(Note: This series is based on and using materials from the Lenten series, The Sign of Jonah written by Dr. Reed Lessing and published by Creative Communication for the Parish. Copyright of the material is noted and respected.)
(Sermon began with a short portion of homily from the series The Sign of Jonah: God Is Calling! that was used as off-stage dramatic reading)
(Slide 1) How many of us here do not like to answer the phone? How many of us here can’t wait to answer it to hear who it is? How many of you say, “It depends?”
(Slide 2) We live in a world of overwhelming access via phone, e-mail, instant messaging, Twitter, Facebook, and the like. More than once I have heard someone say, “I got x number of e-mails at once with the expectation I would send an instant response to each one!”
I readily admit to you that it is easy to be overwhelmed with all of the “social media” and electronic gadgets that constantly call for our attention, even during the worship service!
There are articles and conversations about the state of conversation these days which suggest we are losing the art of conversation because we are not using face to face communication like we used. We would rather text about a problem than to discuss it face to face. We would rather tweet about an important issue than meet in person to settle it.
The Old Testament prophet Jonah was not overwhelmed with all of this electronic communication in his day.
He heard God clearly when God called on him. But, his response became an issue for God. And it is an illustration for us of many things regarding our relationship to God.
Let’s turn to the latter part of the Old Testament and the book of Jonah, chapter 1 and verses 1 through 3:
(Slide 3) The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh! Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”
(Slide 4) But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction in order to get away from the Lord. He went down to the seacoast, to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping that by going away to the west he could escape from the Lord. (NLT)
“…hoping…he could escape from the Lord!” Imagine that! How did that work for you Jonah?
We begin this Lenten season, and we will spend time this Lenten season, with Jonah. The most notable part of Jonah’s story is being swallowed by a great fish as he tries to escape from the Lord.
But there is more to Jonah’s story that being fish bait.
Jonah’s story is about being obedient to God’s call and follow Him where He leads.
Who was Jonah? The book that bears his name and tells his story (at least part of it) is found in what is called the Minor Prophets section of the Old (or as some call it) Hebrew Testament.
Our text tells he is the son of Amittai but not much else.
So let’s go to 2 Kings 14:23 and following to find out a little more about Jonah:
“Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash, began to rule over Israel in the fifteenth year of King Amaziah’s reign in Judah. Jeroboam reigned in Samaria forty-one years. He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He refused to turn from the sins of idolatry that Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to commit. Jeroboam II recovered the territories of Israel between Lebo-hamath and the Dead Sea, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had promised through Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-hepher.”
(Slide 5) Quickly, we are reminded here that Israel is split into two kingdoms at this point: Israel, the northern kingdom with its capital at Samaria by this time and Judah, the southern kingdom with its capital at Jerusalem. The time frame for these men and this setting is around 800 before Jesus was born, 30 years before the northern kingdom was conquered, nearly 200 years before the exile to Babylonia, and around 220 years after David became king. The town mentioned in 2 Kings as Jonah’s home is located somewhere in north central Israel.
Nineveh was about 500 miles northeast of Israel in what today is northern Iraq. It was becoming a major city of influence and power and would serve as the capital of the growing Assyrian empire. It is not a good city to live in.
So God, as we have read this morning, tells Jonah, “Go announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”
(Slide 6) But Jonah does not go. He takes off to get away from God. Why?
Before I answer that question, I am letting you know that I am going to be asking you questions each week that comes with the material I am using for this series. The questions for next week will be given at the end of this message. You will not be asked to share your answers and they are for your benefit, reflection, and preparation.
Here are some questions that I want you to write down and respond to personally and privately this morning before we move on to think about why Jonah did what he did.
(Slide 7)
• Who have you “hung up” on recently? Why?
• What is the biggest fear you have about God’s will for your life?
• How have you felt when some one “hung up” on you?
(Allow time for writing)
(Slide 8) According to one source, Tarshish, where Jonah was headed, was either in Italy or southern Spain. That is off this map on the left hand side of the page! He really wanted to get away from God!
But he would not and he could not get away from God. We are reminded of God’s ability to be everywhere (called omnipresence) from Psalm 139:7, “I can never escape from your spirit! I can never get away from your presence!”
(Slide 9) Why did Jonah hang up on God? Two things come to mind. (Slide 9a) Fear. Jonah was afraid of going to Nineveh. He was afraid of what might happen to him. I think that his biggest fear was getting killed.
Most of us here have lived here for many, many years. And I bet that the thought of moving to a bigger community like Ft Wayne or Indianapolis is intimidating and even scary.
