Last week we saw how Jonah had been called by God to go and proclaim the gospel to Nineveh, to the Assyrians, the enemies of the people of God. We saw how he instead went in the opposite direction until God stopped him, and sent a great fish to transport him to the shores of Assyria.
Well, today we come to the next exciting instalment of the story. Jonah is now back on dry land, suitably chastised, and the word of the Lord comes to him again. “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” It’s the same message as before, but this time he’s learnt his lesson. This time he goes.
We’re told that Nineveh is an exceedingly large city, three days' walk across. That makes it 70 or 80 km across. That would make it the size of Melbourne. Now in fact Nineveh proper at this time was probably not much more than 2 or 3 kilometres across, so it probably means Nineveh and the surrounding cities which together formed greater Nineveh, the region that was at the centre of Assyrian life.
As we read the narrative there’s a very striking thing that happens. Jonah enters this vast region of the city, proclaiming God’s message to its people and what happens? He hasn’t even got a third of the way in and people begin to respond. He cries out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" And what happens? The people of Nineveh believe him. In fact we’re told they believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. Now isn’t that a dramatic response to the preaching of God’s word? It’s spoken and people believe it. It wouldn’t happen today would it? Not in Australia at least. One of the great contrasts between Jonah’s day and ours is that people then believed in the supernatural, believed in a God who could do miracles. We saw it last week with the sailors asking Jonah who his God was and reacting so fearfully when he told them that his was the God who made the earth and the sea.
So here are these pagans, hearing this message from the God of Israel, perhaps for the first time, and what do they do? They believe it! They repent! When the news reaches the king, even he reacts. We’re told when the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. He commands the whole city to show its remorse by wearing sackcloth and fasting. It’s a bit like the Prime minister announcing a social lockdown to prevent the spread of the Corona virus, though in this case the king is hoping that God might relent and change his mind; which, of course, is exactly what God does do.
Now think about what’s happening in Israel and Judah at this particular time. This is the same period in which prophets like Amos and Hosea were preaching to Israel and Judah, warning them of God’s judgement. And what was the response there, back home? General indifference! Unlike the people of Nineveh, the people of Israel and Judah did little to change their behaviour. They were so sure of their identity as the people of God that they took no notice of the warnings they were given. Instead of repenting in sackcloth and ashes, they carried on with their unrighteous lifestyles; they continued their flawed religious practices, their exploitation of the poor and powerless, while the warnings of the prophets became stronger and stronger, until eventually God’s judgement fell on them, the way he’d said it would. That’s a warning for us isn’t it? To make sure that we listen to God’s word and constantly reform our lives and our worship according to the way God wants us to live and worship. Not to take for granted the fact that we’re part of God’s Church. Not to think that because we grew up as Christians or because we’ve been Christians for years that we can forget about holiness of life; to make sure that we’re open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, listening to his voice as he seeks to renew us.
One of the side effects of the Covid-19 restrictions on our worship has been that we’ve had to think about what it means to be a church, what it means to be a Christian when we’re unable to meet together on a Sunday. Though we continue to join-in online we suddenly realise that being a disciple of Jesus is more than our Sunday gatherings. Our faith affects the way we live even in isolation, in the small interactions we have with people passing in the street or with those we talk to online. I’m in contact with a number of parishes in the Bendigo diocese and it’s interesting that they’re generally reporting that personal connections between people in their congregations have actually improved because people have realised they need to make an effort to stay in touch.
A second thing I think we’re meant to see here is just how powerful the gospel can be when it’s proclaimed fearlessly. We’re meant to see how people who don’t know God may nevertheless be open to hearing God speak to them.
I wonder do you believe that or does it sound too far-fetched for our current world? Do you believe what Paul writes in Romans 1? (Rom 1:16 NRSV) "For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith …". The gospel is the power of God for salvation. Jonah knew that. Look at what he says to God in ch 4. “But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. 2He 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.” He knew that if these people repented when they were warned of the judgement to come God would show them mercy. How did he know that? Because that’s what had happened time and time again to his own people. They’d disobeyed God, had felt God’s anger, they’d repented and God in his mercy had forgiven them. But he also knew it because he knew his Scriptures. What he says there in v2 is how God revealed himself to Moses in Exodus 34: “The LORD passed before [Moses] and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin …” (Exo 34:6-7 NRSV) So Jonah knew that God would use his words to bring repentance to these people. That was the only reason for sending him - and he wasn’t happy about it. In fact he goes off in a huff and sits out on a hill and waits to see if the city will be destroyed.
