Sermon: Jonah 3:10-4:11 (Proper 20A)

18 September 2005, Christ Church Riverdale

The Rev. Robert C. Lamborn, Rector

 NRSVJonah 3:10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. 4:1 But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. ² He prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. ³ And 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, "Is it right for you to be angry?" ⁵ Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city. ⁶ The LORD God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. ⁷ But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. ⁸ When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, "It is better for me to die than to live." ⁹ But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?" And he said, "Yes, angry enough to die." ¹⁰ Then the LORD said, "You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹ And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?"

            Six weeks ago, when a lot of us were away (myself included), part of the book of Jonah was read here in church--the part where Jonah prays to God out of the belly of the fish.  Today we hear the end of the book, but there’s an awful lot we’ve missed from a tremendously powerful story.  People tend to know about the fish part of the story best, and to focus on that: “Was he really swallowed by a great fish for three days?  How could he have survived in there?”  The literalist says, “Of course!  The Bible says so,” and the liberal says, “Of course not!  It’s a metaphor.”  But if the conversation goes no farther than that,       the whole point of this marvelous little book has been missed.  So if you want to put a title on this sermon, you could call it, “Beyond the fish.”  (And by the way; re-read the whole Book of Jonah after you get home today–it’s only a few pages, and is an absolute gem!)

             In the story, how does Jonah get into the fish in the first place?  At the beginning of the book, God calls Jonah to prophesy against the evils of Nineveh.  So he sets out . . . for Tarshish, which may be a Mediterranean island or it may be Spain, but what’s clear is that it’s exactly the opposite direction from Nineveh–west instead of east.   Why doesn’t Jonah want to go to Nineveh?  We’re not told, but through much of biblical history it was enemy territory, part of a powerful empire hostile to the Hebrews.  To bring this up to date, by the way, Nineveh is located in modern-day Iraq.  So Jonah books passage on a ship bound for Tarshish, trying to get away from God, we’re told, but a huge storm lets the sailors know that something is wrong and it comes out that God is displeased with Jonah for running away.  At Jonah’s own insistence, they throw him overboard, whereupon the storm immediately stops and Jonah is swallowed by the fish for three days, the story goes.

             After Jonah prays and is spit up on shore, God calls him a second time, and you know what?  This time he goes to Nineveh and prophesies, warning them against the destruction to come.  And you know what else?  They believe him!  They listen!  They repent and put on sackcloth and ashes; everyone from the king down to the animals.  In a way, that’s more amazing than the fish!  Everybody repents, and God relents; God experiences a change of mind, the text tells us, about the calamity intended for Nineveh.  This is where the story picks up in this morning’s reading.

             So does it make Jonah happy that he did such a good job as a prophet that 120,000 people repented all at once, that he’s the most successful prophet in history?  “I knew it!” he says to God.  “I know you’re gracious and merciful and all of that; it’s why I didn’t come here in the first place.  So just kill me now, Lord!”  God not granting that request just then, Jonah goes up on a hill outside Nineveh just to make sure–to see for himself what’s going to happen.  Jonah becomes delighted about a plant  God causes to give him some shade, then abject and disconsolate when the worm God appoints kills it and he’s in the full heat of the sun.  “Just kill me now!” we hear again.  Jonah is concerned about the plant, God says; he has pity on the plant, we could translate.  He cares about the plant, the first time we hear he cares about anything or anybody.  This is God’s opportunity; this is the point of the book, not the fish; once Jonah cares about something: “Should I not be concerned, have pity, care about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”

             A couple of months ago Amy and I were down in Union Square on a rainy day, and were passing near a woman pushing her child in a stroller while talking on her cell phone.  Somehow, in navigating an uneven sidewalk, the stroller fell over backwards, and the child started to scream, no doubt more scared than hurt.  But the mom kept talking on the cell phone: “Yes, she fell over in the stroller, and she’s crying now,”  on and on for a good while before ever tending to her child.  It’s a real temptation to be like Jonah, to love our plants that give us shade and lose sight of what is truly important.  Whatever you think about the Iraq war, as people of God we have to recognize that the full cost of the war is counted not just in the American lives we keep close count of, but in human lives, which may never be fully counted.  It’s a real temptation to be like Jonah, and be disappointed when someone doesn’t get what we think is coming to them. It’s a real temptation to be like Jonah in the story, to run from what God calls us to do.  But the book of Jonah “beyond the fish” calls us out of self-absorption to care about what God cares about, which I would say is part of being in God’s image; as God created us; caring about what God cares about, living in God’s image as God always and patiently seeks to restore us to.