“Turning Around”
a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Hilary J. Barrett
preached at Pleasantville UCC, July 25, 2010
The Book of Jonah
“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.”  But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord…”  (Jonah 1:1-3)

Rarely do we have the opportunity to read an entire book of the Bible at one turn in worship.  But the book of Jonah is an exception to this.  Jonah is just four chapters long.  It takes up just over two pages in my Bible.  Counted among the Minor Prophets (of which there are twelve), the book of Jonah is tucked away between Obadiah and Micah.  The Minor Prophet are called “minor” not because they are unimportant or less important but because they are relatively brief compared to the major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.

The original language of the Old Testament is Hebrew.  One of the things that we can lose in the translation of the Hebrew text is the playfulness of the language which comes through in puns or humor based upon similar sounding words.  In Hebrew the name “Jonah” means "dove."  But, the Hebrew name “Jonah” shares the same root and the same sound as the Hebrew word, Yanah, which means “to mourn” or “to complain.”  So if we were Hebrew speakers we would know from the first moment we encounter the prophet, Jonah, that his name has an ambiguous meaning: it could either mean dove, and the dove has a long and honorable history in the scriptures as being a symbol for peace and hope; or his name could mean to mourn or to complain.  As we get to know the prophet, Jonah, better let’s see if we can understand why that ambiguity of meaning is most appropriate.

Read Jonah 1:1-1:16.

The book of Jonah begins in the way of all prophets – with the call of the prophet by the Lord.  Every prophet has to get his or her ‘marching orders’ and when they do, there is usually a standard response to the unsettling news that God intends for you to be God’s messenger.

When Moses was called, he argued that he’d be a terrible prophet because he stuttered.  But God reassured Moses and told him that God would put God’s own words in Moses’ mouth and, furthermore, Moses’ brother Aaron could speak on his behalf if things really got tough.

When Jeremiah was called, he was sure he was too young and simply didn’t know enough for the job.  But again, God reminded him that it wasn’t about him; that he was only a messenger and God was in charge of the project so it was Jeremiah’s job just to listen and report out what he heard.

But when Jonah is called, something very different happens.  God says to Jonah, “Arise and go to Nineveh” and Jonah does arise and go -- only he doesn’t go to Nineveh as the Lord had commanded.  Instead he heads for the small port of Joppa and hops on a boat heading for Tarshish.  We don’t really know where Tarshish was for sure.  Scholars believe that it was probably a port in southern Spain, west of the Straits of Gibraltar.  But it represented the farthest possible place to which Jonah could sail.  God says, “I’ve got a job for you,” and Jonah runs as far as he possibly can in the opposite direction.

Poor Jonah understands so little about God that he thinks it is possible to flee “the God…who made the sea and the dry land” (1:9) by getting on a boat.  Even the sailors on the ship, who presumably worship other gods, know enough to know what a dumb idea that is.

First he runs then he falls asleep in the belly of the ship.  Jonah is a model of denial and the failure to live a conscious life.  He wants to sleep through the storm but God won’t have it, and eventually he is thrown into the deep waters of chaos and swallowed whole.

There’s one thing more worth noting.  God has called Jonah to prophecy to the people of Nineveh; God wants Jonah to warn the people of Nineveh that they need to change their ways or face their own destruction.

Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire -- the most feared and hated enemies of Israel.  Today, the ruins of Nineveh lie in the country of Iraq, directly across the Tigris River from the city called Mosul.

Jonah isn’t interested in prophesying to the Ninevites.  He doesn’t want to bring God’s warning to those people.  And later in the text we get to hear Jonah’s explanation about why he is hesitant to take on this mission.

This next portion of the text includes the big fish that God sends to swallow up Jonah so that he doesn’t drown when he is thrown out into the sea.  Jonah spends three days in the belly of the whale (whale sounds better than big fish).  Three days to reflect on his experience.  Three days to come to terms with the darkness and deep waters.  Three days to remember and re-connect with God.  Three days is a good biblical number.  Jesus spent three days in the tomb.  It’s a time-frame that means long enough to get the job done.

And then, when Jonah had learned what he needed to learn, the fish vomits him out and Jonah gets a second chance.

Read Jonah 1:17-2:10

The poet, Carl Sandburg, penned a few lines in tribute to the prophet Jonah.  In a poem called, “Losers,” Sandburg says this:

Losers
IF I should pass the tomb of Jonah
I would stop there and sit for awhile;
Because I was swallowed one time deep in the dark
And came out alive after all.

