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JONAH AND THE DISCIPLES

Jonah 3:1-4:2; Mark 1:14-20

A sermon preached at First Presbyterian Church by Carter Lester on

January 25, 2015

Introduction: Jonah is one of the prophetic books – among the twelve smaller prophet books near the end of the Old Testament among those unusual names such as Nahum and Habbakuk. These are the books that you are liable to skip over if a couple of pages stick together because they are so small. Jonah is different from all of the other prophets, however, for two reasons. First, unlike the other prophetic books, Jonah has very little to say here on behalf of God – really only one sentence consisting of 5 Hebrew words. The book tells us much more about what Jonah did than what he said. Second, Jonah is the only one of the prophets who speaks to foreigners, the people of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. It should be noted, that the people of Nineveh are not only foreigners; they are powerful enemies and conquerors of Israel.

Jonah is also unusual because it is not entirely clear what kind of book it is. Is it primarily an historic account, like 1 and 2 Samuel or the gospels? Or is it more of a story with a moral point, like one of Jesus’ parables? In any case, the writer of Jonah is not afraid to exaggerate to make a point and he has a sense of humor. It takes three days for Jonah to walk across Nineveh, according to the writer. Nineveh was big – but not that big when you consider that a modern walker would not need that much time to cross New York City. And when the people of Nineveh repent, Jonah tells us, not only do the people wear sackcloth, but so do the animals.

Jonah’s story is a “whale of a tale,” but it is not just a fish story or a children’s story. It is an adult story, and there may be more of Jonah in each one of us than we might like to admit.

Let us pick up Jonah’s story midway – after the part I just shared with the children. Read Jonah 3:1-4:2

“The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.” Even after Jonah has proven himself to be a reluctant and disobedient prophet, trying to duck his assignment and sail as far away as possible from Nineveh, God still comes back to Jonah. Even after Jonah has proven himself to be a foolish prophet, thinking that he can somehow flee from God’s reach or hide from God, God still comes back to Jonah, and gives him a word to speak to the Ninevehites. Isn’t there anyone else God could get to take on this assignment?

But what a great result Jonah achieves with his second chance. He walks across Nineveh crying out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” You can then just imagine him them eagerly getting up each day and counting off the days to Nineveh’s destruction: “40, 39, 38, 37.” But before he can complete the countdown, the king orders everyone, including the animals, to be covered with sackcloth and for everyone to turn from “their evil ways and the violence that is in their hands.” “Who knows?” the king later says, “the God of the Israelites may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.” And here is another surprise: God does change God’s mind: the people of Nineveh are spared.

The book of Jonah is full of surprises – and there is one more that is described at the beginning of chapter 4. You would think Jonah would be ecstatic. You would think he would be racing to the Temple to thank God for God graciously giving Jonah a second chance and then for being powerful enough to cause the people of Nineveh to repent. Certainly, no one in the history of God’s people has had such an impact with so few words. Even Jesus cannot claim that with one sentence he caused a whole city to repent.

And yet Jonah is not thankful or joyful or awed. Instead he… is angry. And he is not just a little angry. The Hebrew suggests that he is “burning with anger.” Why? Because God is a “gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.” (4:2). Jonah was looking forward to seeing Nineveh destroyed and now God is taking that pleasure away.

When I was growing up, one of my favorite magazines was the children’s magazine, “Highlights.” One of the features each month was a cartoon comparison of “Goofus and Gallant.” Goofus was the one who did everything wrong: slurping at the table, ignoring his mother when she called him, dropping his gum wrapper on the street. Gallant was just the opposite. He did everything right and modeled the kind of person you should want to be.

At first glance, it appears we have a real “Goofus and Gallant” here in our Old and New Testament readings. Could you find a greater contrast?. When God calls Jonah, Jonah tries to run off in the opposite direction and hide from God. When Jesus calls these four fishermen here in Mark 1, they immediately drop their nets and follow after Jesus. It takes Jonah three chapters and a second chance before he shows up in Nineveh. It takes the disciples only a few verses to respond to Jesus and they do not have to be asked twice.

And yet, while Jonah may seem to be a “Goofus” and an example of how not to live as a man or woman of God, there is a lot we can learn from Jonah. In fact, much of what we learn from Jonah is what the disciples will later learn from being with Jesus.

Lesson one: there are no missions impossible when it comes to God’s missions.

Jonah seemingly has an impossible task. Who is he but a nobody? In contrast, the Assyrian Empire was a superpower at the time, and they were not believers of Israel’s God. No wonder he fled to Tarshish when he first got the assignment. And yet, when Jonah preaches his simple sermon, the people of Nineveh, from the king on down, repent and change.

