8th November 2015
Jonah 3 1-5 and verse 10, Jonah prophesies and the people repent
I suppose if you talk to most people who have a Christian, or indeed a Muslim or Jewish background if you mention Jonah the thing they will associate it with the most is the whale. The means by which God got Jonah to reassess his life and instead of walking away from the mission he had to deal with the sinful people of Nineveh, to get Jonah to face his responsibilities and go there and prophesy.
Jonah is classed as a minor prophet, because the book is very short. He is ultimately a very minor prophet because if you are looking for an oracle from Jonah that he speaks, that will ultimately come true then there isn’t one. Prophecy is not primarily about foretelling the future, it is also being aware of the signs of the times and being prepared to speak out, uncompromisingly.
Jonah, in chapter 3, does this. His one oracle, is one moment of being a prophet, his one sentence of relevance is that in 40 days the city of Nineveh will be destroyed.
Nineveh is real, in Iraq, a place where Isis is destroying people and possessions, is marketing a creed of hate and destroying ancient ruins, including, in July 2014, the supposed tomb of Jonah himself.
Going to pronounce the destruction of a key city in Iraq would not be an easy job for any of us. Most would prefer to get on a cruise in the opposite direction. But the story is not about the whale and the failure of Jonah, but rather the ultimate courage of the man to go to the place God was sending him and to say the words.
The city was full of evil and God told Jonah to warn them of the destruction. Sin was rampant. Sin is old-fashioned, not cool, and rarely preached about but sin is real and as I talk about it, sin is something we can all remember in our own lives. Sin at governmental level leads to war and that is what we remember on this remembrance Sunday. It is, ultimately, human sin that leads to people striving against all odds, giving time and lives, to be peacemakers.
Jonah travelled a day into the city which would take three days to cross. He delivered his single sentence oracle – You will be destroyed, and the king and the people repented, unexpectedly, unreservedly. And God changed his mind. Get that… God changed his mind. Mercy trumped justice and punishment. God did a U turn because people responded.
Theologians do not like the image of God changing his mind. “Everything changes, but God changes not” goes the song, but here is a picture of God ever reassessing the situation and loving the people who stop the evil.
The God in Christ on the cross does the same. The offer is on the table for all of us. Mercy is in the stretched out arms. Walk with Christ and know that what should be due to us for our sin is forgiven by the God of mercy. Thanks be to God.