Scripture: Jonah 3-4, selected verses
Preached 01/25/2015
Imagine this with me. Some of you might not have to work so hard at
imagining. You’re driving your car,
riding your bike, or walking and there is this car that’s annoying you. Maybe they’re driving a little too fast or a
little too slow. Maybe they kind of cut
you off or got a bit too close, or splashed you with a puddle. Or, and I’ll admit these are the ones that
drive me nuts- they didn’t stop all the way at a stop sign or forgot to use
their turn signal. And then there are
the bumper stickers, for the wrong political party, for that candidate you just
can’t stand, for the Cubs even.
There you are, gentle, mild-mannered you who
has never yelled at another driver inside the safety of your own vehicle and
who always waves at the person who cut you off with all five fingers, and for
some reason this particular car is just driving you crazy. And then it happens. You hear the siren chirp, see the red and
blue lights flash and after the split second of panic in which you think you
are going to get pulled over ends, you see the police car pull over the car
that so annoyed you, and let’s be honest your heart just about leaps out of
your chest with joy, because they are going down and justice will be served. Take that mediocre driver! And go Cards!
But wait- what’s that you see happening? You have to stay with me and just imagine
that somehow you get to watch this whole thing unfold, okay? Just go with it. You’re stopped at a light or something. So the police officer gets out of the car,
and they’re smiling. You see them talk
to the driver of that car you don’t like, and wait, what, they’re not writing a
ticket! You see them say a few words to
the driver, and then they give the driver a friendly wave, and then get back in
their car and watch that driver pull away. And you are mad. How could they not have gotten a ticket? How could the officer have been okay with
them liking the Cubs? Why was justice
not served?
Now you know the roller coaster of emotions
that Jonah has been on. Jonah, the reluctant
prophet as he’s often called, has been on quite the adventure. If you remember from the reading a few
minutes ago, we pick up in the middle of Jonah’s story. We started with Jonah hearing God telling him
to go to Nineveh again, for the
second time. The first time God told
Jonah this Jonah promptly got up and boarded a boat going in the opposite
direction only for that ship to come into a huge storm, then to be thrown
overboard at his request to stop the storm, his life saved by that big fish we
remember swallowing him, and spit out again.
This is where we pick up, with Jonah fresh from the fish’s mouth- well,
probably wet, sticky and smelly from the fish’s mouth actually- but out of the
fish’s mouth and finally ready to listen to God.
Jonah clearly had no desire to go to Nineveh,
going through all that to avoid it.
Ninevites were not exactly the violent enemy of Jonah’s people, but they
were looked down upon. Nineveh was a
trading port, and had the kind of reputation that goes with sailors on leave- a
rough, crude, sinful bunch. They were
definitely disliked, despised even. It’s
not surprising Jonah didn’t want to go there- imagine the worst of Las Vegas
and Detroit mixed together, then make them all Cubs fans from the wrong
political party and you’ve got the right idea the feeling he’d have about
rubbing elbows with the likes of them.
And yet, given a second chance by God to
proclaim a message to them, Jonah finally goes to proclaim God’s message for
Nineveh. Remember that feeling you
imagined yourself having when the police car started pulling over that car you
really didn’t like? This is how Jonah
likely felt when God gave him the message of destruction to proclaim. Do you remember his big prophetic
message? Most prophets have chapters and
chapters to say, but Jonah has just one sentence. “40 days more and Nineveh will be
overthrown.” That’s right- those people he doesn’t like are going to get it. God’s going to smite them, and there’s going
to be fire and brimstone and all kinds of destruction because clearly they
deserve it.
But then of course, in that cop giving the
driver a friendly wave and no ticket moment, the destruction doesn’t
happen. God sees the Ninevites change their
ways, even though they were given no reason to hope for any good out of doing
it. God sees them mourn in sack cloth
and ashes. And, as we heard, God changes
God’s mind about the destruction, and doesn’t do it. This would be the moment you realized the
other driver wasn’t getting a ticket.
