Scripture text: Luke 11:29-32 (Appointed for Wednesday, December 2)
Ah, Jonah.
I am often guilty of saying this or that text of Scripture is one of my favorites, so much so that it becomes easier to count the ones I do not consider favorites than the ones that are. But if I were to rank my favorite texts in much the same way the music industry does pop songs, the book of Jonah would easily rank in the top 5.
There’s a reason for that. Jonah is a lot more than the old fish story we heard as kids. Jonah is a complex man, painfully human and a product of the times in which he lived. He’s rather unique in that among all of the prophets, apostles, liberators, and disciples we read about in both the Old and New Testaments, in that he’s probably the only one who does NOT want God’s will to be done.
It’s the whole reason he flees across the sea to begin with. He’s not afraid of death nor is he lazy. He simply does not want God to forgive the people of the Assyrian Empire. He knows that if the Assyrians of Nineveh repent, God will forgive and God will spare them. He doesn’t want that; He wants the Assyrians to burn, so he runs away, hoping he can run out God’s clock and force the hand of the Almighty.
Of course, God is not so easily tricked, Jonah does end up in Nineveh after his episode with the fish, the people do repent, and God does forgive. It works out the way God intended all along.
In today’s passage, Jesus references this story to highlight the willingness of the foreign Ninevites to submit to God’s will, contrasting these people of history with the stubbornness of the religious authorities of his own people in his own time. It’s not a pretty picture.
So what does this have to do with us today?
We Christians like to think of ourselves as responsive to God’s will. But often times we are Jonah and we are the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ day, using our piety to mask our disgust at God’s willingness to embrace those we reject. I hear the howls of angry people, often Christians, against those of other races, religions, political backgrounds, etc. I hear words of hate and condemnation for those who are different. Worse still, I see these things on an increase in these difficult days.
And then I see atheists and non-believers stepping up to feed the hungry, care for the sick, and welcome the stranger and I wonder if Jesus were here with us today if he wouldn’t speak these same words to this “wicked generation.” The sign of Jonah condemns us as well.
It doesn’t need to be that way. As God says to Jonah at the conclusion of his book, “Should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people?” If God cares for the foreigner and all those who are different from ourselves by race, religion, political affiliation or whatever, shouldn’t we? If we are followers of Christ and Christ came to save sinners of every tribe and race (Rev 7:9), should we not follow his example? Showing love rather than hate? Cooling our anger and our fears to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed even to those we might have previously rejected?
Being a Christian is not meant to be easy. In fact, I’d argue that if your faith leaves you nice and comfortable in your prejudices and preconceptions about people, you’re doing it wrong. The faith of Christ is an active thing; it drives us out into the world to confront and to comfort those who are different than us with a word of hope that we ourselves have received. We are not called to stew in our own malice and perceptions of pious self-superiority; we are called to proclaim the good news to a world that desperately needs it.
So get busy.
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Post Script...
I submitted this blog post yesterday just hours before news broke of the horrific shooting in California. I cannot help but think that these nightmarish events that occur with terrifying frequency in our society today are proof of the desperate need for the Church to be the Church.
I have seen a number of commentators point out that the core of the problem behind this violence is first and foremost our culture. I could not agree more; we simply do not take care of one another the way other nations and societies do. We gripe and complain that providing even the most basic necessities for life to those less fortunate is a drain. No wonder the desperate see violence as their only outlet. If they didn't have guns, they'd use knives, swords, or some other weapon, but violence would still be their response because we won't listen to them any other way.
Additionally, we stand around and complain when no one does anything about the problems of crime, violence, and poverty. My response is "What are you waiting for?"
It's long past time that we stop leaving all this to "somebody else." It's long past time we stopped ignoring our brothers and sisters (at best) or denigrating them (at worst).
I stand by what I said above. This isn't going to be comfortable or easy. But if you want to stop the killing and stop the hating, step up and start doing something. It won't happen any other way.
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