Sign of Jonah Sermon: “So you want to see a miracle?”
Text: Luke 11:29 - 32
Secondary: Jonah 3:4 - 5, 3:9 - 4:2
FCF: In regards to repentance, one must look beyond the distractions of observation into order to experience the joys of participation.
SO: I want the congregation to participate in Communion, giving themselves up to it, rather than just “observing” it.
I. A Sign (The Perils of Observation)
II. The Sign of Jonah (The Obligations of Emancipation)
III. The One Greater Than Jonah (The Joy of Participation)
Longer Outline
I. A Sign
a. Distracts Us
b. (But ultimately) Demands Nothing of Us
c. (And that) Deadens Us
II. The Sign of Jonah
a. Jonah only brusquely demanded repentance, but he got it.
b. Jonah observed repentance, but he despised it.
c. Jonah did not appreciate repentance, until he participated in it.
III. One Greater Than Jonah
a. A miracle delivered Jonah to where he was physically needed, but he remained emotionally detached.
b. Jesus’ mere presence was a miracle, but he eagerly anticipated identifying with us - even in death.
IV. And so we rise up…
Communion: Repentance miraculously removes sin far from us - and this commemoration of the death of Christ is a celebration of how Christ accomplished that in us.
Did you know that the average American spends 29 hours each week watching television? That’s more than the average American spends working, eating, or doing anything other than sleeping. The average pre-schooler will spend 6 to 7 hours each day in front of the television - and trust me when I say that it’s not all Sesame Street. I’ll tell you too that by the time the average television viewer reaches the age of 18, he or she will have vicariously watched more than 200,000 acts of violence. That’s almost 4x the number of men and women who died during the Vietnam War.
I tell you that statistic to make you aware of the culture in which we live. From the time we are placed in front of that box until the time we are placed in a box of our own, we are conditioned to passively take in life. It takes something special to get the sports fanatic out of the chair of observation and participate in the same sport he swears he loves. The culture of the couch potato is engrained in our collective psyches, and it can be a dangerous thing.
Now, even 1950 years BT (that’s Before Television), Jesus was aware of the seductive danger of living only through observation. In the Scripture we just read, Jesus contrasted two types of living - one that merely observes a sign, and one that participates in a miracle. Listen again to what he said. He says:
“A wicked and adulterous generation (and by the way, in greek, that word is scolio - where we get scolosis, so you can imagine the twisted, unheathly nature of those he is addressing.)
“A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign. But I tell you, no sign will be given it, except the Sign of Jonah.”
Now, before we get into this sermon, I need to confess something to you - this sermon took me two months of intense Bible Study. It didn’t come easy, but I finally realized its just part of the process that God wanted me to be engaged in, and I participated in the word, and the word engaged me. My habit of Bible study is just to read until something catches my eye that doesn’t make sense. It’s those things that don’t make sense that God often uses to make me pause, reflect, and engage the text. Sometimes, I think we think the things we don’t understand scare us away, when in fact, I think their an invitation to personalization that is the essence of why we study our bibles.
Two things were contrasted here, and it took me some serious contemplation time to figure out what they were. There was a “sign” and there was a “sign of Jonah.” I’m going to talk more about each of these in a few minutes, but just from the context, you figure out that these are opposites. So, the first thing I did was to figure out, what is this sign of Jonah. Now, I had a really big clue, in that Jonah has his own book, so I went back and I read through that. Everybody remembers the miracle of the Joanh living in the belly of the fish at the beginning, so I’m going to bypass that. The climax of the book comes in Chapter 3, and here’s where the action is:
What you see here is that Jonah is all about repentance. Repentance is, by definition, something you can’t really express - you have to live it to understand what it means to be heading out as far away from Ninevah as you can get, and then be literally turned 180?. If you just watch it, you don’t understand it - it’s something that has to be personal.
Now, contrast this with “a sign.” Remember, the context of this was a bunch of Pharisees asking Jesus to essentially do a magic trick. As an aside, I think about King Herod asking the same thing right before the Crucifixion - and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s characterization of that in Jesus Christ Superstar. He’s pretty blatant about telling Jesus to do some trick and play Herod’s fool, but Jesus is no fool. He just stays quiet. As the song goes on, it’s Herod who starts becoming more and more the clown, over-the-top. Jesus is not one to be dictated to, nor, as we learned last week, does he do tricks for our personal enjoyment. If he performs a miracle - and make no mistake, we’re going to find out in a few minutes that he does perform a miracle here - he has a point he wants to prove.