Then God acts out a parable to teach Jonah another lesson. He makes a tree grow up miraculously to shade Jonah, and Jonah begins to feel a bit happier. But the next day God sends a grub which eats into the tree and kills it, so Jonah is left out in the heat of the sun again. Well, now Jonah is really mad. He’s so angry in fact that he wishes he could die.
But God says, “Why are you angry about this bush? You didn’t plant it, or water it. It wasn’t even there 2 days ago. Yet you’re upset now that I’ve let it die? Can you see how you’ve got your priorities all wrong? Here you are, sitting on this hill, waiting to see if I’ll destroy all those people, 120,000 of them, and you’re upset about a mere tree! Get real! What’s of more value: one little bush or 120,000 people who are lost and blind?”
Just as an aside, you could ask the same of those people who are more concerned about the state of our economy than the hundreds who could be dying from the Covid-19 virus by now?
But more importantly, what does it say to us who’ve heard the gospel and are even now enjoying at least some of the benefits of being part of God’s kingdom, albeit in semi-isolation? Do we care that people are under God’s wrath? Do we believe that part of the gospel? You see, that passage in Romans 1 continues with an exposition of the gospel, and it’s very much like the message that Jonah had to proclaim.
I haven’t really talked about what the gospel is, have I? I’ve just made the statement that Jonah’s message was a proclamation of the gospel. Some of you may be wondering whether this really is the gospel. Well, what is the gospel? What is the message we have to proclaim? Listen to what the book of Revelation tells us: (Rev 14:6-7 NRSV) “Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth--to every nation and tribe and language and people. 7He said in a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.’” That sounds a lot like what Jonah had to say doesn’t it? If you read on in Romans you’ll see that Paul goes on to fill out the message of the gospel with the assurance of God’s mercy to those who have faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ. But the need to fear God and give him glory is still there. Do you believe that those who fail to recognise God as their Lord will miss out on the promise of life with him after death? Or is that too hard to take? Does it not fit with an image of a loving God? Does it not fit with our laissez faire culture where anything goes if it feels right; Were we’re the arbiters of what’s right or wrong?
There’s no question that God is a God of love. That’s shown clearly in this story of Jonah. It was God’s love that sent Jonah to warn the Assyrians of God’s judgment, even if Jonah wasn’t feeling it. But we mustn’t think that his love can override his righteousness, his desire for justice. If Jonah hadn’t gone, it appears that the Assyrians would have been destroyed along with their city, just as the people of Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Babylonians a hundred years later when they failed to change their ways. No, God’s love isn’t shown in removing the need for righteousness. God’s love is shown in providing the way of escape; in providing the means whereby even though we’re sinners, and under God’s judgement, we can be made righteous, through the death of Jesus Christ on our behalf.
But how are our friends and neighbours to know that unless we tell them? That’s what Paul says in Rom 10:14 "But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?” (NRSV)
Now I know that sounds like a daunting task. I know some people will feel it’s not their place to tell people that they face God’s judgement. And there have been plenty of examples of inappropriate ways of doing that over the past few years, haven’t there? But if it’s true shouldn’t we be looking for appropriate ways of letting people know. Let me say, I find this as hard as anyone. I don’t even have the nerve to tell cyclists to ring their bells as they zoom past me on the walking tracks around our place. But people do need to know. There is a life after death that some people will miss out on. In fact there’s a life in God’s community now that people are missing out on. Perhaps that’s the first step in bringing people into God’s kingdom, inviting them to be part of our community of faith, as strange as they might find us at first. That may involve us making sure the places where we gather are welcoming of those who don’t yet understand what the gospel is all about, who haven’t yet embraced all the values of God’s kingdom. Remember that Jonah’s message was preached to a city that was totally pagan, to people who had no idea of the way of life that God required of his people, yet God accepted their response as soon as it was made.
As we saw last week, we’re God’s ambassadors: the ones God has entrusted with his message of salvation. We don’t need to worry whether someone is acceptable to God, or even how they might respond to us if we talk about our faith. Leave that part to God to worry about. All we have to do is to let people know that God wants them to come into his kingdom.
So there are two lessons for us today in this story of Jonah. First make sure that we’re responding appropriately to God standards for our lives and actions and second, look for ways that we can invite those who don’t know Jesus already to come into his kingdom, into this earthly community of God’s love and grace.