I say Jonah, you say…

sermon by Carrie Eikler
Jonah 1-4
January 22, 2012

I love doing word association exercises. You know, where one person says a word and you say the first thing that comes to your mind? Like for example, if I say… “snow” the first thing you think is ____ (cold? white?).
How about, “good?”
soft?
Adam?
Jonah?

It’s pretty assured that if you mention Jonah to even the youngest of church or synagogue-goers they will say “whale,” or “big fish” as it is actually referred to in scripture. Same probably goes for…
Daniel? Lions!
Noah? Flood!
But Jonah and that big fish. Ask any child what happened to Jonah and I imagine the conversation would like something like this
So, tell me about Jonah
“well, he got swallowed by a fish”.
Yes, that’s right! Why did he get swallowed by a fish?
uh…cause he was in the ocean?
yes, that’s right, he was in the ocean. Why was he in the ocean?
uh…beeecause…
OK, OK, well what happened after he was in the belly of the fish?
ooo!!me!!
yes?
the fish puked him up!
Right, and then what?
uhh…
So children, what then is the moral of the Jonah story?
uhh…you better…learn to swim.

I’ll admit, before I went to seminary and spent three rather hilarious weeks looking at Jonah, I was that child. Whales, and fish puke. That’s what the Jonah story was to me. Maybe it’s like that to you, and be assured, you are in good company.

Whales and lions and floods have great sticking power. We remember the stories have those things in them. But we do tend to forget what they really were about, or how they are anything but spectacular stories.

Jonah is known as one of the “minor” prophets. There are the “major” prophets, the big wigs, the ones we know about and are pretty likely to stumble upon if we choose to open our bible somewhere in the middle-Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel…those guys.

And then there are the “minor prophets”, the prophets whose stories are much shorter. The ones you can spend five minutes leafing through the middle part of the bible searching for and if only 2 pages stick together you probably missed them, so you have to turn to the table of contents.

Jonah is considered “minor.” There are only four chapters. But what four chapters they are. Hopefully this morning you got the essence of the entire Jonah story, because we pretty much covered it: with the children we looked at the events leading up to the belly of the whale part…

God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh and give them the divine word that something’s really gonna go down if they don’t change their ways. To which, you can almost hear Jonah snorting, “I don’t think so” and thinking he can outwit God, he gets on a boat headed… anywhere else.

Now first, let me say, Jonah is different than most prophetic books. This was written as an ancient form of satire. We don’t usually think of biblical writings like this, do we? But this was written to entertain the readers, while also delivering a message. It’s not biblical history, it’s like a comic book. So whatever struggles you may have about what God is doing in this story (and I know I certainly have some issues), we aren’t meant to ask the question “did this actually happen?” but more ask the question, after we stop laughing, “Does this sort of thing, in our own lives, perhaps less dramatically, actually happen? Do we turn away from God?

So he’s on the boat and God, the great trickster in this satire, throws a storm, the sailors freak out, crying to their own God, they throw everything overboard and realize the only thing left to throw out is the human cargo, and as humans are apt to do, they look for the scapegoat. And there’s Jonah, sleeping through the whole thing and they interrogate him like hardened immigration officials: who are you? where are you from? your papers? your God?

And Jonah says, throw me over and the sea will calm down.

Wow. Maybe he’s not such a bad guy after all. And then it happens.
The part we all know and love. The big fish. And isn’t it interesting to note that it was God who provided the fish for Jonah. The fish was safety for Jonah. As a child I didn’t remember that. I just thought Jonah was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But Jonah knows it’s for his safety because he sings a beautiful song of thanksgiving:

I called to the Lord out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
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;
how shall I look again
upon your holy temple?...
As my life was ebbing away
I remembered the Lord;
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple…
Deliverance belongs to the Lord!”
[pause]

…and then the fish pukes him up.

And then we pick up with the two chapters Linda read, a rather comic unfolding of Jonah going to Nineveh to proclaim God’s wrath, the Ninevites surprisingly listening and repenting, Jonah pouting like a four year old told he has to eat his brussel sprouts, saying I don’t like you God because you are too nice, too merciful, you made me look like a fool and a false prophet, and you care more about those sinners than you do about me who did what you asked [after I ran away and got stuck in the belly of a fish].

