Early this week, I was trying to entertain Jack. I told him on Thursday morning that I wanted to play him a little song on the guitar. He screamed, “No” with all his might. I thought he might have misunderstood me. I still pulled out the guitar and here comes this 30 pound ball of force charging at me, screaming and waving his hands in the air. “No. No. No. Nooooooooooooooooo!” It probably didn’t help that I was laughing at his antics. Here I am trying to do something nice and gracious and entertaining for my son and you would think that the world had run out of ice cream or candy.
I love the book of Jonah, and the prophet too. Jack in his two-year-old behavior reminds me of Jonah. I think it is one of the funniest accounts of grace in the whole Bible. I mean Jonah lives in the belly of a big fish, animals put on sackcloth to repent, and God appoints a worm to torment Jonah. Not to mention, the ginormous hissy fit that he throws in the account we have today. It is a rich story.
Jonah has been sent to preach to Nineveh. He doesn’t want to do this and in turn is swallowed by a really big fish, or a whale as people imagine. It is as if it is his destiny to go to Nineveh. And so he goes and gives one of the most powerful sermons ever heard, simply: “40 Days more and Nineveh will be overthrown.” In Hebrew, a mere five words. (A little disclaimer… I am confident that you will never get a five word sermon from me. But you probably also won’t get such a life changing sermon either.) The people listened. And life was changed.
If you look at the words of Jonah, there is no hope in his words, just death and destruction. Death, destruction, and no possibility for hope. And it works. I find it very interesting that his name in Hebrew means dove. Here, Jonah emerges from his own flood, from the stomach of a big fish, to bring hope to an unexpected people. Sounds a lot like the story of Noah, where a dove brought hope to the inhabitants of the arc. While Jonah sees his role and share the news of doom and gloom, he is still an agent of transformation.
And I guess that we should not be surprised about Jonah’s wishes. The Assyrians do not have the most gracious history with Israel. They obliterated the Northern Kingdom and taxed and oppressed the Southern Kingdom. Their impact was felt all over the Ancient Near East. History tells us that many different nations where angry with the Assyrians. They make a pretty good villain by most standards. The prophets were just that because they had a direct line to God, they had this intimate relationship with God where they could share with God’s people who was God and what God wished for in each person’s life. So it is easy to see how Jonah could not imagine God’s grace being extended to these people. How could God possibly love and care for such monsters?
And this horrible message and sermon of destruction has the people, and the animals (they don sackcloth to make the story even sillier) changing their ways. God’s mercy extends beyond the Israelites. And Jonah throws a fit. It sounds something like this: “No. No. Noooooooooooooooo! Don’t play the guitar and certainly don’t save the people of Nineveh. They deserve this future I have called for and saving them, well I would rather die!”
And this leads to Jonah being out on his own, and in one of the funniest scenes of the Bible. God appoints a bush to grow up to give Jonah shade. Jonah is happy and then God appoints a worm to attack the bush and it withers, and God punishes Jonah, and he whines about like we have come to expect.
One of the most interesting components of this story is the relationship between humans and animals. That is an interesting line, “more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right and from their left, and also many animals?” Earlier in the passage, animals have actually put on sackcloth to repent for the actions of the people of Nineveh. What Jonah wants is total destruction of Nineveh. And animals have to repent. And God cares about the animals. But if Jonah gets what he wants, every living thing will be punished.
The reality of our existence is our human actions impact so much more than ourselves. Our actions affect animals, they affect the earth, and they affect other people. While we might be able to place the burden of fault on others, we can think of the numerous species of animals that have gone extinct or ecosystems that have been demolished or altered because of the actions of humans. I have to wonder if the United States involvement in the Middle East, is of course for the love of our fellow brothers and sisters in our human existence and the protection of certain civil liberties and rights that we believe go hand and hand with our human existence… and our ridiculous love of fossil fuels which make our love affair with the Middle East even stronger.
But the message is that God cares. God cares for Jonah, even sends him out with a powerful message as a prophet. And God also cares for the people of Nineveh, and their animals, and I would wager to say their plants, and trees, and earth. God cares about everything that God has created. Jonah is just blind this. God even recognizes this nation that has ruled with iron fist, to be confused and unable to really see what is at work because they do not know their right hand from their left. The powerful Assyrian nation is lost, even if Jonah and the Israelites view these people as inherently evil.