Jonah is disappointed. Jonah is angry. And Jonah is pouting. I suppose this would be as if you got a
chance to talk to the police officer and talk to her about the annoying car not
getting the ticket. So Jonah is pouting
to God about having to come to Nineveh in the first place, saying he’s so upset
that God might as well just kill him now.
And, in what would be a pretty quality parenting move, God ignores
Jonah’s whining and gets right to the heart of what’s going on with him. “Is it right for you to be angry?” God asks.
Jonah is angry about God’s mercy here. That God changed God’s mind to be more
merciful, more loving than God had previously planned- just so you know, this
is the only way we ever have God changing God’s mind- to be more merciful and
more loving. And Jonah is mad about this
mercy because it offends his sense of justice.
They Ninevites had been wicked and they deserve to be punished.
Let’s be honest here- this kind of thing
offends our sense of justice too. The
annoying driver deserves to get a ticket.
Not the kindness of a police officer- their punishment. And there are so many other examples we could
point to in real life- people who we think don’t deserve God’s love and mercy. But here’s the thing about that. No one actually deserves God’s unending love
and mercy. And yet, as Jonah reminds us,
God gives them out freely, recklessly, expansively. God breaks right past our ideas of right and
wrong and us and them and just showers the earth with mercy and love.
Even to those people we don’t like, our own
modern day Ninevites. Yeah, Cubs fans
and the other political party are easy ones to point at. But there are a lot more. Maybe for you the people you like to label
“other” or “them” are the Ferguson protestors.
But God loves them, and God is merciful to them for their failings. Or maybe it’s the Ferguson police. But God loves them and is merciful to them in
their failings. Maybe it’s a friend,
family member, or neighbor who has wronged you.
God loves them, and is merciful to them in their failings. Maybe it’s the Westboro Baptist Church,
because we know they are wrong about their hate filled theology. But God is still able to love them and be
merciful to them. Or maybe it’s North
Korea or Iran, the Pro-Choicers or the Anti-Abortionists, the liberals or the
conservatives, the rich or the poor- God loves them, and is merciful to them in
their failings.
Because remember what happened when God came to
earth as a human being? We humans got
afraid and tortured and killed God. And
yet, God loved us and was merciful to us.
Instead of destruction, God gave us life. And this is what God does. And yes, it may offend our sense of justice
but God’s justice is so much bigger and so much better than anything we come up
with, and it’s all about God’s love and God’s mercy.
Now, if this is sitting a little uncomfortably
with you, let me make a guess. You are
not a perfect driver. You are not a
perfect person. You have at times gone
over the speed limit, jay walked, let someone down, neglected an obligation, or
just been annoying because you were having a rough day and felt like it. You have messed up. You have been wrong. And you know what? God has been merciful to you. Just like she was with Jonah, who ran away
and did a half-hearted job with his prophetic duties, then pouted about it all. God has been merciful with you over and over
and over, and responded with more mercy than you deserve.
So friends, the question is the same for you as
it is for Jonah- is it right for you to be angry? At that driver, that sports team, that
politician, that country, “those” people whoever “they” happen to be, when bad
things don’t happen to them, and good things do instead? Well, Jonah and God never directly answer the
question in scripture, and I’m not going to put words in either of their
mouths.
But I do have a suggestion. If you’re going to attempt to imitate someone
from this scripture reading this morning, don’t imitate Jonah with his pouting,
his anger, and his insistence on his own definition of justice. I’d go with imitating God here- when that
driver really gets to you, that politician has your blood boiling, or “those”
people are driving you absolutely nuts, don’t respond with judgment. Instead, show mercy. Show love.
Forgive any faults you think you might see because you know you have
received mercy upon mercy, love upon love, and forgiveness upon
forgiveness. So go and do likewise, and
see what kind of transformation takes place in your life. Amen.
