Creekside Church Sermon of January 23, 2000 "Jonah: More Than a Fish Story" Jonah 3:1-5, 10	Rev. David Bibbee
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There's a parallel between last Sunday's and today's text. Last week it was I Samuel 3: 1-10. Today it is Jonah 3: 1-10, but here the similarity ends. When God spoke to young Samuel, Samuel replied, "Speak Lord, your servant listens." Other prophets like Isaiah said, "Here I am, Lord, send me." They placed themselves at God's beck and call. Not Jonah. The other prophets first prophesied to Israel and then to the other nations. Not Jonah. Their sermons took up most of the book. Jonah preached a sermon just eight words long. There is very little personal information about the prophets in their books, but there is an abundance of it in Jonah's adventure.

Jonah was a different sort of character. The word of the Lord came to Jonah announcing that his marching orders were, "Go to Ninevah and prophesy against it." "Preach against them," God said. "I've seen their wickedness." Calling the Assyrians wicked would be like saying Bill Gates makes a decent living. The Assyrians had written the book on cruelty. Assyria had carted Israel into exile. They were fond of skinning their enemies alive and hanging their hides on walls like trophies. It would be worth it to watch them get what they deserved.

But Jonah fled from God, not because he was afraid of failing, but as we shall see, because of he was afraid of succeeding. Jonah jumped on a ship with an all-pagan crew to sail away from God, but a funny thing happened. A raging storm threatened to capsize the boat, and when the crew learned it was because of Jonah, he told them to toss him overboard. But these were moral pagans. They refused. It was only when they saw they couldn't fight the storm that they consented, but not before these godless heathens pleaded for mercy from Jonah's God. They tossed Jonah overboard and the storm subsided. And guess what they did then? They gave themselves to the Lord. Imagine that. Jonah didn't witness to them, yet they were converted.

You know what happened next. A big fish plucked Jonah from the surface. But the meal didn't agree with the fish. Jonah's foul disposition was so nauseating the fish threw him up. Then God spoke to Jonah a second time. Told him to clean up and get rid of that fish smell and go up to Ninevah to preach the message that God would give him. Can't you hear him muttering under his breath, "You can make me go, but you can't make me like it!"

The odds for success in this evangelical campaign were at best a long shot. Here he was in the capital of the brutal, barbaric Assyrian Empire, a foul tempered prophet who had come against his will to deliver a warning to people he hated. Jonah passed the "Welcome to Ninevah" sign, stood on the steps of the Ninevah Chamber of Commerce and began to preach. It didn't take long. The Guinness Book of World Records has an entry for the world's shortest sermon. It was preached back in the 80's by an Episcopal priest. It was one word long. He stood up at the pulpit, said, "Love," and sat down. That was it.

Jonah preached what God told him to preach, and not one word more. It was barely longer than the shortest record. "Forty days more and Ninevah shall be overthrown!" God didn't say how many times he was supposed to say it, so Jonah figured once was enough. At least Jonah could get some perverse pleasure knowing that Ninevah would pay dearly. But it didn't work out that way.

No sooner had Jonah spoken the eight-word, poorly delivered sermon, than the Ninevites began to repent. "Forty days more and Ninevah will be overthrown!' was all it took for a tidal wave of repentance to roll over that great city. A fast was proclaimed. Everyone put on sackcloth. When Jonah's sermon reached the king, he took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat in a pile of ashes instead of upon his throne. More people repented that day that at all Billy Graham crusades combined. The king didn't want to take any chances, so he ordered every person to repent from the youngest to the oldest. Just to be safe, he included animals, so people put sackcloth on their pets. Farmers put it on their chickens and cattle...and don't ask me how a cow repents, unless it is in udder sincerity. Ninevah's repentance was so thorough, even God repented. Never had anything been seen like it.

And what did Jonah think about this? He was livid. "I knew it! I just knew it!" The thing Jonah feared most happened. "I knew you are a gracious God, merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Now you know why I tried to flee. I despise them, but you have a soft spot in your heart for this scum!"

