Thinking the Texts by John Fairless
Ah, Jonah! With the opening line, “…the Lord came to Jonah a second time…”, we are cast back to the more familiar part of this story involving the big fish. You may or may not need to refresh the memories of your congregation — but the main point is, Jonah did NOT listen too well the first time God called. (Maybe you want to give the “Gossip Girls” of Hee Haw a listen here.)
When the reluctant prophet does come around, he is assigned a pretty tough crowd in Ninevah — a place that the text notes was “an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across.” Jonah sets out and preaches for a day — and the altar call begins. Ninevah repents! He was only 33% done, an obvious illustration of the moving of the spirit (or Spirit). When one compares Jonah’s one day invested in following God’s will to the intricately-involved rebellion he put up (days on the ship to Tarshish, storm at sea, belly of the whale, exit via vomiting, etc.) — it seems like the “cost” of obeying God is much less than the price of disobedience. Hmmm….
Paul’s brief commentary to the Corinthians is not meant so much, I don’t think, as a list of actions to be taken by any or all of us in Christian community as it is an hyperbolic emphasis on just how quickly time passes. The early Christians were, of course, looking for an imminent return by Jesus. We tend to wander to the other side of that idea — that it has been such a long time since Jesus walked the earth, his coming again may not really be a thing, at all. Whatever the case may be, we live in an assurance that the kingdom/realm/rule of God WILL be accomplished “on earth as it is in heaven” at some point. And the time for that is ever near.
Mark gives us his usual “get to the point” account of Jesus calling his first disciples. Jesus calls, they listen, and they follow. Spit, spot — as Mary Poppins would say. Now, we are NOT told whether Peter, Andrew, James, and John were the first guys Jesus called out; maybe there were a few Jonahs wandering by the Sea of Galilee that day. But these guys got it the first time — and were blessed because of it.
And Just for Fun
A husband and wife were driving through Louisiana. As they approached Natchitoches, they started arguing about the pronunciation of the town. They argued back and forth, then they stopped for lunch. At the counter, the husband asked the blonde waitress, "Before we order, could you please settle an argument for us? Would you please pronounce where we are very slowly?" She leaned over the counter and said, "Burrr-gerrr Kiiing."
A mom texts, "Hi! Son, what does IDK, LY, & TTYL mean?" He texts back, "I Don't Know, Love You, & Talk To You Later." The mom texts him, "It's ok, don't worry about it. I'll ask your sister, love you too."
A proud and confident genius makes a bet with an idiot. The genius says, "Hey idiot, every question I ask you that you don't know the answer, you have to give me $5. And if you ask me a question and I can't answer yours I will give you $5,000." The idiot says, "Okay." The genius then asks, "How many continents are there in the world?" The idiot doesn't know and hands over the $5. The idiot says, "Now me ask: what animal stands with two legs but sleeps with three?" The genius tries and searches very hard for the answer but gives up and hands over the $5000. The genius says, "Dang it, I lost. By the way, what was the answer to your question?" The idiot hands over $5.
A bank robber pulls out gun points it at the teller, and says, "Give me all the money or you're geography!" The puzzled teller replies, "Did you mean to say 'or you're history?'" The robber says, "Don't change the subject!"
Sermon by Delmer Chilton
Every time I read the story of Jonah, I am reminded of something Bishop Joseph Thomas said at the ordination for me and 20 other freshly minted Methodist deacons, “Be advised sisters and brothers, the Holy Spirit will lead you somewhere you don’t want to go. If you wanted to go there, the Holy Spirit would be unnecessary.”
The world was rocked a few months ago by Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip viciously attacking civilians in Israel. We have been further stirred up by Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza - which has provoked a firestorm of disagreements between people on all sides of the issue with very little compromise in sight. Some see any criticism of the country of Israel as anti-Semitic, while others see the efforts of the Israelis to build a safe country for long-suffering Jews as oppressive toward the Palestinian people. At times it feels like the two sides aren’t even living in the same universe of meaning - which means they can’t communicate in any language.