It is a beautiful message. God cares. God cares about us. And God cares about our neighbors. Even those that stand so starkly against a way of life that we strive for and work to bring about. I think this is especially important news today as we live in such a polarized climate that can easily draw us to have as much righteous indignation toward those that we disagree with as Jonah has for people of Nineveh. And I don’t say this blindly. I too am scared of groups that wield power such as ISIS and the threat the play on the sovereignty of certain nations in the Middle East, and the threat to our national security. And I am scared of mobs, and crowds the function with a mentality that is less civilized than the actions of any one person in that group, that would punch and jump random people in a parking lot, and wreak havoc on our own sense of community in the Midsouth. But I do know that God loves and cares for all of God’s creation, which extends far more than just ourselves. And so our care for other, the other that threatens our own safety is a spiritual concern.
I think the ridiculous nature of this story is that we can too often be like Jonah. I don’t get the sense that Jonah is especially entitled or self-righteous. But I do think Jonah, fails to see the scope of God’s love. A love and care that extends far beyond his own community. It even extends to a people of a different faith who are perceived to be mortal enemies. God’s care extends to all of creation, every living, breathing, and present thing in this earth. That is why it is spiritual concern when animals become endangered, or there is a rapid decline of animals such as the honey bees that we raise here at Annunciation (it is not just because they pollinate our food, but because they are God’s creation), or when war and conflict take place such as in Israel/Palestine or the Ukraine. These are spiritual concerns because they affect God’s creation. And it is too easy to say let those people kill each other, or let that animal die off and be just like Jonah.
But Jonah’s name, is simply “dove.” The sign of hope that emerges from a flood to bring Good News for the entire world. There is a part of me that believes that each of us as children of God, as Christians, carry that name. Whether we see it or not, we are to be bearers of Good News to all of God’s children, even like Jonah, if we don’t understand the message. We in our Christian identity and name, can offer all of the world, not just the people of our community, but the entire world, the animals, and even all of God’s creation, a message of God news, a message that God cares. May we reach out to share the Good News and see ourselves as the agents of a message that brings hope to all of God’s creation, and may we too capture the empathy of God to be troubled and concerned with the loss of creation taking place in our fragile island home, this earth. Amen.
Sermon Preached at Church of the Annunciation
September 21, 2014
I love the book of Jonah, and the prophet too. Jack in his two-year-old behavior reminds me of Jonah. I think it is one of the funniest accounts of grace in the whole Bible. I mean Jonah lives in the belly of a big fish, animals put on sackcloth to repent, and God appoints a worm to torment Jonah. Not to mention, the ginormous hissy fit that he throws in the account we have today. It is a rich story.
Jonah has been sent to preach to Nineveh. He doesn’t want to do this and in turn is swallowed by a really big fish, or a whale as people imagine. It is as if it is his destiny to go to Nineveh. And so he goes and gives one of the most powerful sermons ever heard, simply: “40 Days more and Nineveh will be overthrown.” In Hebrew, a mere five words. (A little disclaimer… I am confident that you will never get a five word sermon from me. But you probably also won’t get such a life changing sermon either.) The people listened. And life was changed.
If you look at the words of Jonah, there is no hope in his words, just death and destruction. Death, destruction, and no possibility for hope. And it works. I find it very interesting that his name in Hebrew means dove. Here, Jonah emerges from his own flood, from the stomach of a big fish, to bring hope to an unexpected people. Sounds a lot like the story of Noah, where a dove brought hope to the inhabitants of the arc. While Jonah sees his role and share the news of doom and gloom, he is still an agent of transformation.
And I guess that we should not be surprised about Jonah’s wishes. The Assyrians do not have the most gracious history with Israel. They obliterated the Northern Kingdom and taxed and oppressed the Southern Kingdom. Their impact was felt all over the Ancient Near East. History tells us that many different nations where angry with the Assyrians. They make a pretty good villain by most standards. The prophets were just that because they had a direct line to God, they had this intimate relationship with God where they could share with God’s people who was God and what God wished for in each person’s life. So it is easy to see how Jonah could not imagine God’s grace being extended to these people. How could God possibly love and care for such monsters?
