Jonah
3:1-5, 10 & Mark 1:14-20
Let me just say it from the start. The
book of Jonah is not a history lesson. But neither is it a children’s story.
Rather, if we let it, it’s a tale of truth that challenges us to love with a
love that is not limited by any boundaries, borders, or bad guys.
The story begins in ancient Israel when
God calls and says, “Go at once to Nineveh...and cry out against it.” Now
Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, Israel’s most hated enemy. And Jonah has no
interest in following this call of God. That becomes absolutely clear when he runs away and books travel on a ship headed in the opposite direction of Nineveh.
But during that voyage a terrible storm kicks up. Jonah is the cause so he is
thrown overboard and while bobbing in the water God sends a large fish (technically,
there’s no mention of a whale in the Bible) that swallows him whole. And there
he spends three days and three nights in the belly of this fish in what amounts
to as a divine timeout. A timeout which gives Jonah the opportunity to reflect
and change his attitude, to some extent. So God directs the fish to spit him
out onto dry land.
And here begins our reading: take two. The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second
time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh...and proclaim to it the message that I tell
you.” And this time, Jonah follows the call. He delivers the message in an
8-word sermon. Forty days more, and
Nineveh shall be overthrown! And, lo and behold, it works. The people of
Nineveh believe God. And God spares them from judgement. A happy ending, right?
Well maybe for those Ninevites. But not
for Jonah. He is far from happy. In fact, he seethes with anger. This is not
what he wanted. To his mind those Ninevites, those enemies of Israel, those
horrible people in no way deserve a happy ending. This is why Jonah ran away
from God’s call in the first place. I knew, he scolds God, I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and
abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.” This good news of God’s generous love sounds
like such bad news to Jonah that he asks to die.
By the end of the story it’s unclear
about the state of Jonah’s heart, whether or not it remains full of bitterness
and hate. But what is clear is that God’s heart brims with mercy toward
stubborn and petulant Jonah, toward the people of Israel, and even toward those
beyond those borders who are considered enemies. And that’s the rub - for Jonah
and for us.
On the surface we may find the story of
Jonah amusing, ridiculous, or maybe even appalling as he mutters and whines
against God. But if we let the story touch us, if we plumb the depths of our
own hearts won’t we all find Jonah there within us? That part of us that judges
and condemns, that desires revenge rather than justice, punishment instead of
mercy?
It seems to me that the Jonah in all of
us is alive and well these days. I certainly heard it in an interview I was
listening to last Tuesday on the eve of the inauguration. A woman named Aimee
was talking. She was a Trump supporter but she could just as easily been for
Biden because even though she was disappointed in the election results what
really concerned her was how she felt she had changed. How thoughts about
politics were now infecting every part of her life. She said, and I quote, “I’m
becoming someone that literally looks at every person I walk down the street
and go, are they one of ours or one of theirs? I literally look for signs. I’m
profiling people not by the color of their skin or the nature of their
character, but by what I think they’re thinking about the election.” It was an
honest confession that probably rings true for many.
It is into this very struggle, this
tendency we all have to divide and judge, that Jesus calls to us and says, Follow me. There is a different way to
live, a different path to take. Jonah heard this call and he ran in the
opposite direction. But we hear in the gospel of Mark how Simeon, Andrew,
James, and John drop their nets and follow right from the start. But it wasn’t
all smooth sailing for them either. Because the call to follow Jesus doesn’t
always come so naturally. Whenever we feel afraid or threatened, sometimes just
uncomfortable, the temptation is to cling to what feels safe and familiar, to
draw lines and circle wagons. Yet Jesus’ call to follow is the call to do just
the opposite. It is a call to let go of our defended positions. To stop
fighting against the current of mercy and grace. And instead to surrender to
God’s generous love that seeks to flow in and through our lives to all.
Whatever your life looks like, however
you spend your time, there is in that life Jesus’ call to follow. To follow him is to follow love.
So this week listen for that call. Prayerfully and intentionally say, “Yes!” And
then look at your life. Look for the path which looks love. Maybe that path
will lead you to think more generously about others, particularly those with
whom you disagree or maybe even consider an enemy? Or perhaps that path of love
might guide you to speak with kindness or to listen more openly? It’s possible
the path of love may point you in the direction of doing something positive or
refraining from something negative. Whatever life holds for you in the next
minute, the next hour, the next day the path of love is before you.
Because for all the things that Jonah got
wrong there’s one thing he absolutely got right. Our God is gracious...and merciful, slow to anger, and
abounding in steadfast love. And it
is this God through Christ that calls to each and every one of us and says, Follow me.
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