It’s the big city! There is more crime! There are people there who will hurt you if they get the chance. There are areas of town that I do not want to visit. Right?
Now we get a picture of how Jonah perhaps felt when he heard or sensed the word, “Nineveh.”
What’s your Nineveh? Where is the one place that would send panic shivering through your soul to hear God say, “I want you to go to ______.”
Ft Wayne? Hawaii? A nursing home? A new job? The ministry?
I would have each of us seriously consider that when God calls us to go somewhere or do something, He does not very easily take no for answer. He does not like to be hung up on.
(Slide 9b) Anger is the second word that comes to my mind regarding why Jonah took off. Jonah wanted to hang up on Nineveh’s residents and let them be judged by God.
Some people have argued that Jonah was prejudiced or even bigoted and did not like the Ninevites at all! And perhaps they are right!
But when we get to chapter four, who Jonah is the angriest with becomes clear.
“This change of plans upset Jonah, and he became very angry. So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. I knew how easily you could cancel your plans for destroying these people. Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive because nothing I predicted is going to happen.”
The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”
The change of plans refers to God, after seeing the repentance of Nineveh take place, changing His plan to destroy the city. Jonah is very upset about this and mad that God would not do what Jonah said He was going to do!
Jonah is angry! In fact, he is so angry, that he reflects the attitude of Elijah in the cave after his intense battle with the prophets of Baal and says in 1 Kings 19:4, “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”
Jonah says, “Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive because nothing I predicted is going to happen.”
Oh woe is me. Oh poor me, nothing has gone right. It has not turned out the way that it was supposed to.
Now some have suggested that Elijah was so spiritually and emotionally depleted from his experience that it was the equivalent of being burned out. Maybe Jonah was the same way. Both men gave and gave and gave of themselves to God’s work and they were worn out.
But anger is an acid that we cannot afford to let burn our souls.
There is a place for righteous anger but many times our anger arises out of fear, frustration, and disappointment and Jonah was disappointed and angry with God and probably afraid.
(Slide 10) Joan Chittister says this about lent:
“Lent is not a ritual. It is time given to think seriously about who Jesus is for us, to renew our faith from the inside out.” (Source: Joan Chittister, The Liturgical Year.) One of the ways that we do this is to take stock of our fears and our angers and really, really take an honest and essential look at them.
I also think that lent can often become a morbid self-preoccupation with the past. And it can become a downer when we need to have times of spiritual uplifting.
My colleague Scott Pattison, reminded me this past Wednesday that while Lent is a season for examination of our souls, for giving up things that have hindered us or slowed us down, Sunday are still, mini-Easters!
But, to parallel the well-known phrase, “the unexamined life is not worth living,” is to say, “the unexamined faith is not getting me where God wants me to go!”
I think that this was a problem for Jonah and as we read in the final chapter, God uses a dead plant to contrast Jonah’s small compassion and faith, with His large and seeking compassion and faith.
“You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. And a plant is only, at best, short lived. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”
Time for some more writing. (I intend to give you time to write during this series so you may want to bring a small note book.)
(Slide 11) What is my biggest fear that I need to surrender to God today? What makes it that way?
(Slide 11a) What unresolved anger am I still carrying around that I am tired of carrying? Why am I still carrying it?
Given what we have gone through economically (and continue to go through) this past year, we have many concerns and fears. But, I also believe that there are fears about other things we continue to wrestle with as well.
The same holds true for anger. There is a great deal of anger these days. And people are not handling it in the right way.
It is overflowing in the workplace, at home, in churches, in our government, and deep with in us.
We relate to Jonah perhaps more than we realize.
What God wants then from us is two things: faith and mercy. Because the story about Nineveh is not about Jonah but about what God wants to do, redeem the world because He loves the world!
Now there is more to Jonah’s story that we shall unpack next week. In doing so, we shall attempt to answer these questions:
(Slide 12) Read Jonah 1:4-16.
1. Even when God, in his grace, has sought me, how have I dug in my heels, refusing to hearken to him?
2. How has my acting in such a fashion caused trouble for others?
3. How was Jonah’s sacrifice similar to, as well as different from, that of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross?
(Source: Dr. Reed Lessing. © 2010 by Creative Communications for the Parish.)
We are going to conclude each week with a time of silent prayer and then corporate prayer. The altar will be open for you to use to seek the Lord and commune with Him.
But I want to remind us this day that while we are revisiting again Christ and His suffering on our behalf and for our salvation, let the Resurrection power of Christ continue to do it’s work in your heart, soul, and life. Give praise to God for His great grace and mercy! Give thanks to God for who He is and what He has done for you! Amen? Amen!
