St. Philip's Episcopal Church Annapolis, Maryland
September 18, 2011
Jonah 3:10-4:11
When God saw what the people of Nineveh did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." And the LORD said, "Is it right for you to be angry?" Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.
The LORD God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, "It is better for me to die than to live."
But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?" And he said, "Yes, angry enough to die." Then the LORD said, "You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?"
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When I was a kid, I didn't’ like the story of Jonah because I had a fear of drowning and reading or hearing a story about someone being thrown overboard in rough seas wasn’t exactly comforting.
What’s interesting about this story is in many ways it’s been relegated to children’s books and it seems that adults don’t spend much time with it. Which I think is unfortunate because it has many things to say to us. Our Jewish brothers and sisters read this book on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.
The Book of Jonah opens with God telling Jonah to go and prophesy to the people of Nineveh. In the opening lines, it appears that Jonah is going to get up and do exactly that. He gets up out of bed and heads to the dock to get on a boat. It’s only later that we find out that this boat is headed in the exact opposite direction – to Tarshish which would be modern-day Spain. So Jonah has in his head a nice vacation on the coast of Spain rather than going to the difficult place that God has called him to. That part’s at least clear.
Jonah is like many folks who tell God yes, but mean no.
So Jonah gets on the boat and as they are at sea a great storm arises and everyone is fearful for their lives. All the sailors are pagans and pray to their gods to no avail. The captain finds Jonah asleep in the middle of the ship. He tells Jonah to wake up and begin praying. Jonah doesn’t pray. Finally the sailors draw straws to see who is the culprit. Who has angered God so much. Jonah gets the short straw. Finally he confesses. It’s his fault. God sent him on a journey and he headed in the exact opposite direction. He tells the men to throw him overboard and everything will be okay. These pagans act better than Jonah does. They try everything in their power to prevent throwing him overboard. They try to row back to the shore. They throw things overboard. Finally, when nothing works they decide to do what Jonah asks and throw him overboard. And God has a big fish come alongside the boat and swallow him. End of part one of Jonah and end of most children’s books.
Part two opens with God once again calling Jonah to go to the people of Nineveh and to preach to them. This time Jonah obeys. But what’s interesting is he only utters five Hebrew words. “In forty days Nineveh will be smashed.” That’s it. Jonah obeys the letter of the law, but not necessarily the spirit. Jonah assumed that this wouldn’t be enough for the people of Nineveh to turn to God. The king, the entire nation, do a 180. They put on the clothes of mourning – sackcloth and ashes and repent. We’re told that even animals put on sackcloth.
Jonah sees that the city has repented and God decides to spare the city. He gets angry. Really angry at God. He challenges God – God I knew that if I went and did what you told me to do that you would be merciful and not destroy the city. Then he asks God to kill him. That he’s better of dead. God challenges Jonah. “What do you have to be angry about?” Jonah then goes off to sulk and builds himself a booth to see what happens to Nineveh firsthand. I think Jonah thinks he can change God’s mind again so that God will in fact destroy the city and he wants a front row seat. This is probably the first Reality TV show long before it’s time.
God has a tree suddenly grow up next to the booth Jonah built to give him shade. Jonah was pleased with the shade. Life was looking up. But then the next day God sent a worm to eat the tree. The next day the sun was shining brightly and there was a hot wind blowing like opening an oven set on 425 degrees. Jonah thought he was going to faint and Jonah again wants to die. God asks Jonah what right he has to be mad. Jonah is more concerned about a plant than 120,000 people that live in a city. And so ends the Book of Jonah.
I think the reason we get mad when we hear the story of Jonah is our innate sense of justice. Bishop N. T. Wright in his book Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense argues that within each of us is a longing for justice. We want people to be treated fairly and justly. Deep inside of us we know when someone has been wronged. We know that Jonah is shortchanging the people of Nineveh by not treating them fairly and seeing them as God sees them – as deeply loved Children of God.
When we see someone treated differently because of the color of their skin, because of their religion, because of their sexual orientation, or because of their socioeconomic status we KNOW it’s wrong. We KNOW it’s wrong when Jonah treats the Ninevites badly simply because they’re Gentiles and not Jews.
One of my favorite theologians is Dr. James Cone a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Cone speak back in January 2008 and someone asked him about the present crisis in the Anglican Communion. Dr. Cone is an African Methodist Episcopal Church pastor, so he didn’t have anything to lose by answering the question honestly and truthfully. The questioner asked “Will there ever be reconciliation in the Anglican Communion over issues of human sexuality?” Dr. Cone responded that reconciliation can never happen until there’s justice. Until gay and lesbian Christians are treated with dignity and respect and treated equally as straight Christians. Archbishop Desmond Tutu who chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa would probably respond in the same way. Reconciliation couldn’t happen in South Africa until justice had won the day and blacks were treated with the same dignity and respect as whites.