We too can feel like we are very small and the world is very big. One response is just to give up. Especially when you are a Christian in North America or Europe and you see the church apparently shrinking in numbers and resources. Or we may decide that it is too much to try to focus on communities and the “big issues,” such as poverty or injustice. Better to concentrate on our little family or individual sphere, our happiness, our material success, and our peace. As one person commenting on this text writes: “The world conspires to make Jonahs out of all of us. The world beats us down and tells us that you can’t change the big picture, so just fall in line and make the best living that you can for yourself and your family.”[1]

But what Jonah and Jesus’ call of the disciples reminds us, is that the reign of God is at hand, even when we cannot see it. We are small and relatively powerless, but God does not expect us to change the world by ourselves. All we are called to do is listen and obey, to play our small role in the theater of God’s plans. God, the playwright, alone can see how everything fits together to work for God’s purposes. We do our part and God will take care of the rest. Jonah is weak – but his words with God’s help are enough to change a people. The church that began with these four disciples on the Sea of Galilee now consists of 2 billion people stretched across the world. Our work is far from done, but when we are doing God’s work, nothing is futile and we are never without hope.

Lesson two: God sticks with those God has called.

Perhaps the most important verse in the whole book of Jonah is the first one we read today: “the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.” How would you describe Jonah? Stubborn? Disobedient? Reluctant? Fearful? How would you describe the God we see in action in Jonah? Persistent. Incredibly patient. Gracious. Merciful. Jonah gives up on God, but God does not give up on Jonah, just as God does not give up on Nineveh.

And while the disciples look a lot better here in Mark 1, we know they will need second chances too. James and John will later argue over who is the greatest and who gets to sit next to Jesus. Andrew will disappear when Jesus hangs on the cross, and Simon Peter will deny even knowing Jesus, not once, but three times. And yet, God sticks with them – as God sticks with Jonah.

We may have a whole host of reasons why we are not worthy of being a disciple of Christ. We are not good enough. We do not pray enough. We do not give enough. We are too impatient. We do not trust enough. We are too weak.

And you know, we are right – except the God we worship and try to obey, the Jesus we try to listen to and follow, is persistent, incredibly patient, amazingly gracious and ever merciful. God does not want us to stay the same. But God does not wait to love us until after we have our acts cleaned up. God loves us right now, the way we are. Jesus wants his disciples to change and grow, but he does not wait to until his disciples are perfect before calling them to follow. He calls us now, because he knows it is only when we spend time with him that we will change and grow.

And when we fail, when we fall down, as we inevitably will do, God gives us a second chance, or a third chance, or a fourth chance, or a fifth chance….

Lesson three: God’s grace can be disturbing.

God’s grace certainly disturbs Jonah. You see the irony don’t you: he who received a second chance from God is mad that God has given the Ninevehites a second chance. Jonah is angry at God – not for giving him such a tough and dangerous assignment, but for making that assignment successful. As someone has put it, Jonah’s problem with God is that “God loves too many people.”[2]

It is easy to laugh at Jonah and criticize him, but isn’t there a little of Jonah in all of us? Certainly, the church has struggled from the beginning with trying to limit God’s grace and love. Jesus was criticized by the religious leaders for spending time with tax collectors, prostitutes, and other sinners. And then Jesus was criticized by the rank and file people for sharing a table with a wealthy Pharisee. The first great controversy of the church was whether the church was to include Gentile as well as Jew.

There is something in human nature that wants to decide who gets to receive God’s grace. We claim God’s grace for ourselves and our sin, but begrudge that God’s love and grace might extend to people we do not like or approve of, people whom we call our enemy, people we call God’s enemy. Sometimes it seems like some Christians even relish others going to hell or being “left behind,” because “they deserve it,” just as Jonah seemed to relish Nineveh being destroyed.

The problem it seems is that God sent Jesus Christ into the world for the whole world. God keeps loving people, keeps inviting people, keeps offering second chances, keeps extending grace. It is not like God is a sentimental old fool who in the face of evil and sin just says a big “whatever!” The people of Nineveh are called to repent and give up their evil ways – and they do. But the message of Jonah, like that of the gospels, is that the love of God is for all people, just as the judgment of God is for all people. The message is “that the Creator in heaven wants nothing more than to stand face to face with every creature beginning with us, but not ending there.”[3]

Friends, God still calls Jonahs, Jesus still calls disciples. What we can do may seem so little. Who we are may seem so frail and flawed. But by the grace and power of God as revealed in Jesus Christ, there is no telling what God can do in and through us if we listen, obey, and follow. Not just for our sake and those we love. But for the sake of those we find hard to love. Indeed for the sake of the whole world.

Jesus says to us: “Follow me.” “The word of the Lord comes to us a second time.” How will we respond?

[1] Todd Weir, http://bloomingcactus.typepad.com/bloomingcactus/2006/01/jonah_3_mark_11.html#more.

[2] William Carter, http://day1.org/698-when_god_repented.

[3] Ibid.