Whoever said the Bible isn't funny obviously hasn't read Jonah. Here is a man who succeeds despite his best efforts not to. This story was written at a time when Israel was centered on itself. They took their chosen status to mean that God loved them, and only them. The very idea that God's love and forgiveness could be offered to a hated nation was inconceivable, not to mention undesirable. Israel had forgotten the reason God had blessed it in the first place...not to be singled out for favor, but for a task spelled out in Isaiah 42:

I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from their dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

Jonah wanted God to be merciful, but not so merciful as to include Ninevah. Jonah wanted to be a judge...not a light.

Revisiting Jonah brought to mind something that happened to me years ago. A young woman in the church asked if I would speak at an installation service for some group called the Rainbow Girls. I was green back then and said yes before I had asked very many questions, but she said it was founded on religious principals, so what was I going to say? We met a week later to work out the details. As I recall the theme she selected was something nice like, "Love Around the World". I asked her how she got stared with the Rainbow Girls. She said that all her sisters belonged...except one. "Oh," I said. "Why was that?" "Her best friend couldn't come to her installation." "Oh," I said. "Why was that?" "She was Catholic." "Oh, really? Catholics can't be belong? Anyone else?" "Well, yes...Blacks and Jews." "Does this bother you at all?" "At first it did, until I learned that they have their own organization we can't belong to." "So what you're saying is your organization practices segregation." "I guess so." "Do you see anything inconsistent about Rainbow rules and your theme, 'Love Around the World'?"

I wanted to go to Tarshish. I didn't want to speak, but I had promised. But...they didn't say I couldn't talk about their membership exclusion. I'll march into the Masonic Temple and they won't know what hit them.

The film "ET" had just come out and I began by asking how many had seen it. Nearly every hand went up. Great! I said ET was the first alien who wasn't an enemy. He hadn't come to conquer the Earth or dine on its inhabitants. The alien was a friend. I said that by keeping ourselves separate from those who are different, we hurt ourselves and deny that we are all created in God's image.

As I spoke I thought to myself, "Bet they haven't heard anything like this before." After I finished and the ceremony was over I braced myself for a verbal assault. But it never came. It was all smiles and thank yous. "We really liked your message." "You what?" "We liked it. We thought it was really good." "You liked it? What do you mean, you liked it? You weren't supposed to like it! I just criticized your organization! You must not have been listening." Then a fellow in a tuxedo came up and had tears in his eyes. He said, "You really gave us something to think about." What happened? I think they heard me say what they wanted to hear me say.

But you know, as I think back, I don't think I really wanted them to get it. I was Jonah, reluctantly preaching a message I didn't want them to accept. For all I know, maybe someone did reconsider what they had always accepted.

It's easy to have a laugh at poor old Jonah's expense, but how like him I can sometimes be. The love of God is broader than I would like. He pities the people I dislike and detest and dismiss. You remember that Jesus told a parable about vineyard workers who all received the same wage though some had toiled since daybreak while others came a little before the 5:00 whistle. "It isn't fair!" they cried. And the master replied, "Do you begrudge my generosity?"

The answer is, yes. We begrudge God's generosity like the vineyard workers and like the elder brother over the grace given his prodigal brother. Would that we learn to be grateful for it instead.

It's easy to pick on Jonah. Maybe we would change our tune if he picked on us. Did you ever wish that the car passing you with the horn honking and a foul gesture from the driver would get pulled over for speeding? Did you ever wish that the rude waitress waiting on you would drop a big platter of food on the floor? Did you ever wish that the jerk at the office who had given you so much grief would be given the riot act by the boss and then fired? Sure you have.

Okay, Jonah, that's enough...we get the point.

Jonah's story does come to a close, but the end is left dangling. It concludes with God putting a question to Jonah:

And should I not pity Ninevah, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who did know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?

We don't have Jonah's answer, which of course means we must supply our own. Will we be converted from the sin of self-righteousness? Will we be able to wish for others the mercy which God has given us though we did not deserve it? Will we continue to set limits on who is worthy of God's mercy and steadfast love, or will we in humility remember that the love of God is broader than the measure of our minds? And will we be willing to let God be God, and stop trying to be judge of others, and instead, be a light to others?

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