2nd Wednesday of Lent - Sermon: Jonah
The Text is all four chapters of Jonah.
2024-2-21 Minor Prophets with a Major Message: Jonah
Like many of you, I encountered a version of the story of Jonah and the Big Fish in childhood. But, when I studied the whole book as an adult, I wondered: Why is this episode in the life of the prophet Jonah in the canon of Scripture?
There are at least three answers to that question. The first is that the Holy Spirit wills it. The contents of these four chapters fit the description that is found in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God] may be complete, equipped for every good work.” We learn much about God and how we are to respond to God’s mercy from the prophet Jonah. If we have ears to hear, we may find ourselves being corrected and being taught a proper kind of righteousness and humility. What we learn in Jonah may very well change us. If no change is needed, then Praise the LORD!
The second reason is that God wants to make clear that even as he has chosen the slaves that Moses led out of Egypt to be His Chosen People, he also wants all people to know and worship Him. Jonah is a clarion call for outreach to the Gentiles. The Gentiles need what Israel has. And God wants to be shared.
The third reason is that the lessons of Jonah prepare people for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We cannot help but notice that these four chapters are as much about Jonah as they are about Nineveh. God desires that Nineveh repent. They do. The big surprise is that Jonah gets to repent first. And, what a whopper of a tale that repentance story is!
But the thing is that when Jonah repented and finally did as the LORD commanded that he do, he still had the same attitude about Nineveh and the Assyrians as he did before. Jonah did what he was told to do. He went to Nineveh and proclaimed in the name of the LORD. “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Then, the truly remarkable happens. Surprise, surprise. The idol worships, these pagans, heard, believed, repented. Everyone from the peasant and shopkeeper to the king heard, believed, fasted, and made a visible display of their repentance. Truly the Holy Spirit was working overtime in creating faith in these people.
One would think that Jonah would be ecstatic that hearts and minds can be changed in such a sudden, dramatic, fashion. Yet, when God had mercy upon Nineveh, Jonah was none too happy about it. Jonah obeyed the letter of the law, but there was no love for the people he was preaching to. There was no real desire on Jonah’s part to see Nineveh spared or saved. We see this in Jonah’s mood, words, and behavior after the LORD chose not to destroy Nineveh.
What a complaint that Jonah makes to God! Jonah is angry. In his anger, Jonah prayed to the LORD and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
Jonah then gets to learn another hard lesson: his outward obedience was not enough. There needs to be an inner cleansing too. Jonah must learn to be grateful that the LORD is indeed so merciful. The LORD showed mercy to Jonah. Should he not also show mercy to Nineveh when they put away their idols and turn to Him? And, should not Jonah rejoice in the presence of God’s grace, regardless of who it falls upon? Even Nineveh?
The rest of chapter four has the episode of Jonah’s shade tree dying. The Lord has the last word in the text. We do not know how Jonah responded. What we do know is that Jesus chose to use Jonah’s three-day experience in the belly of the fish when he was addressing the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 12.
I would like to think that Jonah understood what the Lord was saying to him. Any sinner, Jew or gentile, that repents and receives pardon from God is worthy of respect. God ought to be recognized and praised for his mercy upon any sinner.
Jesus comes to bring salvation to the world. He comes to save Jew and Gentile alike. As Paul writes in his first letter to Timothy: This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. God came in Jesus Christ to dwell among us and to offer his life through his sacrificial death on the cross so that humanity may enjoy God’s mercy. The Lord Jesus intends that His forgiveness and His righteousness be conferred upon all people who receive him with faith. Where there is forgiveness from God, there is also life and salvation. God be praised for His kindness upon us all.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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