Worship on 1/22/2012

 

The Reluctant Prophet

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

 

When you read a good book, do you ever try to imagine who Hollywood might cast in the role of the hero?  If you’re like me, you’ve seen so few movies in the past few years that you are forced to think in terms of actors of earlier years.  So, when I read about Jonah, I think of him as a kind of an early Danny DeVito, no disrespect to either of them!  Think along with me…

 

As the story opens, picture a smug and complacent prophet, enjoying the good life, advising princes and kings about things of state, always twisting it to favor the nation.  He was the leader of the parade, the drum major who marched just in front of the flag.  His motto was “My country, right or wrong”.  Maybe it was God’s sense of humor that caused him to issue Jonah’s call, “Go to Nineveh, that great city, and speak out against it.”  You see, to preach against it would appeal to Jonah’s sense of patriotism because Nineveh was the capitol of Assyria, Israel’s most hated enemy.  But, Assyria was a mean bully and would not likely treat such an orator kindly.  It would be like a lamb walking into the lion’s den.  And so, the conflicted prophet who heard God say “Go west, young man”, turned on his heels and went due east, to what was then thought to be the end of the world! 

It’s not that I am unsympathetic with Jonah!  After all, there are not many of us who would rush to preach to our enemy.  Some of us would make an excuse like …

 

“They wouldn’t listen anyway!”

   “They don’t deserve a God like mine.”

       “God wouldn’t really want such people in his kingdom.” 

 

Jonah just did not want to take a chance that the Ninevites might listen: this would threaten his nationalism!  So, Jonah took off in the wrong direction.  He refused God, he denied God, and he disobeyed God.

 

How about a moment of irony?  Jonah’s name literally means “dove, son of faithfulness”!

 

       A  dove ascends;  Jonah descends to the bottom of the sea.

 

      “Faithfulness”?  Jonah refuses the call of God, does the “Jonah

      Jog”, a quick two step to the east when God points west.

 

      The storm rages, seasoned sailors fear for their lives, and Jonah

      - the cause of it all – quietly sleeps through it.

 

 

 

Imagine crashing waves, rolling cargo, seamen hanging on for dear life;  cries and prayers being raised above the fury of the storm.  And, down below, we find Jonah in deep sleep, oblivious to it all.  The captain comes down and tells him to get up on deck and pray to his God like everybody else is doing: “Maybe your God will feel sorry for us and spare our lives.”  In the meantime, the sailors are casting lots to see who is to blame, and they draw Jonah’s name three times running from the hat.  They ask him who he is, and he replies that he is “…a Hebrew who worships the Lord God of heaven, who made the land and the sea.”  Now keep that profession of faith in mind:  we’ll look at it in a few minutes.

 

Jonah realizes that he is the cause of this storm and volunteers to be cast overboard.  They hesitate, but eventually they pick him up and throw him overboard with a prayer of their own. And the first chapter ends with these words:

 

         At the Lord’s command a large fish swallowed

         Jonah and he was inside the fish for three days

         and three nights.

 

Now scholars have argued for a long time what kind of story this might be.  Is it…

    a parable,

      an allegory,

        a satire,

           a tragedy,

              a legend,

                 a folk tale,

                    or an historic event? 

 

It really does not matter, for its purpose is to teach us a lesson!

 

What does Jonah do in the belly of the great fish?  He sings a song of praise to his God.  I am impressed!  But the fish sees it as digestive problems and Jonah finds  himself spit out upon the shore of the very place from which he was trying to run.  The ways of the Lord are mysterious indeed – and a wonder to behold!  We might be warned that God does not take no for an answer!

 

We might pause here for a moment and remember that sometimes life chews us up and spits us out, just like Jonah.  But sometimes, something good can come of it.

 

Jonah finds himself unable to deny God, and so he marches into the city and begins preaching.  But, there’s something different here.  Prophets are supposed to say “Thus saith the Lord!”  They are supposed to announce God’s judgment.  But Jonah never even mentions God.  He does not call for repentance!  He just announces that in 40 days, things are going to be upended, reversed, turned around!  His sermon is only five words long in the Hebrew language, surely the shortest sermon on record!  Why, he could have been a geologist announcing an impending earthquake!  But, what happens?  The people repent. They call a national day of fasting.  They put on the traditional sackcloth that is worn for such occasions.  (Want to know what sackcloth feels like?  Wear a burlap bag next to your skin on a hot day in August!)  The king hears about what the people are doing; he takes off his robe, puts on sackcloth and sits down in a pile of ashes. He extends the order for a complete fast, even to include the animals, who are also to wear sackcloth. 

 

Let’s pause here for a moment and consider that picture!

 

And here is something else to consider:  the people are all doing this in the hope that God will be generous and not destroy them.  They are making a confession of faith in their actions!  They are walking the walk even though Jonah did not talk the talk!  And the chapter ends with this sentence,

 

                 God saw what they did…he changed his mind

                 and did not punish them as he said he would.

 

 

Who’s that little man all wrapped up in smiles?  Certainly not Jonah: he is unhappy and he is angry.  “Didn’t I tell you this is what you would do”, he cries.  “I knew you were loving and patient and kind, ready to change your mind and not punish.  Just let me die!”

 

Remember when I said that we would look at Jonah’s confession of faith again – when he told the sailors that he believed in the God who created all the sea and the earth  -  in other words, the God of it all.  Now Jonah is angry because God has extended his love to all that he has created and not just the people back in Israel.  And God calls him on it:  “Why should I not have pity on all that I created?”

 

Do you remember how the story ends?  It doesn’t end! We leave Jonah still sulking under the hot sun just outside of Nineveh, a dead sun flower at his feet and the voice of God ringing in his ears.

So here we are, trying to figure out why we have this strange and funny story in the Bible, and why Jesus referred it centuries later.

 

It could be like this.  There are several times in the Old Testament where we read that the people of Israel claimed God to be their very own, able to have him dance to the tune they call.  God, they belived, cares only for them, and this is their protection against the enemy.  One of the times this happens is when they have returned from fifty years of captive exile in Babylon, released when the Persian army sweeps through Babylon and sends them home.  They see this as God’s working on their behalf.  As they are reclaiming their homeland and rebuilding Jerusalem, they are being led by some righteous people who are saying “Israel for the Jews, no others”.  These folks are demanding that all non-Jews be thrown out, even those who are married to nationals.  They are saying that Israel is for Jews alone.

 

Is this a satire or an allegory written at such a time and circulated to make fun of these people and to remind the world that God is the creator of all – men and women, Jews and Gentiles alike.  If Jonah is written for the ages, we might listen and test our own prejudices against it.  Are there some people in the world we just cannot abide? Are there some to whom our arms are too short to reach out?  As has been written…

 

 

“You fly through the air like birds,

           You swim through the sea like fish;

            But how to walk on the earth like brothers

           and sisters, you do not know.”

 

In its most simple terms, the word repent means, “Change your mind”.  Maybe there are some things, some people, about which and about whom we need to change our minds.  The Old Testament declares that even God changed his mind occasionally.  Maybe this is what God is saying through the interesting and sometimes absurd picture of the reluctant prophet.