And then he’s covered by bush, and he’s happy. Then God causes the bush to die, and he’s petulant again. And we’re left with an abrupt ending and God gets the last word, “should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city…where there are [thousands of ignorant people] and also many animals?” End. of. story.

Whew. What a story. A bit of a big fish story if you ask me. And don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you “the moral” of the story. In fact, I think when we do that, we imply that there is one thing you should take away from the biblical stories and then they don’t become living anymore. They loose their power to speak new messages, make us laugh and cry because we see ourselves anew in it now, much differently than when we were children.

We just remember… it’s about a whale.

And even after today when I say Jonah, you still might say “whale”, but instead of that, let me continue with a question that seems to rise out of this story, this time, for me.

Who would you like to see fail?

Who would you, like Jonah, like to see God “smite” down?

Now, I know as good Christians, and especially as peace loving Anabaptists, we feel there is no one that we should like to see fail or to get punished. I think many of us here can say that there is no one, or group, we believe should be smoked out and killed, no matter what they have done.

But you know, if I’m honest, there are certain people who I wished were forcibly humbled, perhaps, humiliated-- just a bit. Or at least, as they say I wish they’d “get their come-uppance. To get put in their place. There are people who I roll my eyes at and believe they are so below me because of what they think.

No, we’re not declaring judgment on these people, but we do secretly wish them ill in some way. And if you have a hard time finding your Ninevites, think of who it is—either an individual or a group of people—who brings a sneer to your mouth, or a sigh to your breath, or causes you to roll your eyes, or who you find some smart aleck remark to demean them, (when you’re all by yourself).

Who are your Ninevites?

Are they Muslims? Evangelical Christians? Democrats? Tea Partiers? pro-life activists? gay rights activists? Latinos? The Chinese? The French?

Is it Congress? Wall Street? Your neighbor who disgusts you in some way? Your friend what can’t seem to get her priorities straight? Your in-laws who…well, no matter, whatever they do is going to annoy you?

Is it your spouse? Your child ? Is it yourself?

Get that person in your mind

Now call forth the feeling you get when you come across them on the street, or hear about them in the news, or see them in the grocery store…

Now, here’s is God’s question posed to Jonah… “Is it right for you to be angry?”
[pause]
Is it right for you to have such negative feelings towards these people?
[pause]
No, we know it’s not “right” of us. We know we shouldn’t feel this way. But, let me tell you God, it is justified.

And that’s the sticky point isn’t it? The people of Nineveh were Assyrians and Assyrians had attacked and destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel around 700BCE. These are Israel’s enemies and you better believe he was justified in wanting God’s vengeance on these people.

You bet we are justified in drawing those who have backward ideas as closed-minded bigots, or those who threaten the moral fabric of our nation as sinful heathens

I feel justified because I think I know how things are supposed to be. How people are supposed to be. Is it right of me to? Probably not. But it sure makes me feel better about myself.

But then, I find, that I really… don’t… feel better about myself. I just feel… bitter. I start to become a sulky, petulant Jonah, whining under my withered bush, sunburned, and somewhat…alone.

…

Oftentimes, the biggest barrier to showing the world God’s grace and mercy, is ourselves. Jonah is a story about repentance and redemption. Certainly about the Ninevites, but the way it ends, in it’s awkward abrupt question from God.

It turns the story towards the potential for Jonah’s repentance…and our redemption.

Jonah is left sulking and bitter. We don’t know how he will respond to God’s mercy and the truth…

…that God’s love has no boundaries, no matter how much we wish it did. It is not only for the righteous, it is not only for ourselves.

This story leaves us asking…what will happen to Jonah?

What will happen to Jonah, if he accepts that God will not keep LOVE from others, no matter how hard he…or we, try to.

What will happen to Jonah if he lets God’s boundless love turn his heart?

So take note this week. When a person, a group…your Ninevites, present themselves to you, note your reaction. And ask, no matter how justified I feel in my anger, or disgust, or righteousness, am I sitting alone…under my dead bush?

And if it seems you are, then take a step out from under it, proclaim a prophecy to yourself—not one of judgment—but a prophecy of God’s love. Proclaim a prophecy to yourself…and ask for mercy.

Because God’s eager to for you to receive it.