Transcript
Come Holy Spirit, open our minds to not only hear your word, but to apply it in our thinking. Open our hearts to receive it and help us to apply it in our everyday lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Well, again, a very good morning to each and all. It’s a joy and a delight to be here. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a retired priest. I used to be the director at Emanuel there on Mercury Boulevard until retirement. But it’s a joy at this stage in my life to be able to do fill-ins on Sunday mornings because we do have a great shortage of clergy in the diocese and we have a lot of parishes that don’t have their own rectors and that’s where I do fill-ins pretty well. You know, I do about 40 per year over the last decade and so on. So, pray, you know, the word in the St. Paul, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth more laborers into his harvest field, right? And St. John’s no doubt could raise up perhaps new priests to serve in the mission of the church. So, pray for that.
A word of appreciation to your rector Lisa for inviting me today. It is a truly a joy just to fill in. I hope she has a restful week. And with that, let me say a word of thanks to the other volunteers and the staff to Deborah and Patrick and all those who assist in the altar area here. It was a great team who helped me at 9:00. So that makes it easy for me to come and do fill-ins. So a big well done to the staff and the volunteers.
Well, I said earlier I would raise with you the story of that man Jonah. Is there anybody in church who doesn’t know that story about Jonah and the great fish? One of the gentlemen after the 9:00 service said he had saw that there’s recent not too long ago a case of a great whale that had swallowed a person but that person didn’t survive. But in this case obviously the true whales cannot swallow a person not that big a object. But apparently the sperm whale has the capacity to swallow something that large. What that makes this story of Jonah it makes it controversial. People who say oh it’s just a folklore those things couldn’t happen. Well, there’s other miracles in this story as well. You know that about the growing of the bush, the gourd that would give shade. It’s a big miracle. And then of course the greatest miracle in the whole book is what was in the rest the reading today that when the people of Nineveh heard the word of God, they all repented and turned from their wicked ways. A great miracle.
Well, so let me introduce to you, if I may, a word that from a professional theologian, Reginald Fuller, how he refers to this book, this book of Jonah. He says, “It’s not a normal prophetic book.” And that’s a euphemism. It is a tract of the author’s universalistic views as a protest against the narrow nationalism of Judaism and that’s a good summary of what this is about and we’ll come to that in a little later point.
So let me do a recap as it were of the story. So that let’s pretend we’re in Sunday school and we’re recalling the story. Let me do it in different stages. So come with me then on the story. Some of you remembered, and if you don’t, let me remind you.
The first stage of the book, we’re introduced to this man, Jonah, the prophet, and he’s been assigned a mission trip by God. Jonah, go to Nineveh. Now, let me say a word about Nineveh. We’re told about the size of Nineveh. And if you compare the population that we’re given about Nineveh, it’s very similar to the population of Hampton. Yeah. Not all that different. Hampton is a little bit bigger. So God sending Jonah to Hampton. All right. Let me also put that as where my thought with my tongue and cheek because there a sense of humor in this book. You know sometime we say is this fellow Jonah is he normal or is he crazy as my granddaughter would say is he crazy well he is that type of guy and he’s rather odd person well anyhow the first stage is that this Jonah he’s called upon by God to the city of Nineveh that was in the country of Assyria which would be simply a bit west of where Jonah was. It would be in a modern-day the northern part of the modern-day country called Iraq. So you have an idea now where we’re talking about. We’re talking about a time period. That’s not absolutely certain. We think theologian and scholars say it is in the reign of the king Jeroboam. So it’s roughly then prior to the sixth century. So in other words, we’re saying approximately 600 plus years before the time of Christ. Okay, got the historic setting. There we go. Jonah says, “God, go to Nineveh, preach repentance, and also warn them of devastations possible to come.” That’s the first act given by God to Jonah. He’s sent on a mission. He’s given work to do.
The second stage we might go and say, “Does Jonah do what he’s asked to do?” No. Oh, no. Here’s where we come to the funny Jonah. Jonah says, “No, no, not me.” And rather than heading west to Nineveh, he goes, rather than heading east to he goes west and he catches a boat, has a ride. But you know what happened in the boat? Yeah. He is facing a great storm and he’s thrown overboard into the sea and then this great drama happens. This great, as it’s called in the scriptures, the great fish, this great fish catches Jonah and he’s down in the fish’s belly. Now, they tell me, scientists tell me that if you can connect with the air arteries, you can survive. And we’re told Jonah does survive in the belly. And he prays. You know what he prayed for? Oh, yeah. He prayed for forgiveness. He asked God to forgive him because he didn’t obey God’s first commissioning, first sending.
So Jonah repents in the great fish’s belly and we know the rest of the story in that part. He the fish vomits him up and casts him out on the beach. Stage number two. Well, what does Jonah do now? Having repented to God and he’s out safe on the beach, he makes his way to Nineveh. Hampton, right? He makes his way to Nineveh and he starts to preach and he preaches repentance. Turn away from your evil ways. And he preaches warning, destruction may come. And you know what happened? The city repented. Even the king got into the act and called for a great day of mourning and celebration and repentance that the whole city would turn from their wicked ways and turn to truth and goodness and God.
