Sunday, January 24, 2021
Jonah.3; Third Sunday after Epiphany, January 24, 2021;
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Jonah 2; Lent 4; March 18, 2009; Jonah, the Survivor Series by Dr. Reed Lessing;
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!” And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. (Jonah 2, ESV)
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
It’s a bit extreme don’t ya think? I mean Jonah praying inside of the fish. Sure he ran from God. Sure he was reluctant to do what God wanted, but now look. Jonah prays. Well of course he prays. He’s been swallowed by a fish! Now don’t be getting the idea that this is some make believe story about when we are suppose to pray. All those years ago, the Bible tells us this is actually what happened. How did he survive? How did he breathe? How is that he didn’t digest? Well, I don’t have answers for that, but I do know that when Jonah ran from God, God sent a fish, a great big fish, and Jonah was in there, in trouble and he prayed. Now there is something you can understand; Jonah praying from the depth of his trouble. All the time up to here he’s been running away. He can’t get any further from God. God has caught him captive to capture his attention. And He has it. Jonah prays.
You and I pray like that don’t we? When things are going well and we are running our own lives, when the cash flow is good, when work is working well, when the church isn’t fighting, when we can shop for all the toys we want, God is out of the picture. We are actually more comfortable with God that way. When he’s at arms length or more He’s safe. Remember when Moses was on the mountain and he wanted to see God. God said, No! If you see me you’ll die. Moses insisted. God pushed Moses into a cave and covered it with his hand and Moses was able to see God’s “backside” just the glow of His glory. Moses glowed for weeks. He had to cover his face because just the glow was terrifying for the people of Israel. A close God isn’t safe. A close God has demands. A close God has to be dealt with. When God is close He sees the stuff I do. He knows the stuff I think. When God is close He wants to be in control. Better to keep God away than to get singed. And we do get singed. Wherever God is He brings the law with him. You shall not covet. You shall not kill. You shall not bear false witness. You can’t avoid the problem you have with these laws when God is near. It’s the same reaction you get when you tell people that something they are involved in is sinful. That kind of talk can get you killed.
“The bible says, Judge not lest ye be judged.”
Even people who don’t know anything else about the bible know this passage. And they say it in the “King’s English” for added authority. What they mean is that you can’t tell them that anything they choose to do is wrong. They use the passage to push you away, to push God’s judgment against them away. To get God out of the picture. It is a natural reaction to God.
We do it, too. We want, what we want, when we want it. God’s presence in our lives shows us our sinful nature. He makes our sin stand out. The mirror of God’s law shows us our sin.
And sometimes God lets us dig our own grave. That’s what Jonah did. He went down to the sea. He went down into the bottom of the boat. He went down into the water. He went down in to the belly of the fish. He went down into the deepest part of the sea. All to get away from God. Then at his lowest point. Jonah prays.
Has that ever happened to you? God leaves you on your own. God shows you your sin and you ignore Him. He lets it have its way with your live. Chaos follows. Trouble comes. Life breaks down. Happiness fleas. You find your self in the belly of the fish led there by your behavior. Life gets hard, impossible… then you pray.
One tribe of Native Americans had a unique practice for training young braves. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, he was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then he had never been away from the security of his family and tribe. But on this night he was blindfolded and taken miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of thick woods. By himself. All night long. Every time a twig snapped, he probably visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. Every time an animal howled, he imagined a wolf leaping out of the darkness. Every time the wind blew, he wondered what more sinister sound it masked. No doubt it was a terrifying night for many. After what seemed like an eternity, the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of the path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was the boy’s father. He had been there all night long.
Jonah wanted God out. But in his deep distress, when he was a lost and condemned creature, when he was helpless, he turned to God for help. But he wasn’t alone. God was with him all along. He guided and directed all the events that brought Jonah to prayer. Jonah prays. God hadn’t abandoned him. The fish spit him out on the shore.
