Swallowed Whole... by Grace

The story of Jonah’s adventure is likely one of the first Bible stories any of us learns as little children. Every picture-Bible contains depictions of the great storm, and the huge fish, and terrified pagan fishermen throwing Jonah into the sea. Interestingly, of all God’s prophets, Jonah is the only one sent not to the Jews, but to Gentiles – and despised, brutal Assyrians at that. More significantly, of all God’s prophets, Jonah is the only one with whom Jesus compares Himself. Yet, despite this story’s unique significance - and its wonderful humor - this 3rd Sunday of Epiphany is the only time – in our entire 3 yr. lectionary cycle – that we read anything about the story of Jonah. So indulge me in a moment of Biblical fun with a quick re-cap of this reluctant prophet’s narrative.

As today’s lesson opens, God is issuing His second call to Jonah. This is because Jonah’s first call hadn’t gone so well. When God originally called His prophet, it was – as it is in today’s lesson - to deliver Divine judgment to the Assyrian city of Nineveh. This should have been an easy obedience for Jonah. The Assyrians viciously dominated the region, and were infamous for their ruthless cruelty. The thought of God’s judgment of Nineveh might have delighted Jonah. But, the problem – the problem - at the core of Jonah’s story is that Jonah was familiar with his God’s character- and he knew - just knew - that if the Assyrians were to heed God’s message – if they were to repent – God was likely to respond to their repentance, and have mercy on the Assyrians. The problem for Jonah is God’s consistently extravagant, undeserved mercy … and the very last thing Jonah wanted was for God to show mercy toward the Ninevites!

So, instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah high-tails it out of town – in exactly the opposite direction – away from Nineveh (and he hoped – away from God!) Not the prophet’s smartest move, but the very idea that the most wicked and undeserving of Israel’s enemies might receive God’s grace and forgiveness was just too much for Jonah. So he heads for the nearest exit, which turned out to be on a boat leaving Joppa for Tarshish, a city across the Mediterranean, at the other side of Jonah’s world - on the coast of Spain. Presumably, God couldn’t find Jonah in Spain!

So, Jonah’s plan seems to be going swimmingly, until, as the New Living Translation puts it, “the LORD flung a powerful wind over the sea” – terrifying the pagan sailors, who feverishly decide to cast lots to discover who has brought this deadly violence upon them. When the lot falls to Jonah, he confesses that the God who created the universe … just might have a bone to pick with him – and the sailors themselves cry out to the LORD, and plead for God’s… mercy. As the sailors obediently throw Jonah overboard, they are awed that the storm immediately stops, and they too then vow to serve Jonah’s God … as they sail off into the horizon on a now-balmy sea.

Which leaves Jonah bobbing in the surf. But, our ever-merciful LORD arranges for a great fish to be at the ready – even for irritable Jonah - and the prophet is swallowed whole by God’s Grace, where he has three days to think about his call - from inside the belly of the fish. It is from the darkness of his own disobedience that Jonah cried out to God in repentance. At which point God orders the fish to spit Jonah onto the beach, and we begin today’s climatic portion of the story.

God does indeed have a sense of humor!

Clearly an unknown stranger among these violent Ninevites, surely still shaken by his three days of delivering-death inside the fish, and certainly looking less than the powerful messenger of God Almighty, Jonah preaches – I imagine rather reluctantly - only one brief sermon – as he passes through the streets… and 120,000 people – the entire population of that great city – repents and turns to God! The greatest conversion of all time – within the most infamously brutal people of the then-known world - delivered at the hands of this unenthusiastic and obstinate prophet.

But, had this story been primarily about Nineveh’s conversion, the narrative would have ended happily-ever-after – right here. But, just as Jonah had suspected, God responds to human repentance – and mercifully decides not to destroy Nineveh. The affront to Jonah – to his pride and sense of justice – is just too much to bear. So, Jonah complains to God – with an intimacy that borders on insolence – in what has to be one of Scripture’s most hilarious – if childish – exchanges: “Didn’t I say - before I left home - that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. I knew how easily you could cancel your plans for destroying these people. Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive because nothing I predicted is going to happen.” Jonah is having the prophetic equivalent of a 2-year-old temper tantrum.

