Sermon Jonah 1:17-2:10 Fish for Thanksgiving

Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon Jonah 1:17-2:10 Fish for Thanksgiving

Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church

November 18, 2007

This Thursday our nation will be celebrating Thanksgiving. This is my favorite holiday. Unlike Christmas which has become dominated by Santa Claus and materialism and Easter which is best known for the chocolate Easter bunnies, Thanksgiving has been left alone as a time for families to come together for a meal and remember all the blessings we have received. This Thursday Grace and I will be in Virginia for a meal with my family. This is the first time I have been home for Thanksgiving in four years. And next Sunday I will be at my home church in Washington DC to be ordained as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament. For all of this I am extremely grateful. Will you pray with me? Dear God, thank you so much for all your work and the blessings you have provided in our lives. Be with us in the day and weeks ahead so that we can receive your blessing and be a blessing to others. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Jonah 1:17 - 2:10 ¹⁷ But the LORD provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Jonah 2:1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, ² saying, "I called to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. ³ You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. ⁴ Then I said, 'I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look again upon your holy temple?' ⁵ The waters closed in over me; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped around my head ⁶ at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit, O LORD my God. ⁷ As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the LORD; and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. ⁸ Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty. ⁹ But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the LORD!" ¹⁰ Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.

Normally at Thanksgiving we eat turkey with all the trimmings. Sometimes my sister will also serve a ham with the turkey if there is a large group as there may be this Thursday. But I have never eaten fish on Thanksgiving. So you are probably wondering why I would preach a sermon on Fish for Thanksgiving. What got me thinking about Fish for Thanksgiving was the opportunity I had this week to lead the chapel service for our Westminster Child Center. Elder Caroline Harris was away at a conference so Pastor Jeff got to address the two, three and four year olds. And I told them a story about Jonah. Now Jonah did not eat fish on Thanksgiving, rather he was eaten by a fish and thanked God for it.

Jonah was Hebrew Prophet whom God called to bring a message of judgment to Nineveh. Now Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital of the hated Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians were known for destroying farms, besieging cities, and carrying off captured people to live in other parts of the empire. Nineveh was the last place Jonah wanted to go. Yet this is the very place where God called Jonah to begin a ministry. Jonah just want to avoid Nineveh, but where could go to hide from God? Nineveh was east of Jerusalem, so Jonah went west towards the Mediterranean port of Joppa where he boarded a ship to Tarshish which was about as far away from Nineveh as he could get.

Of course no one can hide from God. God sent a strong wind and high waves which bounced the ship up and down and back and forward until it began to crumble. The ship’s crew pulled out their idols. “Oh Baal, save us”, they cried with no result. The ship continued to be tossed up and down, right and left. The frightened crew cast lots to find out why this storm had come upon them then went downstairs to get the sleeping Jonah for his help. When they found out that Jonah’s God was the LORD, God of Israel, the creator God from whom Jonah was hiding, they knew why they were in such a perilous situation. At Jonah’s request they picked him up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm was silenced. Then God sent a fish, a large fish that ate Jonah, and Jonah spent three days in the belly of the fish reflecting on what he had done and discovered four things about God.

The first thing Jonah realized was that God answers prayer. At the time of his greatest distress, when death seemed likely at any moment, God responded with steadfast love for his prophet. God is faithful and his love for us is overwhelming. Whenever we are in distress we can take it to God in prayer. When the doctor gives us a message we would rather not hear we can take it to God in prayer. When a relationship is strained to the breaking point we can take it to God in prayer. When the world seems to be caving in all around we can take it to God in prayer. And the promise is that these prayers do truly reach God. And for this we can be truly thankful.

Second, Jonah remembered that as the waters were closing in and he was about to drown his biggest fear was not death, but being separated from God forever. He pictured in his mind the temple in Jerusalem and realized that he would never see it again. He would never again come into the presence of God. Then he realized that even at the point of death he could still communicate with God in prayer. Jonah’s prayers reached up from the deep and found God in the temple. So it doesn’t matter how desperate things are. It doesn’t matter how far away from God you have drifted. If doesn’t matter if you have done things you are too ashamed to admit to God. When you need to talk with God pray and your prayers will reach God in heaven because nothing can separate you from the love of God. And for this we can be truly thankful.

Third, Jonah knew that the only God worthy our trust was the LORD, God of Israel. The crewmen on ship pulled out their wooden idols which had no effect. We wouldn’t be as crude and ignorant as that. Would we? Out idols are more sophisticated. We believe that we can depend on our own power, wealth or strength. In our modern world we place our faith in insurance policies, bank accounts and sufficient planning to prevent any surprises. But when health worsens, relationships sour and bankruptcy is at the door all of our hope dissipates and we are left with nothing. Only our faith in God can sustain us in these times. This is why spiritual development is so essential. As you worship each week, study the Bible and pray, you are making spiritual deposits that will sustain you when life seems to be spinning out of control. And for this we can be truly thankful.

And fourth, Jonah realized that his whole life, his very existence, was a result of the extravagant grace of God. Without God saving grace, Jonah never could have survived his ordeal. God had delivered him from death to life. God had saved him from his sin and pending death. Jonah’s response was to sings God’s praises with thanksgiving. God faithfully loves us, hears our prayers, sustains us in times of distress, and graciously delivers us from death to everlasting life. And for this we can be truly thankful.

I am extremely grateful for all that God has done for me. God gave me a great family that brought me to church when I was young and gave me a love of God and a desire to follow his commandments. God gave me a wonderful church in Washington DC where I was nurtured and loved. There I developed a deep love of the Bible and wanted to learn from it as much about God as I could. God then allowed me to come to Fuller Seminary where I was blessed with the best theological education available anywhere, an education that has prepared me, I hope, for the challenges that face me in this ministry. God has richly blessed me with a wife who shares my love of God and helps me to serve God in the best way I can. And next Sunday our amazing God will permit me to be ordained as a Minister in our denomination.

Now God is calling me here. And like Jonah I am tempted to run away from this assignment. Here I am to serve a small church in an ethnically diverse section of Los Angeles. Nothing in my past experience or education has prepared me for this task. The only hope I have is that God will do something with this church through my ministry. I don’t know what God is going to do. But I am sure that God is doing something and is preparing me and this church for an exciting and possibly surprising future. I believe this because our God loves us so much. Our gracious God will sustain us through budget difficulties and problems of growing a diverse multicultural church. I know nothing will be easy. But if God sent a fish to save Jonah who was running away, what will God do for us as we pray and thank God for all He has done.

So when you sit down at your Thanksgiving meal this week and see turkey remember fish and time Jonah had to just sit back and reflect on what God had done for him. Take some time for yourselves to recall all that God has done for you in your lifetimes. And respond to what God has done for you with thanks. Dear God, thank you for all blessing you have given us. Thank you for this church and Eagle Rock Community. Thank you for the Elders and Deacons of this church. Thank you for the retreads and the Wednesday Bible group. Thank you for Clippers and all new people who are coming to see what you are doing here in Eagle Rock. Thank you God. Amen.