Jonah’s story, our story, is also God’s story in Jesus. Jonah faced God’s judgment and so did Our Savior. Jesus’ life seemed to spiral out of control. He told people that He was God come near. Repent for the kingdom of God is near. People replied as they always do, “Judge not lest ye be judged!” That kind of talk got Jesus killed. He ate with outsiders. He forgave sins. He healed and preached his way right to the cross. God’s judgment came down on Jesus. In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed. When Jesus was hung on the cross, he prayed. Now here’s the thing. Jesus was left alone. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!” It’s a psalm, a prayer. God, the Father, turned away from Jesus. His judgment came down in full. Everything that happened to Jesus was directed by Him. And in his hour of greatest need, when he faced the full judgment of God, Jesus was left alone. The horror of it might just be too much to contemplate. That is our judgment. We push God out of our lives and He should just leave us to it. We should be hanging on the cross there with Jesus crying out for God to save us. And God should turn away and forsake us completely. And he does that to Jesus. Alone, afraid and suffering he dies. It is the punishment of total separation from God. It is what our sin deserves, but Jesus takes it for us. Jesus was spit out of death. He rose again from death. He was forsaken by God and then reclaimed. Jesus lives. Three days in the fish made Jonah a new man. Three days in the grave by Jesus makes you a new man, a new woman. Just as Jesus suffered for you He rises from the dead for you, too.
You are not alone in your suffering. Sometimes God allows you to go down, down, down, your own way until you find yourself alone and afraid. But God never leaves you. He left Jesus alone on the cross instead. That punishment was already poured out on Jesus. Forever alive, Jesus is now with you always. Like the Indian father in the woods. Jesus watches over you. When you are in trouble, and think you are alone, when you have lost everything else, you are forced to turn to God. When you are in the belly of a great big fish… you pray. And God is with you, there in the middle of your suffering. He promises life, when all you can see is death. Even if your trouble ends that way, you have a way through it. God will cause death to spit you out. Jesus life is your life. Your trouble isn’t the last Word, but Jesus is. That’s how you survive the belly of the great big fish. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Jonah 1:1-17; Wednesday Lenten Service; March 11, 2009;
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.” And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:1-17, ESV)
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Consider Fallon, Nevada. The EPA has found that Fallon’s water system delivers more arsenic to its customers than any other large town water system in America. Folks there even joke about it: “Arsenic? It only bothers you if you’re not used to it.” Tim Miller, who has lived in Fallon all his life, jests, “Arsenic is no biggie. I’ll die of something. It’s called life. Once you’re born, you start dying.” The arsenic levels remain high, not because people like drinking arsenic, but because they don’t want to pay for the solution, a $10 million treatment plant. One local official said, “This is Nevada. They don’t want to feel government is intruding in their lives.” Talk about being obstinate! These people would rather serve arsenic-laced water to their children than allow the government to “intrude” into their lives with a water treatment plant. Their stubborn, ridiculous choice to dig in their heels is repeated time and again by humans across the country and throughout the globe.
Jonah is a stubborn soul. He doesn’t want to go to Nineveh. He does everything in his power to avoid it. He runs away from home. Imagine the picture of the 4 year old. “Mommy, if you don’t by me that toy I’m going to run away from home.” Or the five year old sulking in her room. “No body loves me; Everybody hates me; Sitting in the garden eating worms.” It’s the same attitude. Jonah runs to the shore. “No matter what, I’m not going to go to Nineveh!” He spends the money necessary to get a ship to get as far away from what God has told him to do as possible. He actually thinks if he runs away from home, he’s running away from God. If he runs away from God, he won’t have to do what he’s been told to do. Stubborn Jonah gets on the ship and heads out to sea. But God provides…
Yep, that’s what I said, “God provides… He provides a great wind.” And the wind blew up a great storm. Our God is a providing God. He provides what we need not what we want. God provides the storm for Jonah. But Jonah is stubborn. He goes down into the bottom of the boat and goes to sleep. “God, I’m sleeping don’t bother me. I know its 6:30. I know its time to get up and get ready for school. But the time change is unfair. I’m not getting up!” “God you can’t make me go to Nineveh!” Jonah is snoozing away in his stubborn sin. His shipmates are suffering, facing the storm. Finally, the skipper has enough. “If you don’t get up I’m going to throw a bucket of water on you. Get up pray for us! We are going to die!”