Was Jonah happy about that? But wouldn’t you think, wouldn’t you think he’d be happy if you did that? Wouldn’t you be happy? You think that was a good thing? Well, Jonah is not happy. He’s angry. The book specifically uses the word anger. Jonah is angry. Why? Well, here we’ve got a something coming. Jonah despises these people in Nineveh. You see, they’re not the Hebrew people. They’re not the Jewish people. They’re not the descendants of Abraham. Oh, no. These are, in Jonah’s view, these are inferior individuals. Maybe three human beings. These are down, down people, not of great worth. No, Jonah would even have preferred to see them punished. Yes, God, you should have punished them. But God has mercy on them and delivers them.
And then we come to the last section of the teaching of this book. Jonah is really in a sulky mood. He’s a stubborn man and he’s a crazy man and he’s waiting for something dramatic to happen. And there’s this plant that’s giving him some shade from the heat of the sun in a very hot day. And what happens to plant? It quickly fades away. And how does Jonah feel about that? Again, the word anger comes in the book. He’s angry that the plant that was giving him shade has now faded away. And here’s a lesson. God says to Jonah, “Are you angry? Are you mad? Just because this plant has withered away, it was given you shade and now it’s gone. And so you’re suffering from the sun. You didn’t provide the plant. It was provided for you. If you’re so mad about the plant, shouldn’t I care about the people of Nineveh? These human beings for whom God cares. Shouldn’t I, if you care so much about the plant being withered away, shouldn’t I care about these people in Nineveh?”
And so the moral of the book is God’s universal care for all humanity. You know, we often I know that when we go south on the highway 95, one place down in think of southern Carolina, there’s a big billboard on the side of the highway that quotes John 3:16. Everybody know that verse John 3:16. For God so loved the world, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes shall be saved and shall have everlasting life. There’s a proclamation of the good news. And even back in Jonah’s time, 600 years BC, God was saying, “I care for all humanity.” And he’s trying to teach this lesson to Jonah.
So, I want to just pull out then two lessons from today’s book of Jonah. That first one then is that God cares for people beyond me and my type. Oh, you know my type and my family and the people who think like me and look like me, they’re special, aren’t they? No. God has made us equal. All are, as the children’s chorus says, all are equal in himself. All are equal. Whether we’re you know, Pam and I have a background, we’re Irish and even the Irish are loved by God. Did you know that? Oh yes. And the Irish sometimes question it, but even the British are loved by God. Yes. And of course, of course, the Americans are loved by God. And it scratched my head. Even the Canadians. Now, that’s a big question, but even the Canadians are loved by God. And also, we might go to Ukraine. There’s Nineveh. God cares about Nineveh. And there’s China. There’s Nineveh again. And there’s Iran. Oh, there’s Nineveh. God cares about the people of Nineveh. So that’s the first great lesson of this book. It stands out so strong. God is cares universally for all creation, for all humanity. All are equal in his sight.
I want to pull out a second lesson for this book. And you’re probably going to guess what I’m going to say. Are you thinking about it? What are you thinking? What’s the second lesson that I might draw out of this book? Yeah, you know this Jonah, God was asking him, commanding him, directing him to go out and do a mission. God was sending him to go and serve.
I mentioned our Irish background there just a moment ago. I was ordained and I served a while in Ireland and then I made arrangements to come to North America. And in the last clergy service that I attended in Dublin city before coming to North America, I remember as we gathered in the back of the cathedral, a group of colleagues were sitting together. And as I sat there, I heard this friend of mine, I knew him, and he reached out and he said, “Pringle.” And I looked out and looked over. Pringle, I hear you’re going and leaving Ireland and you’re going to North America. So I just nodded the head and said, “Tell me, are you a missionary or a deserter?” [laughter]
Well, poor Jonah. Was he a missionary or a deserter? Oh yes, the task was tough. But he despised these people. They weren’t Jewish people. And you know, as we look at Jewish history, oh, how sad. Even now in war back there in the Middle East. Think of the number of you know Palestinians 75,000 children, women, men have been killed there in Gaza and people in the West Bank driven from their homes. And we say, “Oh God, will those Israelites ever learn what it is to care for Nineveh?” Oh my.
Well, but bringing back to this second lesson, God is giving Jonah a mission to go out and reach. And the simple lesson is God gives to each of us a mission to go out and reach others to bear witness through our love, through our service. And also through our words when moments of opportunity. God has given us a mission. We’re at different times in world history when there’s crisis and up concerns.
You know, the last few weeks I’ve been intrigued by the news talking about possible threats to technology from artificial intelligence, AI, and even some warning that it could, you know, have detrimental effects. And even last night on the news, I was listening this story where artificial intelligence almost start a war over there in somewhere in the Middle East because of misinformation. And maybe we’re concerned about artificial intelligence in relation to the upcoming election. There are issues of concern that we go to and God calls all of us to be missionaries in our place, distributing love and good will, good news, and serving one another, especially serving those who don’t belong to our group. They’re not less than us. They are our equals. That’s the lesson from Jonah for today. God so loved the world that he gave that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Let’s pray for our country. Let’s pray for leaders of the different countries that they might work together. Let’s pray for people who are responsible for artificial intelligence that they may use it creatively and helpfully not in a way that might destroy humanity. Let’s hear God’s lesson to Jonah. We are reaching out. God cares for everybody. We are God’s instruments in his mission to the world. May he give us his grace and guide us in that day by day. Amen.