Jonah’s to do list: “Things to do today: Take a walk to the city of Nineveh – check; Give God’s message to the hated Ninevites – check; Have dinner in a nice Assyrian café – check; Go to bed and get some sleep – check.”
When we read our Scripture today, it appears that Jonah treats the people of the city of Nineveh as something to check off on a to do list. But what Jonah is doing is not about getting a task done, it is about relationship with those who are not following God. His work in Nineveh is not simply making a statement and leaving, it is about establishing relationships. We commonly take a look at these first few verses of chapter 3 and see Jonah finally being obedient to God, doing what he is told, and being effective because he is obedient. Now that is all true to some degree, but again it is a bit more complicated.
In our story, Jonah who got on a boat going the other way when God told him to go preach to his enemies, has just been vomited up by a large fish on a beach on the Mediterranean sea, and now he has to walk over 500 miles to Nineveh. I think we need to note that had Jonah listened to God the first time – he would already be there in Nineveh by now, and so here he is, back to square one. God wants his will to be done, and in spite of Jonah’s lack of having it all together, God is determined to make his will happen.
A question I have is this: What if Jonah decided to not go to Nineveh again? What if he just walked the other way, perhaps to Egypt? My guess would be that God would let him walk so far and then somehow bring him back to where he started – square one. For us, sometimes we feel like we are starting over again, and maybe we are, maybe like Jonah, we have not listened to God, and he is bringing us back to square one – giving us another try – but sometimes with that second try, there is still 500 miles to walk to our Nineveh.
So as Jonah walks this 500 miles or so, he certainly has time to think. Is he thinking about what he is going to say to the people of Nineveh? Absolutely not. We see in verse one that “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:” but God just gives him the basics doesn’t he, verse 2: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” The command from God is the same, but without reason. See Jonah, was told before why he needed to go in chapter one: Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” And apparently God’s reason wasn’t good enough for him, so he didn’t go. So this time, God withholds a reason, and basically says: Start walking and at some point, I’ll tell you what to say.
I think that in our lives…and we see this over and over again, circumstances and events come into our lives and we ask God, “Why is this happening to me?” – And God is silent. We repeatedly ask, and there is no answer. Perhaps, he is not telling you because if you knew what was at the end of the road, or what we even next, you wouldn’t go. You just wouldn’t go.
I tell you what, years ago if God had told me that if I started looking at seminaries I would end up living in the state of New Jersey for four years – I certainly wouldn’t have even started looking into seminary. The last place on the face of the earth I would ever want to be was New Jersey. So I think many times the reason God doesn’t let us in on the whole picture is pretty simple: We can’t handle the whole picture. So for Jonah, God doesn’t let him know even what is next, because he knows Jonah will chicken out again.
Jonah – start walking.
Now, I know that many of us here are right n the middle of circumstances or events which we cannot see how in the world they could fit into God’s plan for our lives. Isn’t it frustrating to not know the whole picture? But God’s command in our lives is: start walking in faith. I mean Jonah’s walk certainly was a walk of faith, for he has nothing to say to the Ninevites. What is he going to do? Is he going to show up at the gates of a large city as a prophet and have nothing to say? I bet this was nagging Jonah the whole 500 mile walk. “Ok God, can you tell me now?…..How about now?…..I’m ready for your next word God.” But God’s time is, God’s time – not our time, we think we might be ready, and usually we are wrong, but God is ready, when God is ready. So we walk in faith. Some people don’t want to walk, because they insist on knowing what is next; they insist on knowing the whole picture – but by doing that they miss the obvious; If you’re not walking, you won’t get anywhere.
So Jonah starts walking.
Verse three, Jonah obeys and goes to Nineveh. Now remember, we saw last week in chapter 2 that Jonah did not repent, Jonah only saw that he was no longer in control. That’s not repentance, that’s just recognition of where you stand before God. Jonah, the believer doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand God is concerned with all people and so as he walks, he has an attitude problem…but still, you have to hand it to him, even though he doesn’t have it altogether – he walks in faith.
I think we can learn something right here from this prophet with an attitude problem: In your spiritual life look for what is already there, don’t look in contempt for what is not there. Start with the faith you have…even if it is, so little; even if you are not sure you believe it all, or even have a cursory understanding – pick up with what God has given you, and start walking to your Nineveh…….