Stubborn Jonah wakes up but he sits in silent stubborn sin. He doesn’t say a word. The sailors decide enough is enough. They cast lots to decide whose fault it is. But they already know. I imagine Jonah sitting in the corner wrapped up in his blanket stubbornly refusing to participate. Still, when everyone has selected a straw, Jonah gets the only one left. It’s the short straw. “Ok, ok I’m up. But I’m not going to be happy.” “Ok, God I admit it. It’s my fault, but God… Jonah deflects the blame. “I’m sinful but God is to blame for the storm. I worship him. He did it.” It’s typical of stubborn sinners. “I can’t help being homosexual. I was born that way. My childhood was bad because God gave me parents who didn’t care about me. I know gossip is wrong. But I just can’t keep this story quiet. It’s the way God made my brain to work. I can’t help it. The boss God gave me doesn’t have clue. He’s such a dweeb. He doesn’t deserve respect.” Jonah refuses to take responsibility for the problems he’s caused. The sailors accuse him, “what have you done to us!” The sailors are afraid and rightly so. The God of the universe is not to be trifled with. But Jonah is stubborn he won’t relent. “I’m not going to Nineveh! Throw me overboard. If I’m dead I can’t go! I won’t go!”
There’s a lot of Jonah in you. Your reaction to sin and God’s law is the same. “That was a great sermon pastor. You really nailed them with the law. Too bad the people who really need to hear it are at home in bed.” Or “That’s not sinful.” “I’m not doing anything wrong.” “It’s not my fault.” “I’m better than he/she is.” The truth is we’d rather die than give up our sin. We’ll give up what’s on the surface. We want to look good. But we think that God doesn’t really see our heart. We actually think we can hide our sin there. “God do anything but don’t take my sin away.” Picture yourself. Sitting in the stormy boat wrapped up in your blanket, clutching onto your stinking sin. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this but… did you hear about….” “I was sitting here minding my own business, searching on Google when those pictures just popped up.” “I’ll never forgive my ex for what she said about me.” “I don’t hold a grudge. I get even.” You don’t want to change. You won’t change. You can’t change. “Throw me overboard!”
“Throw me overboard! It’s the one thing the sailors don’t want to do. Talk about rowing upstream. The more stubbornly they row the more God sends the storm against them. Finally they give up and do what Jonah wants. And suddenly the storm stops. And stubborn Jonah sinks. “Now try to get me to Nineveh!”
“And God provided a great fish to swallow stubborn Jonah.” It looks like judgment doesn’t it? It looks like torture. He’d rather die than give in. The storm wasn’t enough for Jonah so down the gullet he goes. But the torture is really treatment. The fish is there to save Jonah. The fish is God’s SOS. He is God’s Law in fish flesh, to Show us Our Sin. Jonah refuses to throw his sin overboard. He’s willing to die instead. So into the water he goes. Jonah is lost. But God saves him from death. God provides a fish. He is Jonah’s savior. After three days in the fish it vomits him up on the shore and Jonah has a change of heart (or does he?).
The fish is still God’s SOS. The fish Shows us Our Savior. Jesus told his enemies that all the sign the needed was in Jonah’s fish. God saves us from our stubborn sin. We’d rather commit suicide. We’d rather die than give up our sin. And that’s what happens. It is no accident that the ancient church used the fish for a sign of Jesus. It is the sign of Jonah. The fish takes Jonah to his death. Deep into the water. For three days Jonah is good as dead in the stomach of the fish, in the deep, deep darkness of the sea. But he is safe. Saved by the fish. Saved from his stubborn sin. And spit up on the shore again.
The Greek word for fish is IXTHUS. It is an anagram for Jesus. In Greek the first letter of each of the words Jesus Christ God’s Son Savior spells IXTHUS, fish. Our Jesus, our fish saves us from our sin. Saint Paul says,
“Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. (1 Corinthians 15:54b-56, ESV)
God provides the law to push us to Jesus. It is our SOS. It shows us our sin. Jesus takes our sin and swallows it up in victory. It’s not the victory we think it is. There’s no hoopla, at least not at first. Jesus carries our sin in his body to the cross. The law accuses him and he, even though he is not guilty, is declared to be guilty. We die to sin with Christ on the cross. He protects us from death by taking our death into himself. And then for thee days Jesus lies in the deep, deep, darkness of the belly of death. But you see, He can’t stay there. Only our sin, and our punishment stay there. Death can’t help but vomit Jesus out. That’s because Jesus is life. He is perfect life, perfectly lived, and perfectly sacrificed. He wins the victory over death. He takes out the stinger. We rise with Jesus, too.
Listen to Paul describe it in Colossians:
having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:12-14, ESV)
Sounds like Jonah and the fish doesn’t it!
