Jonah’s Hate and God’s Calling

Summary

When I was a child, for either Sunday School or Vacation Bible School, I cannot remember which we had the theme of Jonah and the Whale for some sessions, and we capped it off by having a little outdoor play about Jonah fleeing from God, and being eaten by the whale.  For the outdoor play, the teachers had a surprise for the students and parents.

At that time in Minneapolis there was a radio station 93.7 FM, with the call letters, WAYL.  Of course, when WAYL is pronounced as a word it sounds like, ‘whale.’  So, that station at that time was called, The Whale.  I do not remember what type of music they played, but what I do remember was their greatest promotional visual.  WAYL FM, had a car that was made to look like, a whale.  They would drive it in parades, so as to promote the station and increase their listener ratings.  I remember a couple times a year riding in the backseat of my parents’ car and seeing the WAYL whale car on the freeway, or in a parking lot doing promotions.  My brothers and I would get so excited and shout, “Look!  The whale car!”

So, back to my story of Jonah.  The day of our outdoor play, at the moment that Jonah was being thrown into the sea from the ship, what should drive into the parking lot, but WAYL’s whale car!  For a little boy this was almost amazing!  It brought the story of Jonah and the whale to life for me, and obviously I have never forgotten it, even forty years later.

The one negative though, that this emphasis on the whale had for me, was that, it, the whale became the focal point, and emphasis of the Jonah story for me, for decades.  What I learned about Jonah was that he was scared to go to Ninevah and so he ran away, yet the Lord brought him back to preach to the city, and they were saved…end of story.

It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized by reading more closely, and studying the book of Jonah, that this was not the case at all…Jonah being afraid.  In fact, Jonah seemed to be a brave fellow. Remember, he is the one whom volunteers himself to be thrown overboard into the violent sea, and thus save the ship and its crew, if anything, that is courage.

No, the whole point of this parable-like story, as you heard in the children’s sermon, is that Jonah does not want God to be gracious and merciful to Jonah’s enemies, the Ninevites, that’s why he runs away.  Jonah runs away because of hate.

Now, it is important to understand that Ninevah was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire at the time of the writing of Jonah.  The Assyrians would be the conquerers of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.  They were the nation who defeated the Northern people’s enemy, the Arameans, and so they were biggest threat to Israel.  So, the Assyrians were the hated enemies of the Hebrews, and so, the hated enemies of Jonah.

Jonah did not want to help them, and he did not want God to help them, but Jonah knew that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  Jonah knew that God would take any opportunity given to him, to show the people of Ninevah, the Assyrian people that he loved them.

So, Jonah fled to Tarshish, he went to not Ninevah, or at least he tried…but God had other plans.

Isn’t that how it is?  What is that old saying, “The best laid schemes of mice and men.”

Well, Jonah’s scheme didn’t take into account God.  Jonah never wanted to go Ninevah, but finally he had to, God made him.

So, Jonah knows that God really wants him to share his word, and to preach to the people of Ninevah. Jonah does it, but not willingly, and certainly with a lack of passion.  The Bible tells us Jonah walked to the middle of the city, and then gave the shortest and most effective sermon in the history of preaching.

I mean Jonah gave the kind of sermon that us pastors can only dream of giving.  His entire sermon was eight words, eight words, and the entire city repented.  They literally changed their ways.  From the king down to the lowest citizen, they all put on sackcloth and cried to the Lord.  The king, sitting in ashes as a sign of penitence, declared a fast, even for the animals, and called upon the people to cry out to God, meaning to pray.  The king also declared that the people needed to turn from their evil and violent ways, so that God might relent.

We are told that God saw that Ninevah had repented, by turning from their former ways,  God changed his mind, and rather than showing Ninevah his anger, he showed them his mercy.

What a turn of events!  Jonah declares Ninevah’s doom, and instead of killing the messenger, the people listen to him.  They not only listen to him, but they look at themselves and their ways, and repent of them.  The king even confesses the evil and violence of the people, and calls for them to turn from it, and they do.  And so, the Lord is gracious and has mercy.

It reminds me of each Sunday morning’s confession and forgiveness, when we go before the Lord, individually and as a congregation, confessing our sins, repenting of our ways and asking for mercy.  What does the Lord?  In Jesus’ name we are forgiven and called to new life in faith.

Yet, though Ninevah’s repentance and forgiveness seems to be the main theme of this book, it is not.  No, Jonah’s hate and anger, and his unwillingness to forgive is the main theme.

Repentance and forgiveness is not what Jonah wants, he doesn’t want mercy for his enemies, he wants them dead.  In fact as we read, Jonah is so angry that he asks the Lord to take his life, he says, “It is better for me to die, than to live.”

Wow, Jonah is angry, and it is anger fueled by hate.

Hate is dangerous.  Hate fuels discrimination and oppression.  It causes all sorts of violence.  It brings about war, and too often death.  Hate is so often humanity’s way to deal with differences.  When someone is different than us, we vilify them, making of them an enemy, too often because we are afraid of them.  We have seen it throughout history, and we are definitely seeing it today, around the world.  It seems that anything that makes one person different from another becomes a reason to hate the other, and that hate then too often leads into violence.  That violence then brings about more hate, and more violence, and we end up in vicious circle.

How do we break the cycle?

We look to God, and God’s example of gracious mercy, shown in love. Jesus calls us to love our neighbors, including our enemies. It probably is the hardest act to which God calls us. Loving our neighbors, be them known or unknown can seem almost impossible at times, but then when we add in our enemies and it becomes almost impossible…yet it is not.

Last Monday as Americans we celebrated Martin Luther King, jr. day. It’s a day in which we remember MLK, but as much we remember what his calling was, and how he went about it. Dr. King was first and foremost a pastor, called by God to preach the gospel. As with all of us pastors, and humans, he was not perfect, but he was obedient to Jesus Christ. He preached and acted for justice for all people, but he went about the task by trying to love others, especially his enemies, with God’s love.

King preached forgiveness, hope, and love, and more importantly he then lived it out.

Jonah was obedient too, eventually, let’s give him that, for he went and preached to the people of Ninevah, but Jonah was not ready to try and love his enemies. God was, but not Jonah.

So, how is it that we are first of all obedient to Jesus’ command to love, our neighbors and our enemies? And secondly, how do we make of it a way of life?

Most importantly, this does not mean that we give in to injustice in order to love. God does not in the book of Jonah, Jesus never did during his ministry, and frankly, MKL, jr., Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and many other courageous Christian leaders have not either.   Rather, part of their love of their enemy was speaking out against the injustice that they were perpetrating, that they were causing.

No, rather, they bravely spoke out and stood up to speak the word of God to the world, and then even more importantly tried show the world God’s love, forgiveness and mercy through the actions of their lives. They were not perfect in all of their words or actions, but they were honest and genuine in trying to live out their God-given callings.

It is their examples that we need to follow. It is Jesus’ words, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” That we need to take to heart, believe and then live out.

Jesus is the Kingdom of God, and so, wherever he is, so there is the Kingdom. If Jesus lives in your heart, you are living in God’s Kingdom already, which means then, that you need to try and live as a citizen of heaven, not for your own sake, but for the sake of Jesus Christ, which then means, for the sake of the world.

Let us be obedient to the Lord. Let us try and imagine, and then try to live out ways in which we love our neighbors and our enemies as well. For God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.

As God’s people, we need to try and live in the same way.

Amen.

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