Reluctant, bad tempered, Jonah heads to Nineveh with little more than a promise from God that He will fill him in….later. For Jonah, Tarshish is a dream, a vision, a goal, a place to get to that will place distance between Jonah and his problem. Nineveh is a defined task, a thing to do that will bring complications in his life. Now, Jonah is not ideal for Nineveh, in fact from a management perspective, it makes absolutely no sense. If a company is trying to make a tough sell, they send their best and most exuberant salesman, an eager candidate with a little charisma. But Jonah, Jonah is surly. Jonah goes to Nineveh out of pure obedience - not passion, not love….but still, faithfulness was the thing – just showing up. I mean even though Jonah didn’t believe it – he believed it.
When I was in seminary there were those folks who just didn’t fit in with the rest of us, as far as going into the ministry. For some people who were there at seminary, it just didn’t make sense. One man in particular, I’ll call him Jack, we all wondered what would become of him. Jack was this guy who just took life - slow. He was never in a hurry, nothing seemed to concern him, nothing - nothing fazed this guy. His usual pattern was to walk into a class, more than a few minutes late with a Coke in one hand and a pastry in the other (I always wondered where he got all those pastries) and plop down in an empty seat right in front of the professor – who more often than not would give him a short tongue lashing...while he calmly smiled and enjoyed his Coke and pastry. He had little motivation, zero charisma, and not a care in the world.
Last I heard Jack, became a missionary. Jack a missionary? He’s the last person who could make it as a missionary. Well, he became a missionary in Nigeria. He married a local woman and he has this absolutely huge church – they just completely love the guy. The church is going gangbusters. Go figure. Wrong man for the job, like Jonah, just who God needs.
You know many times we evaluate ourselves, and others, from a perspective that is really, worldly. We look at people and see flaws and inconsistencies – they don’t match up to the skill set that we somehow have determined is what is needed for a ministry. Who we many times neglect to ask about it is…God. The OT is full of folks who did not met people’s expectations of who should be a right fit or a particular ministry: Jacob, Joseph, David – and in the NT, Jesus. There will be a time where you will have the opportunity to join in some kind of ministry in this church, and from the looks of it, it might be the last thing you see yourself doing, but if God wants you to go to Nineveh….well what are you going to do?
“Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” Was the message that God gave Jonah. No more. Not much – but it sure did get their attention.
Have you seen those annoying commercials about the product Head On? The commercial has been seen as hands down, the most annoying thing ever placed on television. “Head On, apply it to the forehead, Head On, apply it to the forehead, Head On, apply it to the forehead… – on and on over and over- that’s it, like Jonah’s message, short, simple, repetitive.
I would like to take a side note to point out something that should be quite obvious, but very intelligent people have made this mistake while looking at Jonah. The original work of Jonah is written completely in Hebrew, and so some usually intelligent people, laugh and say, clearly Jonah is a work of fiction, for since what is said is written in Hebrew, then Jonah must have delivered his message in Hebrew, which the Assyrian speaking population could not have understood, so clearly this is a work of fiction. The people who believe this somehow have failed to notice that the ENTIRE OT was written in Hebrew. When Moses delivers his message to Pharaoh what he says is written in Hebrew because those reading the OT read Hebrew and not Coptic. But when Moses spoke with the Pharaoh he probably spoke in Coptic. It is a silly notion like when the newspaper quotes an official from Iraq the newspaper would write what was said in Arabic, which we can’t read, rather than translating it into English. What nonsense.
Jonah has his message and walk into the city, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” Now we imagine a city street preacher, standing on different corners throughout the city, giving his message in the market place, the zoo, the botanical gardens, wherever people congregate – but if we imagine that we are way off. The notion that he would act like a street preacher in the streets is unrealistic and the notion that Jonah would walk through the city unnoticed is just plain fiction as well.
To understand exactly what happened when Jonah entered the city of Nineveh we need to understand the broader situation and the ancient mid-eastern custom of hospitality.
The Assyrians were in a weakened state at the time Jonah shows up in Nineveh. They were getting hammered on all sides by military encroachments on their territory. There had been earthquakes and other natural disasters, also what was seen as unfavorable omens were happening including the appearance of a comet and there were even riots in the city. Most likely the king Jonah speaks to is Assur-dan III, one of a series of eight weak Assyrian kings. With all these things happening and with the population being on edge you can bet that the king would have been very open to the possibility of hearing the prophet Jonah. Do you see what God has done for Jonah? He has set up a situation that is very favorable for Jonah - these signs prepared the way for Jonah.
See, God doesn’t need the perfect candidate. These Ninevites – God sets them up for Jonah. Isn’t that great? We imagine that we can’t do it because we do not have the appropriate skill set, and most likely we are right. But let me ask you this, right here in Jonah 3, who really makes everything happen, Jonah or God?
