Sermon 07-17-2011

Psalm 139: 1-10, 23-24 Jonah 3:1-10

“Surely God is in This Place!”

How many times do we ask ourselves, where is God?

Or how many times do we ask if God is here? God are you here?

Where is God in your life?

PRAYER

If you read and study the story of Jonah, it is clear to see that he was an arrogant man, foolish and stubborn. He was short of vision, spiritual vision that is. He was also… “prejudice against anyone who was not Jewish or might oppose the unrestricted expansion of Judaism.” (Jimmy Carter. “Sources of Strength,” Meditations on Scripture for a Living Faith. New York: Three Rivers Press,1997, p. 28)

Even though Jonah was a man of a limited mind and heart, he was a prophet, and he was commissioned by God to “go at once to Nineveh, for their wickedness has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:2).

“Nineveh was the ultimate enemy of the Israelites, inhabited by despised Gentiles. It was considered a city condemned by God. (In that context) God called Jonah to go to Nineveh to give the people a chance to repent and to turn around and to be forgiven. How could Jonah betray his own people by traveling to this hated place and delivering such a message? Understandably, this command was difficult for Jonah, who wanted the people of Nineveh to be condemned to hell.” JC28

Jonah was in disagreement with God’s will for him and for the people of Nineveh.

“Jonah has three options: to obey God, to stay where he was and ignore the command, or to run away and hide… he chose the third option.

So he went on a ship to Tarshish, the farthest edge of the known world,” (Ibid).

(in the opposite direction of Nineveh, to run away from) “…the presence of the Lord.” (Jonah 1:3)

Was he escaping himself? Was he escaping God? How many times have we disagreed with God’s plan? Can we really run away from God?

The story continues by saying:

“The ship Jonah was on ran into a great storm and began to flounder on the way to its destination, and the crew somehow knew that this was a special tempest sent by God to punish someone on the ship. The sailors (in their fear) cast lots and identified Jonah as the guilt person onboard. They found him asleep in his cabin, and he confessed that he was trying to escape from God. As far as we know; he was the only one on the ship who was not praying; he identified himself as a Hebrew who worshiped “the God of Heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” It was typical of Jonah to acknowledge the power and omnipresence of God but still he refused to pray, repent, or obey. Instead he chose to commit suicide by telling the crew, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea.” This they did and the sea was calmed, (the crew was immediately saved and they knew that surely God was with them in that place) … and Jonah was saved by being taken into a big fish.” (Jimmy Carter, idem, p.28-29)

“The Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah 1:17

Here in the darkest moment of his life, in the dark belly of a whale, Jonah prays for deliverance. “I call to you God out of my distress…” Jonah realized that surely God was in that place, in the belly of the fish. And God… “spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land. The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, ‘Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” Jonah 2:10 & 3:1

As Jonah announced the message of God to the people on the city of Nineveh, “they believed God! They believed that God meant what was said. Because the city took the threat of ‘overthrow’ seriously, the city repented of its wickedness in a predictable and familiar ritual of fasting and sackcloth.”

(Walter Brueggemann, “Texts for Preaching.” Year B. p. 116)

In the story we see “how the people proceeded to repent and how the king’s engagement and concern for his people, animals and land was taken seriously and they initiated fasting, repentance and remorse, knowing that surely God was in that land.

It is interesting in the story to note that, “the king of Nineveh is unwilling to accept the message of Jonah of destruction of their city as God’s last word. The king entertains the daring theological option that the human action of repentance against punishment can influence God and cause God to alter the terrible decree that God has freedom to act in an alternative way.” (idem, p. 117)

Does God change his mind? That is a good theological question, in fact it is the question posted by the king. “Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.” Jonah 3:9

The people of Nineveh, turned around, they repented and changed their ways. God turned around and changed his mind. Yes! God changed his mind because the people changed. They changed their mind, their hearts, their intentions, their disposition and attitude. Their conversion, resulted in sorrow for their sins, they recognized the presence of God.

Ironically, “Jonah was an indignant prophet who would prefer that God was flat, unchanging and predictable.

Jonah could not believe that the people actually were going to take his preaching seriously and change. He was very upset that his prophecy against Nineveh was not going to come true. Jonah complains to God: “You know, this is why I did not answer your call the first time… for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishment. Jonah really knew God! But he wanted to limit God to his own will. In his mind and heart no mercy and no love was deserved by those sinners of Nineveh.

Jonah was heartbroken, he actually mourns his success, he was disappointed, he had no compassion, he was not sorry for them. He was so frustrated with God that he went up a mountain outside the city and sat under a bush. He was going to wait and see the destruction of Nineveh as he predicted.

Jonah was happy under the shade of the bush. He decided to come back the next day to sit under the same bush again.

That night God appointed a worm to eat the bush so that it withered. The next day the mid day sun beat down on the head of Jonah to the point of fainting and death. God asked Jonah, why are you angry?

“You are concerned and upset about a 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. Should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left…” Jonah 4:10-11. (ibid.)

What can we learn from this story?

We can’t escape from the presence of God!

We can’t hide from our realities and responsibilities!

People can change and God can change!

Jonah had a hard time changing because it meant that he had to face his own humanity, but even he was able to recognize that in that very dark moment of our his life, God was surely present!

We believe in a God that is gracious, caring and merciful. Slow to anger and abundant in steadfast love! Amen!

BENEDICTION

May we walk good paths, O God, living on this earth

as brothers and sisters should; rejoicing in one another’s

sorrows, and together with you renewing the face of the earth.

Go in peace! Amen!

A Native American Benediction from “Gifts of Many Cultures,”

Tirabassi/Wonson Eddy