The prophet can’t face his perceived public humiliation at having God’s compassion trump his own dire prophesy. And, more importantly, Jonah simply can’t get over the insult of God’s mercy… toward those Jonah deems undeserving. Never mind that Jonah might just need a bit of God’s mercy of his own! So he storms out of town, plops down on top of a hill in the desert sun – waiting, watching - and sulking - to see if God will give the Assyrians what they had coming to them. True to His nature, even in Jonah’s truculence, God mercifully sends a vine to shade the prophet from the heat, then a worm to cut it down, ending the book with God’s final word of mercy: “Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness … shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” (Jonah 4:11 NLT)
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Admittedly, this is an odd story, and it certainly shows us that God has a sense of humor. But, in the light touch of that gentle humor, God’s Word presses us beyond what we’re entirely comfortable in hearing – to expose a truth that God knows – and we know – hides all too comfortably in every human soul.

Jonah is the very embodiment of churlish disobedience. In fact, of all the elements mentioned in Jonah’s entire story – the storm, the sailors, the lots, the ocean, the fish, the Ninevites, the vine, and the worm – of all these – only Jonah fails to obey God’s command! Surely, God is having a bit of fun with us – at Jonah’s expense, but behind the humor is a powerful tale of God’s boundless mercy and long-suffering patience with all of us who see that we too are more like defiant Jonah, than any of those first, responsive disciples Jesus calls in today’s Gospel. I don’t know about you, but I can think of more than a few occasions when God had to chase me down in order to get my – sometimes reluctant – obedience!

The thing is that, One would have thought Jonah would delight in his successful conversion of 120,000 people… but his pride and hatred of the Assyrians was just too great a hurdle. Called or not, Jonah wanted nothing to do with obediently responding to God! That’s why today’s Gospel call to Simon, Andrew, James and John comes as such a challenging contrast to Jonah’s story – and frankly to our own sometimes-willful stories.

And there’s the rub. We know what we are called to – just as Jonah knew what he was called to. Even more than those first four disciples … who, as far as we know had no prior knowledge of who this Jesus was… even more than these first disciples - we have a pretty good idea at the outset – about Who calls us to following-discipleship! We know the character choices Christ calls us to… and wants to bless us through. We know – on the front end - that we are called - and surely will be blessed - through a life of repentance, obedience, compassion and mercy.

And we also know that, truth be told, there are times when we harbor Jonah’s stiff-necked disobedience, Jonah’s unyielding pride at perhaps looking foolish when we act upon our faith, and Jonah’s hardness of heart when confronted with God’s unbounded mercy in the face of overwhelming wickedness.

As Jesus calls his first 4 disciples – who leave everything and “go”… with an immediacy that shames Jonah – the lectionary thrusts us right in the middle of the choice we each must make… Jonah or James. Jonah or John… ultimately, Jonah or Jesus. For the truth is… to be a Christian, is to be called to faith-filled obedience and mercy.

But here is the Good News. Despite Jonah’s pride, and willfulness, and lack of empathy, God’s mission of mercy was delivered to Nineveh… through the sheer power of God - even without much help from Jonah. But His mercy was also delivered to Jonah – who had his own form of spiritual darkness. God’s love for his creation – for us - is so expansive, and so complete - that He will go to any lengths to bring light to those in spiritual darkness… even those of us who, like Jonah, know Who calls us to repentance and obedience and faith... and more often than we’d like to admit, choose to try to run away from God. God’s love for Jonah, and for you and I - goes all the way to a torturous cross, on another hill outside town… near Jerusalem.

Beloved, God knows that, at times, we are just as likely to respond with the self-serving heart of a Jonah, as we with that of a John or Simon. In fact, in the end, when Christ was hanging on the cross, every one of his espoused followers had deserted him, and put themselves before Christ’s self-offering call. But, even exposed as the fickle children we know we can be - He still chooses us – still calls us – still wants to bless us… because He wants to include us - you and I – in the wonder of delivering Kingdom-Light to a sad and fractured world. This is the privilege we are offered; this is the bounty of His Grace. This is the nature of His call. This is the endlessly compassionate and merciful God we are called to serve.

There are times when all of us – each and every one of us – have found ourselves bobbing in the surf of our own unrepentant pride, or willfulness, or hard-heartedness… far from God – perhaps even half-way to Spain! But, by His merciful Compassion, Jesus Christ, our God Incarnate, wants to swoop us up into His forgiving, saving nets… plop us onto the firm beach-head of His Grace… so that HE can lead us - even you and I… to become – through one engulfing-Grace after another - His grateful, merciful, obedient… fishers of men!

Thanks be to God! AMEN