah, and actually ends with a question? "You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people...?"

Is this a story of judgment or grace? Is this a good news lesson or a bad news lesson? I have made a personal commitment to preach nothing from this pulpit but good news. I think you need heaven and salvation more than you need hell and damnation. I want you to so know God's love and so experience God's grace that, out of sheer thanksgiving, you will give your life over to God and his will.

But whether this is good news or bad news will depend on if you identify with Jonah or the Ninevites. If you are seeing these events through Jonah's eyes, this will be bad news. It can easily convict you of an unforgiving spirit. You will recognize - no one will have to point them out - you will think of persons or people for whom you would want nothing but God's judgment, and to whom you would be reluctant to go with God's word if you knew they would repent and be saved. I can think of some.

But what happens when you see these events through the eyes of the Ninevites? How would you feel if, on the brink of God's judgment and destruction of you or your loved ones, God forgave you and them and relented of that punishment? I can think of no better good news?

Jerry Clower, and Christian comedian, once appeared on the top-rated TV morning talk show in Chattanooga, Tennessee. When He got to the studio, the makeup folks told him, "Now, Jerry, yesterday the co-host, a woman, got to crying because the host of the show was really down on young men seeking amnesty."

This was before President Carter said he would grant amnesty to those young men who had fled to Canada during the Viet Nam war. The TV host had immediately declared on the air, "Anybody who's seeking amnesty ought to be lined up against a wall and shot."

Another day had dawned, and there Jerry was being introduced as a Grand ole Opry star from Yazoo City, Mississippi. He had just sat down when the host said, "Now, Jerry, I know you don’t believe in amnesty, and you will agree with me. Don’t you think all young me who fled to Canada ought to be lined up against a wall and shot?" Jerry answered, "That depends. Are you talking about your boy or my boy?"

Forgiveness isn't God's forgiveness unless it's for everyone. It seems to me that that means that forgiveness is good news only when I want it as much for you as I want it for me. Like the little boy who prayed, "Forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets."

It is ironic. Jonah, in defiant rebellion, runs from God and is swallowed by a big fish. From the belly of this big fish he repents and prays for deliverance. God hears and answers his prayer, and restores him to his position as a prophet. And yet Jonah would begrudge the Ninevites the very love and mercy he has received.

Go ahead. Think of someone whom you believe deserves God's judgment. It may be someone in your life who has hurt you deeply. It may be a person in the news guilty of some heinous crime. Read the newspaper. There will be no lack of possible candidates. If they were to repent of the things they have done, God, out of his love and mercy, will forgive. Do you know why that is good news? That is good news - and Jonah should have been able to see this too – that is good news because if God's love, mercy, and forgiveness is for them, that same love, mercy, and forgiveness are for you, too. That means that nothing you have ever done can keep you from God's grace. Amen.

May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.