You know, Jesus was pretty cutting to the same Pharisees. In Matthew, Hesus asks them about John the Baptist:
7 “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? 8What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. 9What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10This is the one about whom it is written,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’
Clearly, Jesus is not entirely happy with people who just want to see things. He’s more interested in people being transformed.
A Sign
You know, if we were Episcopalians, I’d probably be called a vicar - a substitute - because I would be a substitute for Christ. You could just as easily use the word “Sign” because a sign is merely a substitute for something that points you back to the original. But, we have another related word - “vicarious” meaning you live your life through substitutes. The difference between a “Sign” and the “Sign of Jonah” boils down to one thing: whether you want to live vicariously through something that just points to something else or participate in the thing itself.
For years, communion was literally something you just watched. I don’t think that was what Jesus had intended when he said “I eagerly desire to take this meal with you,” or “This do in remembrance of me.” But you know, it’s really easy to be distracted by the sign. Its glitzy, its fun. But Jesus is making a point here about what his death means. It means that Jesus can literally live inside of us, and turn us towards repentance. Earlier, we sang, “Just As I Am,” and we admitted that his blood can cleanse each spot. But I guess I have to ask, do we believe it? If we are just focused on the sign, we’ll miss it. But if we are focused on what the sign means, it will transform us.
Now, signs are what signs are - they are substitutes. They are designed to catch our attention - to distract us. Think about a speed limit sign. You want to drive a proper speed, like, oh say, 77 MPH, but the sign gets your attention and says “55.” (And, I would in no way be speaking of myself here.) Now, to be sure, you aren’t afraid of the sign, are you? You’re afraid of the cop that the sign is reminding you of.
But here’s the problem with signs - ultimately you build a resistance to them, don’t you? Here’s a quick poll - how many people even know where the speed limit sign closest to this church building is? You grow dead to them. Its just a matter of fact.
I tell you this, because we watch signs on television all the time - representations of cruelty and all sorts of coarse behavior. Now, I have never actually watched this show, but have you heard of something called “American Idol?” From what I gather, its basically a talent show, where the small few who actually want to do something with their talent try it out. If that were all it were, I think it would probably be noble. But, my understanding of the show’s success is that the enjoy showing the really bad talent and watching the judges just excoriate and humiliate them. Its basically nothing more than a verbal Coliseum. You know, in Rome, the most popular form of entertainment was watching Christians and others being thrown to lions were their flesh would be ripped from their bones while the crowd just watched on in enjoyment.
You know, the Coliseum actually lasted nearly 100 years into supposedly “Christian” Rome? Augustine himself admitted that he had been dragged to the Coliseum, but once their couldn’t bear not to watch, even though he knew what it was doing to his soul. It wasn’t until a monk named Telemachus rushed into the Stadium to point out this coarsening that it was stopped. It was too late for Telemachus, however, he died staging his protest.
Now, truly, the contestants on “American Idol,” “Big Brother,” “Fear Factor,” “Amish in the City,” “The Simple Life,” and literally dozens of equally uplifting shows aren’t being killed, but how are we valuing or affirming their lives when we watch those shows? Lets face it, it’s the same de-valuing of their lives that was going on in Rome. I think these contestant’s self-respect is every bit the casuality that Telemachus was.
But here’s my point, if you just want some type of sign, you cheapen a thing. You devalue it. When you are content to just watch and not participate, you become dead to a thing. I know people who actually believe in speed limit signs - God bless them - but only because they actually do what they say. Its not glitzy, but its what God wants.
The Sign of Jonah
Now, that’s generally how God works, you know - he isn’t the type to use flashy signs and obvious tricks to gain a quick convert. Instead, he prefers to rely on simple truths communicated in simple fashion. You know, in the Middle Ages, the Benedictine Monks were told that when someone wanted to become a monk, they were supposed to try to dissuade that person for 3 days. They didn’t want people caught up in some emptional frenzy committing the rest of their lives to something that was transitory. But, that’s not to say they didn’t evangelize - they were instructed to evangilize using the same call that Andrew gave Peter - they would simply say, "Come and See." They didn’t prepare anything flashy, they just know that the transforming power of God meted out through repentance would have its desired effect.
