What is your reaction when God wants you to do something that is totally against what you think God should do? If you have ever struggled with this question, then do I have the Bible story for you. You might have heard of it. It’s called, Jonah.
It’s a short story, just four chapters long. While it’s based on the historical context of that time period, it reads more like a novel than it does a typical prophetic book. The added benefit of this book of the Bible is that it is VERY entertaining.
The main character of this story is the prophet Jonah who fails miserably at being a prophet. He is so bad at it, that you begin wondering why on earth God chose him to have the lead role in this story.
We only heard a very small portion of the story from our appointed Old Testament reading this morning. It’s where God gives Jonah a 2nd chance to go to the people of Nineveh to see if they will repent and accept God’s mercy since the Assyrians were known to be an evil and ruthless empire especially in how it treated the people of Israel.
The first time God directed Jonah to fulfill this mission was in chapter one, but instead of heading toward the city of Nineveh, Jonah bought a boat ticket and traveled the opposite direction. And this is the comical part of the story and it’s worth telling even if you have already heard it this story a million times.
Jonah is on this boat deliberately going the opposite direction from where God wanted him to go and there are sailors on board with him. While they are sailing, they encounter a terrible storm. With their lives in danger, Jonah tells the others that he was the cause of the storm because of his disobedience to God. The only way they could survive the storm would be by throwing him overboard.
But wait. It gets even better because after they throw Jonah into the sea, he gets swallowed up by this great big fish. And while he is in the belly of this big fish, he writes this long poem telling God how sorry he is for not doing what God had told him to do. After he finishes the poem, God has the fish spew him out upon the dry land.
Which brings us to our appointed scripture reading where God gives Jonah this 2nd chance to do what he was told to do which was to go to the wicked city of Nineveh and get them to repent of their evil and be forgiven. I can picture God pointing Jonah toward Nineveh saying, “It’s that way.”
Let’s stop here in the story for a moment. Consider this a commercial break in this biblical sit-com. Jonah is making a case for being the worst prophet ever appointed by God. And by being the worst prophet ever, he is providing us with a lot of entertainment and laughs.
Can you believe this guy? He was told to go to the city of Nineveh and instead he finds a boat that is going in the opposite direction. He then endangers the lives of these innocent sailors because of his foolishness. And then he gets thrown into the sea only to be swallowed by a large fish who then spews him up after a full three days.
So during this commercial break, we, the audience are wondering if this guy is finally going to get his act together. I can picture God putting the palm of his hand on his forehead while saying, “oy vey!”
Smelling like a fish, Jonah begins walking slowly in the direction of Nineveh.
As Jonah is nearing the city, we’re thinking that this reluctant prophet might just end up finally doing what he was supposed to do in the first place, which is to tell the people to repent and receive God’s mercy.
Evidently, that poem of forgiveness that Jonah wrote while in the belly of the fish was more of a sorry/not sorry apology to God because when he gets to Nineveh he gives his version of God’s message instead. Jonah is supposed to tell the people, “Repent and God will forgive you.” Instead he says, “Hey, Ninevites! In forty days, your city is going to be destroyed!” No message of hope. No invitation to repent. Just doom and gloom. “You’re going down, Nineveh!”
But then we get the really crazy part of this short story. Even though Jonah announces the wrong message, all of the people of Nineveh repent. And not only do they repent, the people proclaim a fast and they put on sackcloth which is a sign of true humility.
The king of Nineveh repents along with all of the nobles. And get this, even the animals of Nineveh repent! This turns out to be the most successful religious revival of all time. And it was led by probably the most incompetent and disobedient prophet you will find in the Old Testament.
The ironic thing about the Book of Jonah is that in all of the children’s books about Jonah, he is always portrayed as this incredible prophet. A big deal is made about how he was able to survive being swallowed by a great big fish and how the people of Nineveh ended up repenting of their sins. Jonah is seen in this very positive light. He is cast as a hero.
And then we come to the final chapter of this book which is the exclamation point on why this guy should be better named as the reluctant prophet. After all the people of Nineveh, including the king and the nobles and even the animals repent from their wicked ways, the story concludes with a very bitter and discouraged Jonah who is angry and disappointed with God.