So tonight I say to you. Give up your stubborn sin. Let Jesus drown it here at the font. Jump into the water with both feet. Die with Christ, your IXTHUS, your Fish, your Savior. And rise again with him. He does it all. He does it for you and to you. He’ll spit you up on the shore safe again. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Jonah 3; Third Sunday after Epiphany; January 25, 2009;
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Get ready to hear the shortest sermon on record… don’t get your hopes up; it’s not the one I’m preaching right now. But I wanted you to know, my average sermon length since I arrived here is 17 ½ min. Considering all we have to talk about that seems rather short to me. But I digress. The short sermon I’m talking about is the one found here in the book of Jonah. It’s right in the middle of Chapter three.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (Jonah 3, ESV)
You all know the story of Jonah the reluctant prophet. The guy who ran away from God and got swallowed by a big fish for his efforts. “The word of the Lord came to Jonah,” is how the story starts. Jonah was a prophet; his job was to take the Word of God to the people God told him to go to. And God gave him the task of taking that Word to Nineveh. Now Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh. It wasn’t a very nice town; in fact it was very evil. The Bible doesn’t tell us exactly what they were doing that was so bad; it just says that their “wickedness” had come up before God. But there’s more to it than that. You see Nineveh was the enemy. They had threatened the people of Israel before. They had a reputation of going around and sacking cities and killing all the people that lived in them. Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh because they were the enemy.
Now it’s not exactly the same thing, I’m not saying that they are evil over there in Iowa City, but It would be a little like sending a died in the wool ISU fan to Iowa City to preach about the virtues of the Cyclones.
Jonah didn’t want to go and he was willing to do just about anything to avoid it. So he went to the coast and chartered a boat for the farthest place he could think of “Tarshish.” We don’t really know where Tarshish is but there is good reason to believe it is Spain, which as far as the Jonah was concerned was the end of the world. The most important part of Tarshish’s location for Jonah was that it was in the opposite direction of Nineveh. So that’s where he headed. But, God of course, was determined in his plan for Nineveh so he sent a storm and a fish. Jonah gets thrown overboard and into the fish’s belly, where he spends three very long days.
Finally, after he should have died, Jonah got spit up on the shore. And God said to Jonah a second time, “Go to Nineveh and proclaim to it what I asked you to proclaim.” And Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord. You’ve gotta love the bible here for its understatement. After being chased down by a storm and spending three days in the fish; of course Jonah went to Nineveh. He knew he couldn’t run again. Who knew what God had in mind if he decided to run again? So Jonah went to Nineveh, but he was still the reluctant prophet. And this is where that short sermon comes in. Jonah preached as little as he could preach. Apparently just enough to satisfy what God told him to say. “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” At first you might be tempted to think that that’s just the content of his message. But if you look you’ll see that those are very the words he used. It was eight simple words (actually on five in Hebrew), but a complete sermon. Jonah, it seems, still wasn’t very anxious to do what God had asked him to do. Kinda like the child who’s supposed to go up and clean his room, and shoves everything under the bed. The room looks clean but it isn’t. Jonah delivers the message, but only in the most minimal way he can deliver it. But, God’s Word always has its way. In spite of Jonah, the people of Nineveh believe what he says. the people of Nineveh believed God. It’s important to notice that they believe God, not Jonah. They take the message they hear as if it comes from God. And not only do they believe but they put their money where their mouth is. Everyone, even the sheep and cattle, fast and sit in sackcloth and ashes as a way to show God that they are truly repentant. And God changes his course of action against them. God’s threat was taken seriously and he doesn’t have to carry it out, because the people had believed.
And Jonah, well he gets mad. “I knew it!” He said. “That’s why I didn’t want to come here. I knew you’d wimp out and not destroy the city. And if any city needs to be destroyed it’s this one. These people are not your people, they’re Gentiles, they’re Ninevites! Aren’t they outside you plan? No… You… God are ‘gracious and compassionate.’ You let them off too easy.” Jonah, it seems had a lot yet to learn, and the book leaves us hanging and never tells us if he did.
And so what about that short sermon? “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” Well, I don’t think I can ever use it here, but it is good message. You see, it has law and gospel in it. Nineveh is going to be ‘overturned.’ Jonah says. Well, what he means is that Nineveh is on the fire and brimstone schedule, just like Sodom and Gomorrah. “Annihilate” is probably a word that better describes what God had in mind than just “overturn.” It fit pretty well in Jonah’s way of thinking, too. God was planning the total destruction of Nineveh because of her “wickedness.”