And this horrible message and sermon of destruction has the people, and the animals (they don sackcloth to make the story even sillier) changing their ways. God’s mercy extends beyond the Israelites. And Jonah throws a fit. It sounds something like this: “No. No. Noooooooooooooooo! Don’t play the guitar and certainly don’t save the people of Nineveh. They deserve this future I have called for and saving them, well I would rather die!”
And this leads to Jonah being out on his own, and in one of the funniest scenes of the Bible. God appoints a bush to grow up to give Jonah shade. Jonah is happy and then God appoints a worm to attack the bush and it withers, and God punishes Jonah, and he whines about like we have come to expect.
One of the most interesting components of this story is the relationship between humans and animals. That is an interesting line, “more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right and from their left, and also many animals?” Earlier in the passage, animals have actually put on sackcloth to repent for the actions of the people of Nineveh. What Jonah wants is total destruction of Nineveh. And animals have to repent. And God cares about the animals. But if Jonah gets what he wants, every living thing will be punished.
The reality of our existence is our human actions impact so much more than ourselves. Our actions affect animals, they affect the earth, and they affect other people. While we might be able to place the burden of fault on others, we can think of the numerous species of animals that have gone extinct or ecosystems that have been demolished or altered because of the actions of humans. I have to wonder if the United States involvement in the Middle East, is of course for the love of our fellow brothers and sisters in our human existence and the protection of certain civil liberties and rights that we believe go hand and hand with our human existence… and our ridiculous love of fossil fuels which make our love affair with the Middle East even stronger.
But the message is that God cares. God cares for Jonah, even sends him out with a powerful message as a prophet. And God also cares for the people of Nineveh, and their animals, and I would wager to say their plants, and trees, and earth. God cares about everything that God has created. Jonah is just blind this. God even recognizes this nation that has ruled with iron fist, to be confused and unable to really see what is at work because they do not know their right hand from their left. The powerful Assyrian nation is lost, even if Jonah and the Israelites view these people as inherently evil.
It is a beautiful message. God cares. God cares about us. And God cares about our neighbors. Even those that stand so starkly against a way of life that we strive for and work to bring about. I think this is especially important news today as we live in such a polarized climate that can easily draw us to have as much righteous indignation toward those that we disagree with as Jonah has for people of Nineveh. And I don’t say this blindly. I too am scared of groups that wield power such as ISIS and the threat the play on the sovereignty of certain nations in the Middle East, and the threat to our national security. And I am scared of mobs, and crowds the function with a mentality that is less civilized than the actions of any one person in that group, that would punch and jump random people in a parking lot, and wreak havoc on our own sense of community in the Midsouth. But I do know that God loves and cares for all of God’s creation, which extends far more than just ourselves. And so our care for other, the other that threatens our own safety is a spiritual concern.
I think the ridiculous nature of this story is that we can too often be like Jonah. I don’t get the sense that Jonah is especially entitled or self-righteous. But I do think Jonah, fails to see the scope of God’s love. A love and care that extends far beyond his own community. It even extends to a people of a different faith who are perceived to be mortal enemies. God’s care extends to all of creation, every living, breathing, and present thing in this earth. That is why it is spiritual concern when animals become endangered, or there is a rapid decline of animals such as the honey bees that we raise here at Annunciation (it is not just because they pollinate our food, but because they are God’s creation), or when war and conflict take place such as in Israel/Palestine or the Ukraine. These are spiritual concerns because they affect God’s creation. And it is too easy to say let those people kill each other, or let that animal die off and be just like Jonah.
But Jonah’s name, is simply “dove.” The sign of hope that emerges from a flood to bring Good News for the entire world. There is a part of me that believes that each of us as children of God, as Christians, carry that name. Whether we see it or not, we are to be bearers of Good News to all of God’s children, even like Jonah, if we don’t understand the message. We in our Christian identity and name, can offer all of the world, not just the people of our community, but the entire world, the animals, and even all of God’s creation, a message of God news, a message that God cares. May we reach out to share the Good News and see ourselves as the agents of a message that brings hope to all of God’s creation, and may we too capture the empathy of God to be troubled and concerned with the loss of creation taking place in our fragile island home, this earth. Amen.
Sermon Preached at Church of the Annunciation
September 21, 2014