Here’s what I believe is going on with this crazy story about the prophet, Jonah. He might have been portrayed in a very comical and entertaining way, but all of this is to show how like Jonah, we also can be God’s reluctant prophets. That’s right. There are times when that’s you and me fleeing in the opposite direction of where God is calling us to go. There are times when we have the opportunity to share God’s message and we get tongue-tied. That’s you and me sulking off to the side because we aren’t nearly ready to forgive others as God appears to be.
We are reluctant prophets whenever we set boundaries on God’s far-reaching love for all people.
We are reluctant prophets whenever we focus our attention on who’s inside and who’s outside of God’s grace.
We are reluctant prophets whenever we impose limits on who God should love or not love.
We are reluctant prophets whenever we forget that we are just as in need of God’s grace as anyone else.
We are reluctant prophets whenever we believe that our interpretation of scripture is the only true way to interpret it.
We are reluctant prophets whenever we reach a point where we think that we are done growing and being challenged in our faith.
The story of Jonah serves an incredible purpose. It puts us on alert in how we are more like the comical character, Jonah than we care to admit. Just when we think that we have God all figured out is usually when God wants to send us to another Nineveh that will stretch us more than we think we are capable.
Jonah would have rather been swallowed by a fish than swallow his own pride when God told him to go to Nineveh. We are reluctant prophets as well, but the good news is that I’m pretty sure that God already knows this about us. We get something in our head. We form our opinions. We think we have everything figured out. And God reminds us there is so much more for us to experience and learn.
And like Jonah, God gives us 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 20th or however many chances it takes to get us back on the road to Nineveh where we have an important message to deliver, a message of God’s grace and mercy for all people.
I should know because you are looking at a reluctant prophet. When I first began the pastoral ministry, one of my strengths was in having strong convictions and I can be pretty stubborn with those convictions, so I have been told, anyway. For example, I have always had a high regard for scripture and what I would call an evangelical faith.
But then soon into my ministry, I realized that my long-held traditional convictions about human sexuality were being challenged in my own ministry contexts. For example I got to know some of the most loving and faithful church members who happened to be gay. I couldn’t imagine not having them as part of our church family or being part of a denomination that would tell them that God did not approve of their sexual orientation.
I can’t tell you have many candidates for ministry have been turned down during my pastoral career simply because of their sexual orientation. These were candidates who were very gifted and called to enter the ordained ministry and yet I have been part of a denomination that has denied them of that opportunity. Even during those early years of my ministry, I knew that something was very wrong when a thousand clergy were debating a candidate’s sexuality.
The same thing happened with our conference’s treasurer, Bill Brownson, a United Methodist lay person who happens to be gay. Ten years ago, Bill, an exceptionally gifted person in the finance world had to stand up in front of over two thousand United Methodists during our West Ohio Annual Conference held at Lakeside, Ohio and listen to us debate back and forth if he should be approved as our new conference treasurer, not because of his financial qualifications or his deeply rooted faith, but because of his sexual orientation.
In all of these situations, all I could say was, “Lord, have mercy on us.”
I will say that there were some pastors back in the late 80s and 90s who spoke out against our denomination’s stance. They were our early prophets who weren’t as reluctant to speak out like many of us could have done including myself.
For that, I am deeply sorry for my reluctance. But over time and in more recent years, this reluctant prophet of yours is now more inclined to speak out. This reluctant prophet is now more inclined to see scripture in a new light. This reluctant prophet is now more inclined to not equate strong convictions with having a closed mind. God is always challenging us to be open to the new thing that God has in mind for us and for the people God loves.
So, here’s the interesting thing about the book of Jonah. We don’t know how the story ended with him. It concludes very abruptly with Jonah being angry that God extended his love and mercy to a people he felt deserved it the least.
This open ending to the Book of Jonah is the writer’s creative way of taking the spotlight off of Jonah and putting it on us.
What are the new places, the new ways of thinking, the new challenges to our long-held beliefs, the new experiences, and the new opportunities that God will be using to lead us to include even more people in his never-ending circle of grace?
Merciful, compassionate, and gracious God, thank you for your patience with us. You know our struggles, disappointments, brokenness, and pain. You also know that we often fall short of who you have called us to be, people created in your image. Forgive us for whenever we are too prideful to offer your love to others or to receive it ourselves. With humility, we come this day to receive your loving kindness anew. Amen.
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