You do know that we all fit into that category. Our wickedness comes up before God on a daily basis. No, we aren’t out there destroying cities and killing the inhabitants. We aren’t out there committing great big huge sins. But the truth is that we too are wicked in God’s eyes. We can’t even keep any one of God’s laws perfectly let alone all ten. Jesus clearly tells us that it’s not just a matter of doing and not doing what the commandments say. It’s a matter of the heart. He said that you don’t have to kill someone to be guilty of murder. All you have to do is call them a ‘fool’ or think bad things about them. He says that you don’t have to have an affair to commit adultery. It happens when your eyes wander. And in case you think that that’s not the wickedness that Jesus is talking, about he says that people who break the least of the commandments aren’t worthy of the kingdom of God. Sin begins in the heart. The bible says, “the wages of sin is death.” The wages of sin is overturning, annihilation.
And not only that we easily find ourselves standing in Jonah’s shoes, with Jonah’s attitudes about people. “I’m not as bad as they are,” we say, “after all I’m a member of a church and there are lots of people who don’t belong anywhere. Surely God looks at them differently than he does me. And what about the members of our church who never come? They’ve got to be further down on the favor scale that I am. Maybe they deserve punishment, but not me. I’ve always got my checkbook out. I’m regular in attendance; whenever work needs to be done here I’m first on the list to volunteer.”
Jonah too, expected God to be gracious to him. He was thankful when God saved him from the fish; it didn’t bite him in half. It didn’t swim to the bottom of the sea and stay there. Let’s face it that’s what Jonah deserved. He had been given as specific task to do; there was no doubt about it. He was running away from God. God could have struck him dead. But God was gracious to him and let him live. Jonah’s problem isn’t a lack of thankfulness for what God had done; it was a failure to see that God’s grace is for other people too. The people in Nineveh needed God’s word. They needed to hear God’s plans for them, but Jonah didn’t want them to have it. He wanted to keep it for himself, and the people who he saw as the people of God. That simply wasn’t God’s plan.
Think about how we would treat the doctor who walked through those doors compared to the smelly bum. Think about our desire to get people to come back to church for the sake of the budget instead of their benefit in hearing God’s Word and receiving forgiveness here.
There was Gospel in Jonah’s message, in spite of Jonah’s wish. “Forty more days…” he said. There was yet a chance for the people of Nineveh to repent. There was time before the destruction to get things right with God again. Just the fact that God sent Jonah in the first place was an act of God’s grace. He could have destroyed them with out any warning at all. God’s plan for the Ninevites wasn’t destruction but restoration. God is ‘gracious and compassionate’ as Jonah said. He didn’t kill Jonah. He didn’t destroy Nineveh when they repented, either.
God is gracious he gives us a time and a place to repent of our sin. He gives us his word that convicts us of our sin. And he tells us of our Savior, Jesus. Who bled and died on the cross for our forgiveness instead of our destruction.
Well so, what’s this text really all about? It’s not about Jonah getting swallowed and spit up by a big fish. It’s not about how wicked the people Nineveh were. And it’s not even about us and our sin. It’s really about God, His grace, His forgiveness, and His Word. He is gracious and compassionate. Peter, Jesus disciple says it this way:
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9, ESV)
That message about God’s grace is the message of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to us in our Nineveh, even though we were the enemies of God and deserved punishment, overturning and annihilation. Jesus wasn’t reluctant, like Jonah, to come to us; he did it of his own free will, because it was part of God’s plan to save the whole world. Jesus preached an equally simple message. “Repent the Kingdom of God is here!” Now is the time to act. Now is the time to repent and set things right with God. God could have just destroyed the world without warning, but instead he sent Jesus to save you and me. That punishment that we deserved, that overturning and annihilation, Jesus Christ took it on himself on the cross. He was overturned and killed instead of us. He died and spent his three days, not in the belly of a fish, but in the darkness of death. And God changed his deserved action against us. Jesus died instead. Just like the fish spit Jonah on the shore, Jesus broke free from death. And we are free from the punishment of our sin.
God’s Word had its effect on the people of Nineveh. They repented of their sins. They turned from their evil. God was gracious to them. God is gracious to us. He has forgiven us, because of Jesus. We hear God’s Word that tells us to turn to Him for forgiveness. And we have faith in him, so we do repent and God forgives. The power for the people of Nineveh was in the Word of God, that great little sermon from the reluctant prophet. The power for us today is also in the Word of God. It says confess because I forgive.