Some time ago, our Minister of Music, Debbie Mangham, passed along a quote about the “whale-belly experience,” and I share it with you now:

Have you ever had a whale-belly experience?  It is dark, terrifying & you can't imagine how you will survive it.  You may have been swallowed unexpectedly, & not only have you not been disobedient, you have prayed & not been delivered.  So what do you do?  You continue to pray & wait.  You don't give in to despair because the God of all victorious outcomes has promised you a future hope – a hope that even a dark whale belly cannot snuff out.  Whether we end up in a whale belly because of poor choices, disobedience, or just swimming in the wrong place at the wrong time, God promises that he will deliver us out of our trouble if we will call on Him.[1]

Chastened by his whale-belly experience, Jonah is offered another chance to get it right: the Lord tells him to go deliver a message and this time he gets right to it.

Read Jonah 3:1-3:9

Jonah delivers the message to the people of Nineveh.  It’s a city so large that it would take 3 days to walk across and Jonah begins his walk, warning the city about their coming destruction.  But before he can get two days into his journey, the words of the prophet find their mark and the people turn their lives around.  Even the king and all the animals together with all the people of Nineveh repent in sackcloth and ashes.  They get a second chance to make it right with God and they do.

The prophet Jonah delivers his message on God’s behalf and much to his surprise, it takes effect.  But Jonah is not a happy man.  He is not only amazed that the Ninevites have turned their lives around, he is disappointed.  He is angry, and he let’s God know about:

Read Jonah 3:10-4:11, pausing at 4:6.

Jonah delivers his message, builds a little hut to shade him from the hot sun and then sits down and awaits the destruction of the city.  In the words of my son, “Jonah was hoping to see something blow up.” 

We all know people like that, don’t we?  People who like to believe that, when the Day of Judgment comes, they’ll be sitting in box seats watching horror and destruction unfold for all those other people who really deserve it.  Their spiritual life would be empty and their sense of justice deeply offended if they were to learn that God might have some other plan in mind for the end of time.

God was merciful with the people of Nineveh, and that really ticked Jonah off.  He knew God would be merciful!  That’s why he didn’t want to be the one to deliver the message.  It’s hard to say why Jonah felt this way.  Maybe he hated the Ninevites just that much and he was looking forward to the destruction of their city.  Maybe he was an unhappy man.  We don’t know.  We only know that Jonah complained about the God’s mercy.

Read Jonah 4:6 – 4:11

This last section of the book of Jonah is a bit odd, to be sure.  There’s the whole business of the plant and the worm and the sun beating down upon Jonah’s ungrateful head.  But Jonah is the only book in the Bible that ends with a question.  And the question is about mercy.  It’s a question asked by God to God’s own people: “You are concerned about …. [that] for which you did not labor and [that] which you did not grow… And should I not be concerned about [my people and their salvation]?  (Even if they are your enemies?)

            Among observant Jews, The Book of Jonah is traditionally read on the afternoon of Yom Kippur, while many families are resting at home before coming back to synagogue for the final service of the day.  Yom Kippur is The Day of Atonement for Jews – it is a twenty four hour period devoted to confession, contrition, repentance and conversion.  It is a perfect occasion for a story that takes on the dilemma of who deserves forgiveness and who does not.

Whether Jonah is able to hear it or not, God’s question rings in our ears: ''…you have pity for a plant for which you have not labored. It grew up in one night, and disappeared in one night. Yet you have no pity for the thousands of people in Nineveh and their cattle, and you are angry at me for saving them?''[2]

Whether Jonah learns it or not, through him we learn that God cares about all God's children; that God holds all of God’s children to moral standards of behavior; and that God “rejoices at their repentance so that their lives can be saved.”[3]

            There’s a lot to be learned from this tiny little book in the Bible.  There’s the massive lesson of God’s unfailing love for God’s people – a love which does not confine itself to our small notions of who deserves grace and mercy and who does not.  But there’s also the truth that we are sometimes “swallowed…deep in the dark” and if we are lucky, like Jonah, we “[come] out alive after all.”

            Jonah is a story about turning around.  Everybody does it:  Jonah gets the call and turns around and runs in the opposite direction.  The Ninevites get the warning, and turn around and repent in sackcloth and ashes.  The Lord is moved by their contrition, and turns around and spares the city.  And finally, after what seems like an eternity in the place of darkness, Jonah’s life turns around.  He is spit back out into a place where the light can, once again, shine upon him. 

Jonah’s not much of a heroic figure, as a prophet or even just a man.  But there’s a wideness in God’s mercy, and even Jonah gets a second chance -- which is to say, so do we.

Thanks be to God.  Amen.