Now let’s look at the ancient mid east practice of hospitality. In verse 3 we read: “Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days.”. It is called an important city in reference to what God thinks, not in relation to the world. God wants these people to believe, the nastiest, most cruel, barbaric population in the ancient world, God wants THESE people to believe – that is why it is important.
When we read a visit requiring three days we think that this is because Jonah had to walk around the whole city, but that is not what the Hebrew means. It is a three day visit, not because of size, but because of protocol. Now yes, Nineveh was large, especially when considering the suburbs around it but the word “visit” in the Hebrew cannot refer to the linier measure of a distance of a road of length of a journey. The word visit refers to the length of TIME spent, not distance covered. It is about how much time Jonah spent with the people, rather than much distance he covered. So the issue at hand is relationship oriented rather than task oriented. Jonah may have a do to list to check off, but God has relationships to develop.
Jonah is to be received as an ambassador according to protocol. Because it is an important capitol city Jonah would be expected to follow the protocol – this isn’t a one horse town, this is a capitol city. The standard protocol would be: first day, arrival; second day primary visit; third day return. It was very common for wise men from one city state to be received in another for advice following this practice. As a prophet Jonah would be considered a wise man and would have no difficulty being received by the leaders of the city. We may assume, according to this practice that the first and third days involved meetings, explanations and maybe even formal meetings. It is even possible that he may have presented gifts.
To this day in the mid-east, when you make a large purchase at a shop, the shop keeper follows this practice: First an informal chat about your visit to their country; Second the business of bartering for a fair price; Third sit down for tea after the purchase. This is the type of thing that Jonah does.
His meeting would be with low level bureaucrats especially at first. He would be received by low level officials who would hear his message to determine if it required more important people to hear. On the first day he would not have opportunity to see the king, that would happen on the second day, and on the third day, when everyone would have heard from the least to the greatest AND with the formality of the protocol Jonah’s message would have massive impact on the city. But the formal process was short circuited by the eager Ninevites. Just as Jonah was starting to warm up in the protocol process, they were already believing in mass – verse 5 – “The Ninevites believed God.”
With all the omens and signs that people had seen build up, a message such as Jonah’s would put them right over the top. So with a king in such a weakened position, he hears the stirring of the people in response to the message– he has to see Jonah. Short message- maximum impact – God knows his marketing. Understand, the low level bureaucrats would have spread the word about Jonah’s short message.
So when we read the mention of the first days visit and silence on the others, that is because a point is being made: The Ninevites repeat the message to each other in fact they respond almost before Jonah finishes his visit.
Now what is so beautiful is that God purposely make the message ambiguous. It is ambiguous in three ways: First – it is only the walled city or does it include all of the suburbs too? Second – forty days, is this to give time for repentance or just assurance that the judgment was not far off. Third – the word used for judgment in Hebrew AND in Assyrian carries a certain ambiguity and could mean any of these things: Overthrow, judgment, a turning upside down, a reversal, a change a disposing of royalty or, a change of heart. They aren’t sure what it means, SO they read into what God is saying to match the condition of their hearts. Remember this is not what Jonah composed, but what God told him. Despite the ambiguity the Ninevites see it as an invitation to repentance. Remarkable, they knew their sin, it didn’t need to be pointed out for them.
The swift sincerity is very important. They believe – they act. They change to sackcloth the mourning garb of the day, and unlike Jonah, they repent. Notice, God did not accuse them of being evil, denounce their sin and wickedness – he called into question their future…40 days, a little over a month, like a patient being told, you have six weeks to live.
Let me end with this question: If Jonah had known the outcome of his delivering God’s message to the people he hated, do you think he would have gone? In Jonah’s mind, their repentance is the worst possible scenario, the worst of circumstances that he could have foreseen – and yet this is exactly where God wanted him. And yet, Jonah, who by the way did not have it all together, was used by God, for even though he didn’t have more than a few details, Jonah took the first step, and the next, and the next – walking in faith even when in the midst of his circumstances he couldn’t see what would be coming up next.
So, being even in the middle of circumstances you do not understand – God tells us to start walking in faith – because if you don’t start walking, you aren’t going to get anywhere, are you?
Jonah’s work is done. He did the to do list – and in the process refused to see the depth of the items on the list, the people were a to do list, and Jonah throws them away at the end of the day. But God will have none of that, He wants relationship, not just a done to do list. Next time we look at Jonah we will see how God uses the reluctant prophet to do his will.