Think about what it means to have the Word of God in this place. You can come here Sunday after Sunday and hear about the forgiveness won for you by Jesus. You can come here and see that forgiveness given to God’s people in Baptism, and Holy Communion. And remember that that Word of forgiveness isn’t just for you, it’s for the whole world, even the Ninevites.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Third Sunday after The Ephiphany, January 22, 2006, Jonah 3:1-10
Jonah3v1-10
Epiphany 3, 2006
St. John's Lutheran Church, Howard, SD
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you." So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish." When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (Jonah 3:1-10, ESV)
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Get ready to hear the shortest sermon on record… don't get your hopes up; it's not the one I'm preaching right now. It's the one found here in the book of Jonah. It's right in the middle of Chapter three, which is our Old Testament lesson for today. And it must be an important reading because it's the only time that the book of Jonah is read during the whole church year.
You all know the story of Jonah the reluctant prophet. The guy who ran away from God and got swallowed by a big fish for his efforts. "The word of the Lord came to Jonah," is how the story starts. Jonah was a prophet; his job was to take the Word of God to the people God told him to go to. And God gave him the task of taking that Word to Nineveh. Now Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh. It wasn't a very nice town; in fact it was very evil. The Bible doesn't tell us exactly what they were doing that was so bad; it just says that their "wickedness" had come up before God. But there's more to it than that. You see Nineveh was the enemy. They had threatened the people of Israel before. They had a reputation of going around and sacking cities and killing all the people that lived in them. Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh because they were the enemy. In the old days Nebraska Cornhusker fans would understand this like going to Norman and preaching about the Big Red. Jonah didn't want to go and he was willing to do just about anything to avoid it. So he went to the coast and chartered a boat for the farthest place he could think of "Tarshish." We don't really know where Tarshish is but there is good reason to believe it's Spain, which as far as the Jonah was concerned was the end of the world. The most important part of Tarshish's location for Jonah was that it was in the opposite direction of Nineveh. So that's where he headed. But, God of course, was determined in his plan for Nineveh so he sent a storm and a fish. Jonah gets thrown overboard and into the fish's belly, where he spends three very long days.
Finally, after he should have died, Jonah got spit up on the shore. And God said to Jonah a second time, "Go to Nineveh and proclaim to it what I asked you to proclaim." And Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord. You've gotta love the bible here for it's understatement. After being chased down by a storm and spending days in the fish; Of course he went to Nineveh. He knew he couldn't run again. Who knew what God had in mind if he decided to run again? So Jonah went to Nineveh, but he was still the reluctant prophet. And this is where that short sermon comes in. Jonah preached as little as he could preach. Apparently just enough to satisfy what God told him to say. "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." At first you might be tempted to think that that's just the content of his message. But if you look you'll see that those are very the words he used. It was eight simple words (actually only five in Hebrew, עוֹד אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם וְנִינְוֵה נֶהְפָּכֶת ), but a complete sermon. Jonah, it seems, still wasn't very anxious to do what God had asked him to do. Kinda like the child who's supposed to go up and clean his room, and shoves everything under the bed. The room looks clean but it isn't. Jonah delivers the message, but only in the most minimal way he can deliver it. But, God's Word always has its way. In spite of Jonah, the people of Nineveh believe what he says. The Ninevites believed God. It's important to notice that they believe God, not Jonah. They take the message they hear as if it to be from God. They believe in God, and repent of their sin. You see, repentance always follows faith. And not only do they believe, they put their money where their mouth is. Everyone, even the sheep and cattle, fast and sit in sackcloth and ashes as a way to show God that they are truly repentant. And God changes his course of action against them. God's threat was taken seriously the people of Nineveh have faith in God to forgive them, and he doesn't have to carry it out His threat, because the people had changed.
And Jonah, well he gets mad. "I knew it!" He said. "That's why I didn't want to come here. I knew you'd wimp out and not destroy the city. And if any city needs to be destroyed it's this one. These people are not your people, they're Gentiles, they're Ninevites! Aren't they outside you plan? No! You, God, are 'gracious and compassionate.' You let them off too easy." Jonah, it seems had a lot yet to learn, and the book leaves us hanging and never tells us if he did.
And so what about that short sermon? "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." Well, I don't think I can ever use it here, but it is good message. You see, it has law and gospel in it. Nineveh is going to be "overturned." Jonah says. Well, what he means is that Nineveh is on the fire and brimstone schedule, just like Sodom and Gomorrah. "Annihilate" is probably a word that better describes what God had in mind than just "overturn." It fit pretty well in Jonah's way of thinking, too. God was planning the total destruction of Nineveh because of her "wickedness."