Ever since 9/11, we in the the West have lived in fear of Islamist fanaticism. We fought a long war, calling it the “War on Terror,” in an effort to protect ourselves. For several years, our fear and distrust became focused on the group known to many as ISIS, the Islamist State. Now we hear names like Hamas in the Gaza strip. and the Houthis in Yemen, plus various groups in Europe and the Americas, supposedly funded by Iran and other countries in the area. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the politics behind this aggression toward the West - and the appropriateness of our country’s protective responses - most of us view the situation with fear and anxiety.
Now suppose that, in the midst of all this, a voice that you are sure is the voice of God were to come to you and say to you, “Get up, go to Gaza, or Yemen, or Iran, or Israel, and proclaim there the message that I tell you.” Wouldn’t you likely be like Jonah and take off in the opposite direction? Jonah’s escape plan reminds me a little bit of that old Steve Martin/John Candy movie, “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.” I don’t care how, just get me far away from here. Alas, there is no running away from God. As the saying is, “Wherever you go, there you are.” And God is there with you.
Once Jonah learns that lesson and emerges from the belly of the beast, God comes to him a second time and says, “Okay, are you ready to go where I tell you?” And Jonah goes, reluctantly, unhappily, without enthusiasm, but he goes. He goes to Nineveh and preaches judgment saying, “Forty days more, and Nineveh will be overthrown!” Notice, there’s not a wisp of hope in that statement, not a hint of grace, not a whisper of forgiveness, no Good News at all. It is as harsh, and cold, and final as Jonah could make it. Can you imagine going into the heart of a terrorist land, or a terrified country, standing on a street corner, and shouting out that message? I’m sure, you’re sure, we’re all sure, that such a preacher would be in big trouble in a matter of minutes. And yet this is what God asked Jonah to do - and what Jonah, eventually, did.
And the radical surprise is that it worked. The Ninevites repented, they said they were sorry;
God repented, changed his mind about destroying them. Aah – what a Hallmark moment, everybody’s happy. Well, not everybody. Jonah’s not happy. Jonah’s really angry, actually.
Jonah is still thinking about all the people the Ninevites killed over the years, all the lives they destroyed, all the damage they did. This can’t be right! This can’t be the way this ends!
It’s not fair, it’s just not fair. And Jonah’s right – it’s not fair. But it is the way God operates – a fact for which we should all be glad; very, very glad indeed.
Jonah is one of those stories in the Bible that is very, very true without being particularly factual. It is like a Hollywood movie, “based on a true story.” There was a man named Jonah, you can find him in 2 Kings 14:25. One small mention, but he appears to have been a very nationalistic prophet, a real “God and Country,” sort of guy. And the Assyrians had been a very powerful and feared nation headquartered in the city of Nineveh about a 100 years before our text was written.
The author took these slim facts to spin a story that aimed at getting the people of Israel to broaden their understanding of the wideness of God’s mercy. If God can love and forgive the people of Nineveh, God can love and forgive anybody – including us. If God can love and forgive the people Hamas, or the Houthis, or the Isrealis, or, or - fill in the international villains of the day,God can love and forgive anybody – including us. And if God can love and forgive anybody, so can we.
What if God is calling us? What if God is calling us to do something we don’t want to do? What is God is calling us to go somewhere we don’t want to go. What if God is calling us to extend not only God’s mercy but our mercy; not only God’s love but our love; not only God’s forgiveness but our forgiveness; to people we don’t like, people we don’t believe deserve love, and forgiveness, and mercy?
Here we sit, minding our own business, mending our own nets so to speak, being nice and good to those who are nice and good to us, busy about the business of creating a friendly, family church – when suddenly we hear this voice saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe the good news.”
How shall we respond? Will we repent? Will we change our minds about what’s important
and alter the direction of our lives to follow more closely God’s call? Will we leave whatever “boats and nets” are keeing p us tied down in our lives, and follow after the one who calls us?
Will we go to “Nineveh” and share God’s love?
Amen and amen.