I think Jesus liked the phrase "sign of Jonah" becuase it was that "Come and See" attitude. In the Book of Jonah, we get to hear Jonah’s sermon - and his was pretty short and to the point. The extent of it was "Forty days and Ninevah shall be destroyed." There weren’t three thought provoking points, there wasn’t any cute, heart-warming story - just "Forty days and Ninvah shall be destroyed. He didn’t even tell them there was an out - just "Forty days, and you’re toast!"
But, something happened here that transformed the city. Becuase a man of God was with them, they repented. Now, we should take a second to look at what their repentence was. Their repentance was characterized by two things: Complete Participation in Action, and Complete Participation in Begging for mercy. If you go back and look at what they did, you’ll see this wasn’t some type of shoe - Everybody from the King down the animals particpated, everyone was in sackcloth and ashes. And, it wasn’t like some judicial contract - look again at what they said - they said "Maybe God MIGHT be merciful." You know, if Herod wanted Jesus to do his bidding, these Ninevahites figured out how backwards that was. They were to do God’s bidding, and hope that he might be merciful.
Simply put, the Sign of Jonah was Jonah very brusequly demanding repentance, and miraculously he got it. Can you imagine if all of Washington DC were to respond the same way as Ninevah did? People find it hard to swallow the idea of a guy living in the belly of a whale - but I’ll tell you, an entire city just repenting? That’s even more incredible. Its incredible becuase commitment isn’t something you get easily in this town, and yet, that’s exactly what true repentence requires.
You know, interestingly enough, Jonah may have been the one demanding repentence, but as you see from the rest of the outline - Jonah was in need of repentence himself. You probably know the rest of the story. Jonah gets pretty angry with God and says "I knew you were going to be merciful - and I didn’t want that!" I think Jonah was looking forward to fire and brimstone. But again, that’s just not how God works. For all the talk about the "Old-Testament-Mean-God," they knew he was a loving God who was merciful and quick to forgive. That’s the beauty of repentance - knowing that God will forgive you. You see, he isn’t some aloof, distant guy with a beard - he is involved and he loves you.
One Greater than Jonah
You know - these Pharisees that wanted a sign from Jesus, they had lost sight of that. They were familiar with the concept of Immanuel: God with us. But they had forgotten the truly miraculous nature of it, and thus they didn’t see it in Jesus. It was a miracle that Jonah was able to be with the Ninevites. He should have either been in Spain or in Davy Jones Locker - dead at the bottom of the sea. But instead, God miraculously made Jonah to be right where he was needed. What they hadn’t taken into account was what Immanuel would be - a merciful, loving God. They wanted the lawgiver on high to come deliver them from the oppressive Romans. They forgot that God was loving, merciful, and quick to forgive.
They wanted a sign, but forgot that the sign of Jonah was not what they wanted but more than they needed. There was a miracle going on, if only they could have seen it.
You know, in a few minutes, we’re going to witness a miracle. We are going to renact the last supper that Jesus had with his disciples. Jesus said, "Take and eat, this is my body." He said "This cup is my blood." When he says, "This do in rememberance of me, he is calling you to participate in his life just as he participated in yours, by dying for you.
During the Middle Ages, there was a long debate about
- The miracle here was Jesus in their midst. You know the story (Phil 2:5-12)
- You know the “Footprints” thing - well let me tell you how it played out in my life. (God with me during the Poland Trip, God with me during my Job Hunt)
- Immanuel: God with us, God participating with us. How can we not participate with him?
Lead in to communion-
Transubstantiation / Consubstantiation - either way, Jesus is present with us as we take him. The early Christians were accused of cannibalism, because they said they were literally eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ - But that was evidence of the total participation with which they partook in this feast. I invite you, as we come to the Lord’s table, to realize what you do. You can watch - you can observe this feast and go away unchanged. In fact, you could even view this as a simple ceremony that you only are vaguely aware of as you take it. Or, you can realize what is being demanded of you. So, I call you to the table. To take in Jesus fully. To particpate in the repentance he demands of you, and to love him fully for it. Come, let us eagerly participate in our Christ.
