"PRIDE AND PREJUDICE"

10/28/01 - The Rev. Ted Broadway

SERMON

What do you think about when you think of Book of Jonah? Most people think- it's the story of the Giant Guppy who swallowed Jonah. The debate in many of the commentaries is one side trying to prove a man could live in the belly of a whale for three days and the other trying to prove that it cold not happen- that it is only a fish story.
 
Could God have saved Jonah by sticking him in the belly of a whale? Sure! He's God. But this is not the point of the story. After reading the story through a few times (it is very short) I find that the important thing about the book of Jonah is not the whale but Jonah. The story is about Jonah and his God. That is why I left the whale stuff out of the reading.
 
So- the Word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai. Good. "Jonah, go to Nineveh and preach against its wickedness." O.K. Great. Jonah then bought a ticket for a cruise, not to Nineveh, but in the exact opposite direction- to Tarshish. What went wrong? Well- let's take a look at Nineveh. It was the capital of Assyria in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. The Assyrians repeatedly invaded the Jewish people- raping, burning, pillaging, murdering and deporting people [taking people from their homes and making them live in a foreign country]. The Northern Kingdom of Israel was wiped out of existence by the Assyrians in 722 BC under Tiglath-Pilser. The Jews had reason to hate the Assyrians more than any other people. They were godless. Pagan. Bloodthirsty. Violent. Destructive. Exceedingly cruel. They were terrorists. Terrorists with a big army.
 
Jonah wanted nothing more than to see the Assyrians wiped off the face of the earth. Nuke 'em. Blow them all away. But that was his will, not God's. God wanted to issue the Assyrians a warning and invite them to repent. And if there is a warning there is a hope that people would listen to the warning- otherwise why give it? Jonah knew this- in chapter 4- Jonah says to God- "I know that You are a gracious and merciful God...One who relents from doing harm." [Undiscovered Country "let them die" Klingons- bony foreheads, long hair, wear lots of leather and love to fight- killed David, Kirk's son] Jonah's attitude toward Nineveh was the same- "let them die". God's peace and power and love and mercy were for Israel- his kind of people. The last thing Jonah wanted was to be God's ambassador of peace to the Assyrians. "Let them die". It was like God telling you or me to go be a missionary to Afghanistan.
 
God's desires and Jonah's desires were two very different things in regard to Nineveh. Things were great as long as God wanted what Jonah wanted. When God called Jonah to do something he didn't want to do, he would not do as he was told. Instead of traveling the 500 miles northeast to Nineveh- he hopped a ship going as far away from Nineveh as possible. He chose Tarshish- a quiet resort on the coast of Spain- 2000 miles west. Tarshish was a place where Jonah thought he could escape what God and what God wanted Jonah to do.
 
Sound familiar? On the one hand we have our Ninevehs- those calls to do something that calls into question the things in us that needs to change, that next hard step, that next difficult movement toward putting God first. On the other hand, we have our Tarshishes- the place of escape. We often go to Tarshish by filling our lives with so much activity that God gets squeezed out and time to do what He requires of us...whoa- look at that time gotta go- I'll do my prayers later- when things calm down- we'll get back to worship after soccer season- I'll study the Bible when I have more time. The central business of the Kingdom of God is to go out and love people and share our hope with them. God has a mission for us and a purpose for us.
 
Well, Jonah opted out. Jonah was finished with this God of mercy but God was not finished with him. Jonah was to find out that you can't flee from the presence of this God. Chapter 3 verse 1- after the whale incident- the Scripture reads- "Now the Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time..." The second time. God is the God of the Second Chance. O.K. the first time didn't go so well. Let's try it again. The marriage failed- the holy promises broken. God is not done with you. The child has gone down some strange and dangerous path. God is not finished with you... or them. The personal integrity was lost- cheating, lusting, abusing, lying, pretending. God is just warming up for round two. Count on it.
 
Jonah went ahead and preached to the Ninevites- a message of doom. "Forty days and you are dead." He must have loved that message. But to Jonah's great surprise and distress- the Ninevites repented and called on God for mercy! From the king on down. And God relented. God hates sin but loves us. We cannot thumb our nose at Him with impunity. There is judgment. God warns us and forcefully until we turn to Him. The Ninevites repented and God offered mercy and forgiveness. You see, justice will be done. 150 years after Jonah's time the Assyrians had gone back to their old ways and the Babylonians, also aggressive and warlike, took out the Assyrians and destroyed Nineveh. It was ugly and brutal. You would think Jonah would have rejoiced with God at the Assyrians repentance. But no! Prejudice. You see- Jonah's God was not God but himself. Jonah was his own idol. He was more committed to his ideas of how God should be and act than to God Himself. When push came to shove he was not all that interested in what God wanted. "I believe God ought to be like this and not even God Himself is going to change my mind."
 
I suspect Jonah was like many of us. Jonah wanted a tame God- a God he could control- a comfortable religion that reflected his values- not all that interested in what the real God wanted. So when Jonah found he could not control God - that God would not let him have his own way nor keep his old attitudes and values- he got mad- really mad.
 
C.S. Lewis put these words in our Lord's mouth talking about "counting the cost" before coming to Christ. "Make no mistake," the Lord says' "if you let me I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for… And it is very important that we realise that. If we do not, then we are very likely to start pulling back and resisting Him after a certain point…He has done all we wanted Him to do, and we should be obliged if He would now leave us alone." In one last attempt to control God- Jonah says- "I know what is best, O Lord, and you should kill me."
 
God, even then, does not write off his dear child Jonah. He tenderly asks- "Is it right for you to be angry?" Jonah's answer was to walk away and sulk.
 
God, then, prepares for Jonah an object lesson. In the heat God provided a shade vine for Jonah. The plant was God's gift of mercy to Jonah from the scorching sun. Jonah was grateful for the plant. The God appointed a worm to kill the plant. And, again, Jonah wanted to die. We should not miss the contrast between Jonah sulking under the withered plant and the King of the Assyrians fasting and begging God for mercy. The bad man humble before God and the good man full of pride and prejudice.
 
Then God asks this question- "Do you have any right to be angry about the vine?" The question is a trap. If Jonah says no- he is admitting he was wrong in his prejudice against the Assyrians. If he says yes- he is admitting that the Lord should be a merciful God. Jonah cannot have it both ways- mercy for me and mine and harsh judgment for them and theirs. Jonah still thinks he deserves mercy and the Assyrians do not. And still God does not give up on Jonah.
 
God then stings Jonah with these harsh words- "If you have the right to have pity on a plant- should I not have the right to pity on thousands and thousands of people?" Jonah lacks pity. God has pity. Jonah lacks mercy. God is full of mercy. Is a servant above his master? How will Jonah answer this kind of God? We don't know. The book ends with God's question hanging in the air. What about us? 

amen