You do know that we all fit into that category. Our wickedness comes up before God on a daily basis. No, we aren't out there destroying cities and killing the inhabitants. We aren't out there committing great big huge sins. But the truth is that we too are wicked in God's eyes. We can't even keep any one of God's laws perfectly let alone all ten. Jesus clearly tells us that it's not just a matter of doing and not doing what the commandments say. It's a matter of the heart. He said that you don't have to kill someone to be guilty of murder. All you have to do is call them a 'fool' or think bad things about them. He says that you don't have to have an affair to commit adultery. It happens when your eyes wander. And in case you think that that's not the wickedness that Jesus is talking, about he says that people who break the least of the commandments aren't worthy of the kingdom of God. Sin begins in the heart. The bible says, "the wages of sin is death." The wages of sin is overturning, annihilation.
We could easily be found standing in Jonah's shoes saying, "I'm not as bad as they are. After all I'm a member of a church and there are lots of people who don't belong anywhere. Surely God looks at them differently than he does me. And what about the members of our church who never come? They've got to be further down on the favor scale that I am. Maybe they deserve punishment, but not me. I've always got my checkbook out whenever the church needs money." Jonah too, expected God to be gracious to him. He was thankful when God saved him from the fish; it didn't bite him in half. It didn't swim to the bottom of the sea and stay there. Let's face it that's what Jonah deserved. He had been given as specific task to do; there was no doubt about it. He was running away from God. God could have struck him dead. But God was gracious to him and let him live. Jonah's problem isn't a lack of thankfulness for what God had done; it was a failure to see that God's grace is for other people too. The people in Nineveh needed God's word. They needed to hear God's plans for them, but Jonah didn't want them to have it. He wanted to keep it for himself, and the people who he saw as the people of God. That simply wasn't God's plan.
There was Gospel in Jonah's message, in spite of Jonah's wish. "Forty more days…" he said. There was yet a chance for the people of Nineveh to repent. There was time before the destruction to get things right with God again. Just the fact that God sent Jonah in the first place was an act of God's grace. He could have destroyed them with out any warning at all. God's plan for the Ninevites wasn't destruction but restoration. God is 'gracious and compassionate' as Jonah said. He didn't kill Jonah. He didn't destroy Nineveh when they repented, either.
Well so, what's this text really all about? It's not about Jonah getting swallowed and spit up by a big fish. It's not about how wicked the people Nineveh were. And it's not even about us and our sin. It's really about God, His grace, His forgiveness, and His Word. He is gracious and compassionate. St. Peter wrote: He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 God doesn't want people to live in sin and guilt, He takes care of it by sending Jesus to be our Savior, to bring us forgiveness of sins, just like He forgave the people of Nineveh.
That message about God's grace is the message of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to us in our Nineveh, even though we were the enemies of God and deserved punishment, overturning and annihilation. Jesus wasn't reluctant, like Jonah, to come to us; he did it of his own free will, because it was part of God's plan to save the whole world. Jesus preached an equally simple message. "Repent the Kingdom of God is here!" Now is the time to act. Now is the time to repent and set things right with God. God could have just destroyed the world without warning, but instead he sent Jesus to save you and me. That punishment that we deserved, that overturning and annihilation, Jesus Christ took it on himself on the cross. He was overturned and killed instead of us. He died and spent his three days, not in the belly of a fish, but in the darkness of death. And God changed his planned action against us. Jesus died instead. Just like the fish spit Jonah on the shore, Jesus broke free from death. And we are free from the punishment of our sin.
God's Word had its effect on the people of Nineveh. They repented of their sins. They turned from their evil. God was gracious to them. God is gracious to us. He has forgiven us, because of Jesus. We hear God's Word that tells us to turn to Him for forgiveness. And so we do and so He forgives. The power for the people of Nineveh was in the Word of God, that great little sermon from the reluctant prophet. The power us today is also in the Word of God. It says confess because I forgive.
Think about what it means to have the Word of God in this place. You can come here Sunday after Sunday and hear about the forgiveness won for you by Jesus. You can come here and see that forgiveness given to God's people in Baptism, and Holy Communion. And remember that that Word of forgiveness isn't just for you, it's for the whole world, even the Ninevites.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.--
Rev. Jonathan C. Watt
St. John's Lutheran Church
Howard, South Dakota