So today I wonder where God might be calling us to work for justice today. I wonder what lessons Jonah might have to teach us. About treating everyone with dignity and respect and loving our fellow human beings as ourselves. Of walking in the ways of Micah 6:8 – of doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God. Amen.
When I was a kid, I didn't’ like the story of Jonah because I had a fear of drowning and reading or hearing a story about someone being thrown overboard in rough seas wasn’t exactly comforting.
What’s interesting about this story is in many ways it’s been relegated to children’s books and it seems that adults don’t spend much time with it. Which I think is unfortunate because it has many things to say to us. Our Jewish brothers and sisters read this book on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.
The Book of Jonah opens with God telling Jonah to go and prophesy to the people of Nineveh. In the opening lines, it appears that Jonah is going to get up and do exactly that. He gets up out of bed and heads to the dock to get on a boat. It’s only later that we find out that this boat is headed in the exact opposite direction – to Tarshish which would be modern-day Spain. So Jonah has in his head a nice vacation on the coast of Spain rather than going to the difficult place that God has called him to. That part’s at least clear.
Jonah is like many folks who tell God yes, but mean no.
So Jonah gets on the boat and as they are at sea a great storm arises and everyone is fearful for their lives. All the sailors are pagans and pray to their gods to no avail. The captain finds Jonah asleep in the middle of the ship. He tells Jonah to wake up and begin praying. Jonah doesn’t pray. Finally the sailors draw straws to see who is the culprit. Who has angered God so much. Jonah gets the short straw. Finally he confesses. It’s his fault. God sent him on a journey and he headed in the exact opposite direction. He tells the men to throw him overboard and everything will be okay. These pagans act better than Jonah does. They try everything in their power to prevent throwing him overboard. They try to row back to the shore. They throw things overboard. Finally, when nothing works they decide to do what Jonah asks and throw him overboard. And God has a big fish come alongside the boat and swallow him. End of part one of Jonah and end of most children’s books.
Part two opens with God once again calling Jonah to go to the people of Nineveh and to preach to them. This time Jonah obeys. But what’s interesting is he only utters five Hebrew words. “In forty days Nineveh will be smashed.” That’s it. Jonah obeys the letter of the law, but not necessarily the spirit. Jonah assumed that this wouldn’t be enough for the people of Nineveh to turn to God. The king, the entire nation, do a 180. They put on the clothes of mourning – sackcloth and ashes and repent. We’re told that even animals put on sackcloth.
Jonah sees that the city has repented and God decides to spare the city. He gets angry. Really angry at God. He challenges God – God I knew that if I went and did what you told me to do that you would be merciful and not destroy the city. Then he asks God to kill him. That he’s better of dead. God challenges Jonah. “What do you have to be angry about?” Jonah then goes off to sulk and builds himself a booth to see what happens to Nineveh firsthand. I think Jonah thinks he can change God’s mind again so that God will in fact destroy the city and he wants a front row seat. This is probably the first Reality TV show long before it’s time.
God has a tree suddenly grow up next to the booth Jonah built to give him shade. Jonah was pleased with the shade. Life was looking up. But then the next day God sent a worm to eat the tree. The next day the sun was shining brightly and there was a hot wind blowing like opening an oven set on 425 degrees. Jonah thought he was going to faint and Jonah again wants to die. God asks Jonah what right he has to be mad. Jonah is more concerned about a plant than 120,000 people that live in a city. And so ends the Book of Jonah.
I think the reason we get mad when we hear the story of Jonah is our innate sense of justice. Bishop N. T. Wright in his book Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense argues that within each of us is a longing for justice. We want people to be treated fairly and justly. Deep inside of us we know when someone has been wronged. We know that Jonah is shortchanging the people of Nineveh by not treating them fairly and seeing them as God sees them – as deeply loved Children of God.
When we see someone treated differently because of the color of their skin, because of their religion, because of their sexual orientation, or because of their socioeconomic status we KNOW it’s wrong. We KNOW it’s wrong when Jonah treats the Ninevites badly simply because they’re Gentiles and not Jews.
One of my favorite theologians is Dr. James Cone a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Cone speak back in January 2008 and someone asked him about the present crisis in the Anglican Communion. Dr. Cone is an African Methodist Episcopal Church pastor, so he didn’t have anything to lose by answering the question honestly and truthfully. The questioner asked “Will there ever be reconciliation in the Anglican Communion over issues of human sexuality?” Dr. Cone responded that reconciliation can never happen until there’s justice. Until gay and lesbian Christians are treated with dignity and respect and treated equally as straight Christians. Archbishop Desmond Tutu who chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa would probably respond in the same way. Reconciliation couldn’t happen in South Africa until justice had won the day and blacks were treated with the same dignity and respect as whites.
So today I wonder where God might be calling us to work for justice today. I wonder what lessons Jonah might have to teach us. About treating everyone with dignity and respect and loving our fellow human beings as ourselves. Of walking in the ways of Micah 6:8 – of doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God. Amen.
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