A Fish Story
Jonah 3:1-5
Here is yet another example of an Old Testament story that we read to children, forgetting what the story actually says, something that the child listening never does. "Jonah and the Whale" actually tells the story of faith, complete with one of the great analogies for a faith crisis that we will ever find. It also tells the story of gaining perspective, something every adult needs beyond measure, more now than ever. And we have not even gotten to the image that graces so many children's rooms--a huge fish swallows a man whole--well, now, there's a way to ruin the beach forever for a small child.
Setting all of that aside--what does the story actually say?
On faith--it says something vitally important for us to hear--God is--not possibly, not maybe--God is going to ask us to do things we don't want to do the closer we draw to God. Jonah was close enough to God to hear God call him. God wanted him to go to a city that, for Jonah, was akin to going into the home of your worst enemy to tell them that God wanted them to change.
Growing up in North Carolina, I experienced this perfectly--imagine a Tarheel being told by God to head on over to Durham to tell the Duke campus that God needed them to change. The Heel might well agree, but to go all by herself into the heart of the Blue Devil realm to bring them the bad news would be more than a little off-putting.
Yet, God does this all the time--even if your experience of the faith is cursory. It is not long before you run across a statement of Jesus where he says to love your enemies, not merely tolerating them, but working to make their lives better than they ever imagined. So, Jesus talked to Samaritans, the rejected minority in Judea, seen as abject apostates by the Jews--these were the people who gave in to Israel's conquerors centuries before. So, Jesus talked to the Pharisees even as the Pharisees muttered curses, threats, and sought to kill him. Jesus told his disciples to do the same. Jesus tells us to do the same.
Jesus goes on further--he tells those who would be within his fellowship to sell all that they have and give it to the poor. He wasn't kidding.
That is the kicker. He wasn't kidding about any of it.
If we are to follow him, we are to do the things he tells us to do.
No wonder Jonah ran the other way when God called.
Then comes the great fish. God decides to let Jonah cool his heels there amid the flotsam and jetsam in a fish gut. Having looked in a chum bucket a time or two, I cannot imagine those three days were good even in a cleansing sense. But those days gave Jonah time to think, consider, and ponder what he was to do. He decided to go to Nineveh. The fish barfed him up on the beach, and off Jonah went. I can hear him--mumbling, growling, glaring as he intoned the end of Nineveh--he can't wait--they're gonna get theirs!
But God sees it differently.
God listens.
He hears faith. Even from sworn enemies. He hears a change of heart. Poor old Jonah is sitting under his broom tree waiting for the holy fireworks that don't come. God kills the tree. Jonah gets madder still.
Ever been really mad at God?
I know I have. The infernal truth of God's omnipotent will is that God does not have to follow our suggestions, hopes, wants, judgments, desires, upsets, and all. God meets every human being--meaning every human being--with love that will lead them to where God intends for them to be. God made us all--every one of us--so, God will do all God needs to do to get all of us under the umbrella of his grace--even as we attempt to check IDs, credentials, and qualifications--running roughshod over our security gate. That hurts. That's frustrating.
But it is grace.
And in the end, that is what Jonah needed and the Ninevites and all of us, too.
Sometimes we need to sit still in a place where there is nothing else to do but think. Think about love. Think about God being love. Think about how God loves you--warts and all--even if we are perfect in every way, according to us. That is how God meets everyone else, too.
That is a good thing.
Here is yet another example of an Old Testament story that we read to children, forgetting what the story actually says, something that the child listening never does. "Jonah and the Whale" actually tells the story of faith, complete with one of the great analogies for a faith crisis that we will ever find. It also tells the story of gaining perspective, something every adult needs beyond measure, more now than ever. And we have not even gotten to the image that graces so many children's rooms--a huge fish swallows a man whole--well, now, there's a way to ruin the beach forever for a small child.
Setting all of that aside--what does the story actually say?
On faith--it says something vitally important for us to hear--God is--not possibly, not maybe--God is going to ask us to do things we don't want to do the closer we draw to God. Jonah was close enough to God to hear God call him. God wanted him to go to a city that, for Jonah, was akin to going into the home of your worst enemy to tell them that God wanted them to change.
Growing up in North Carolina, I experienced this perfectly--imagine a Tarheel being told by God to head on over to Durham to tell the Duke campus that God needed them to change. The Heel might well agree, but to go all by herself into the heart of the Blue Devil realm to bring them the bad news would be more than a little off-putting.
Yet, God does this all the time--even if your experience of the faith is cursory. It is not long before you run across a statement of Jesus where he says to love your enemies, not merely tolerating them, but working to make their lives better than they ever imagined. So, Jesus talked to Samaritans, the rejected minority in Judea, seen as abject apostates by the Jews--these were the people who gave in to Israel's conquerors centuries before. So, Jesus talked to the Pharisees even as the Pharisees muttered curses, threats, and sought to kill him. Jesus told his disciples to do the same. Jesus tells us to do the same.
Jesus goes on further--he tells those who would be within his fellowship to sell all that they have and give it to the poor. He wasn't kidding.
That is the kicker. He wasn't kidding about any of it.
If we are to follow him, we are to do the things he tells us to do.
No wonder Jonah ran the other way when God called.
Then comes the great fish. God decides to let Jonah cool his heels there amid the flotsam and jetsam in a fish gut. Having looked in a chum bucket a time or two, I cannot imagine those three days were good even in a cleansing sense. But those days gave Jonah time to think, consider, and ponder what he was to do. He decided to go to Nineveh. The fish barfed him up on the beach, and off Jonah went. I can hear him--mumbling, growling, glaring as he intoned the end of Nineveh--he can't wait--they're gonna get theirs!
But God sees it differently.
God listens.
He hears faith. Even from sworn enemies. He hears a change of heart. Poor old Jonah is sitting under his broom tree waiting for the holy fireworks that don't come. God kills the tree. Jonah gets madder still.
Ever been really mad at God?
I know I have. The infernal truth of God's omnipotent will is that God does not have to follow our suggestions, hopes, wants, judgments, desires, upsets, and all. God meets every human being--meaning every human being--with love that will lead them to where God intends for them to be. God made us all--every one of us--so, God will do all God needs to do to get all of us under the umbrella of his grace--even as we attempt to check IDs, credentials, and qualifications--running roughshod over our security gate. That hurts. That's frustrating.
But it is grace.
And in the end, that is what Jonah needed and the Ninevites and all of us, too.
Sometimes we need to sit still in a place where there is nothing else to do but think. Think about love. Think about God being love. Think about how God loves you--warts and all--even if we are perfect in every way, according to us. That is how God meets everyone else, too.
That is a good thing.
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