So here we’ve got Jonah, after the whale. It’s a strange part they’ve picked for us to read today, because it’s kind of the middle of Jonah’s story. So let’s recap, for those who may not know Jonah’s story, or who may have forgotten. Jonah was called by God to go to a place called Nineveh and tell off the people who lived there and were disobeying God. This didn’t sound like much fun to Jonah, so instead he tried to run away, and hopped on a ship. Somehow he thought he could outrun God. But a huge storm comes, and ultimately Jonah ends up getting thrown overboard, which stops the storm. He starts to sink, but because God doesn’t want Jonah to die, he ends up sending a big fish to swallow Jonah. And there Jonah sits, for three days, and three nights. And while he sits in there, he prays a lot. Finally, after the 3 days and nights, God tells the fish to spit Jonah up on dry land. And Jonah’s so overjoyed to be back on dry land. This time, when God tells him to go to Nineveh, Jonah listens. And that’s where we find ourselves today, for our first reading.
Telling them they have 40 days left. I can’t imagine what that would have felt like. Or what it would have been like to hear that! I’ve often heard the saying “Live every day as if it were your last,” which people seem to say when they mean “live with no regrets”. I’ve always thought that, although it’s a nice idea, it’s not a practical way to live. I mean, if this was my last day on earth, there’s no way I’d be wasting time washing dishes, or working, or doing household chores, or any of that! I don’t think anyone would be, really. Most people would probably be out having fun, spending all of their savings, and generally “going out with a bang”. And that’s not a way you can live a life for a long time. Pretty quickly you’d be in a sticky situation.
So Jonah is given this terrible task: going into a huge city and telling them they’re messing things up, and in 40 days it’s all gonna be over. And not just any city, but a city full of his enemies. For Jonah and his people, the Ninevites were terrible. The worst of the worst. Their enemies. They were another group entirely. We could even call the Ninevites “Them”s.Because in almost any situation, we think about “us” and anyone who doesn’t fit in that “us” category becomes a “them”. For Jonah and his people, the Ninevites were part of a group that wasn’t as worthy and valuable as the Israelites.
I want you to take a moment and think about the “Them”s in your life. The people who are so different from you that you just can’t understand them. The people who cause you pain and suffering. These could be national enemies, or political enemies, or a rival sports team, or even people in your daily life. The people who make you angry. And I want you to write their names or draw a picture of them on your piece of paper. I’ll give you a couple of minutes to do that. (pause sufficiently)
Now I want you to add one more thing to your paper. Around every single one of your “them”s, I want you to draw one big heart. A heat that holds each and every one of them in its middle. (pause)
That may not have been easy. Maybe it was hard because those people still make you mad. But this is a reminder that God loves each and every one of those people, just like he loves each and every one of us. It certainly wouldn’t have been easy for Jonah to draw a heart around the Ninevites either. He couldn’t understand why God was being so nice to the Ninevites, and he forgot that God loves them too.
The people of Nineveh actually listen to Jonah and his message from God, and they apologize and ask for forgiveness for what they did. They fast from food and drink, put on sackcloth, and the king even “sits in ashes” which was a biblical way of mourning and apologizing to God. Pretty much showing you’re the lowest of the low. And, most importantly, they “turn from their evil ways”. So they actually stop the bad things they’re doing. And God saw all this, and decided not to bring them down or punish them after all, showing them mercy.
The part that I find the strangest of all of this is that Jonah sees all this and starts sulking and pouting. He’s disappointed that these bad people weren’t punished, like he told them they’d be!He decides he’s going to sit under a bush and wait until God destroys them. God ends up having to remind Jonah that he got a second chance, so the people of Nineveh deserved one too.
Jonah’s story also reminds us of two big things: first, that it’s not our place to judge others or to decide a punishment for them. That’s up to God, so if God decides to be kind, that’s God’s choice. We have not business pouting, like Jonah did, because God didn’t act the way we expected, especially against someone else. When God is gracious and kind and generous to us, we need to remember that that can (and hopefully will!) be extended to others, even others that we may not think deserve it. This past week was No Name Calling Week.The idea is to think about how it can hurt people when we call them names or bully them. **Although this may be directed at school kids, it can be helpful for us to think of too** It helps us to remember that those who are different than us are loved by God, and they are worthy of love too. ((If you were part of the No Name Calling Week last week, good for you! I hope it went well. If you didn’t know about it, or didn’t take part in it,)) I would invite you to try it for the next week coming up. Pay attention to how you think about or talk about other people, and try to skip the name-calling.
Jonah’s story also reminds us that God can work through ordinary people to do extraordinary things. It was by God working through Jonah, to warn the people of Nineveh, that they were able to change their ways and return to God.
Jonah’s story is one of being called. Our story in the Gospel is about being called. Our stories last week were about being called. You better hope God has a good phone plan! :P Lame jokes aside, God does a LOT of calling. In fact, each and every one of us are called at different times and in different ways. The beauty of Jonah’s story is that, even though he made mistakes, and even though he actively ran away from God, God still kept giving him chances. Negative actions can separate us from God, but as we see in the people of Nineveh, positive actions can just as easily bring us back to God again. Wedon’t flub up only to have it be the be-all-and-end-all. Our God is a God of second chances. And third chances. And seventy-seventh chances. God simply wants us to be in relationship with Him, and to turn back to Him when things go amuck.
It can be so easy to get caught up in the fun or the interesting things in this world, and forget about our relationship with God, however briefly. I would guess that it happens to us all. I know it happens to me at times. But it’s not this world that matters. As we heard in our reading from 1st Corinthians today, “the present form of this world is passing away.” So the things that have been important to us in this life, wealth, status, our possessions…they’re not long-term, and they’re not going to last. It’s our relationship with God that matters, and that is everlasting.
And then we have our Gospel story, of Jesus calling the disciples. Assembling his team. And these folks drop everything to follow Jesus. For a life of adventure, challenges, excitement, and struggles. Of helping the outcast, and changing the status quo. Of following Jesus to unknown and unexpected places. And while this can be true for us, too, it’s important to also recognize that not everyone is called to leave behind their boats and nets, their homes and their families. Most of us are simply called to stay where we are and serve God as we are. We do this by doing a lot of the same things the disciples did, like caring for the poor and those in need, but it doesn’t mean we have to do things as drastically as they did. Following Jesus takes many shapes and forms, each unique and wonderful.
((Today we have a baptism. That is the beginning of our call to Christ. Little Nolan, sponsored by his parents and godparents, will be taking his first steps in his Christian journey. Who knows where that journey will lead, but I hope that he will be able, as he grows, to hear and understand God’s call for him, in whatever form that takes. Each time that we witness a baptism, we get a chance to remember our own baptism, and the beginning of our own journey. It can be a time for us to reflect, and to think about where we’ve come and how we’ve changed since then since then. As we go over the Baptismal Covenant shortly, I invite you to reflect on the meaning of each of the covenants in your life. Think about how you’re reflecting those vows, which you made or were made for you long ago, and the ways you can best live into them in your life.))
Let’s go into our lives following Jesus’ call in all the ways we can! Amen.
Leader: As you go out into the world
People: Follow Jesus.
Leader: At home with your household
People:Follow Jesus.
Leader: At school and work
People: Follow Jesus.
Leader: In everything you do this week
People: Follow Jesus
Leader:And as you do, remember that Jesusis with you always,even to the end of the world.