Rev.
Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon
– Jonah 4 – God's Concerns
Beaver
Dam and Pitts Creek Churches
17th
Sunday of Ordinary Time
July
29,
2012
Today
I will be concluding my series of sermons from the Book of Jonah. I
hope that this study has prepared the group heading to Sight and
Sound in Lancaster PA to see their theatrical production of this
book. Grace and I saw this show earlier this year and it is truly
spectacular. My prayer is that you now have a better understanding of
the this book which will lead to even greater pleasure as you watch
the show.
So
far we have been following Jonah through an amazing journey. It all
started when Jonah was told by God to go to Nineva and prophecy to
this hated enemy of Israel. Jonah wanted no part of this so he
disobeyed God and tried to flea to the farthest place on earth. God
stopped him with a raging sea and when the sailors through him
overboard to appease his God, God sent a fish that swallowed Jonah
and protected him for three days. After experiencing this salvation
of God, Jonah was ready to obey God's command to prophecy to the
people of Nineva. He told them that in forty days they would be
destroyed. Then he climbed a nearby hill to watch Nineva's
destruction. But what he saw angered him. The people of Nineva
confessed their sins by fasting and wearing sackcloth. And they
repented by turning from their evil ways and violence. Then God did
something that made Jonah furious. God forgave the people of Nineva
and reversed his sentence of destruction. It's time for God and
Jonah to have a discussion about all this. We will listen in. But
first let's pray.
“Grant
unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly
wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own
edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
Jonah
4: 5
Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he
made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would
happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and
made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his
discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn
the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it
withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind,
and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted
to die, and
said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
“It
is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”
10 But the Lord
said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not
tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.
11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in
which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who
cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many
animals?”
God
wanted to teach Jonah something about anger. Jonah was angry with
the people of Nineva. They had attacked his nation, Judah,
relentlessly. Judaen farms had been destroyed, and their cities
besieged. The Assyrians of Nineva had attacked and conquered the
northern kingdom of Israel and resettled the Israelites into other
areas of their empire. They had been ruthless and would have
destroyed Judah too but for the protection of God. So Jonah was
angry at them, so angry that he did not want to go there, so angry he
disobeyed God. And now as Jonah sat on a hill east of the city he
was angry at God because God had forgiven them, the evil Ninevites.
So this was a perfect time for God to teach Jonah something about
anger and God's compassion.
Of
course God too was angry at the Ninevites. He was angry at their
evil ways. He was angry at the violence they used against their
neighbors. God was so angry he was ready destroy them. But once
they confessed their sin and turned from their evil ways God's love
overcame His anger and they were forgiven. This is what we call
grace. God loves us as our creator, but when we sin God gets angry
and is ready to punish us. But if we confess our sins and turn away
from them, God loves us so much we will be forgiven. God needed to
communicate all of this to his prophet Jonah. He did that with a
vine.
There
is a porch on the southeast corner of the Dickinson Memorial Manse.
It is the perfect place for breakfast after early morning prayers.
But the sun rises in the southeast during the summer and the porch is
just too sunny to sit there in the morning with some coffee. So I
planted some morning glories along the foundation of the porch. And
I am training them to climb string I have tied vertically around the
porch. My hope is that they will grow the 15 feet I need with lots
of leaves and flowers to shade me during breakfast.
God
also used a vine like this to teach Jonah a lesson. As Jonah sat on
the hillside, disappointed that the Ninevites had not been destroyed,
and angry at God for not doing what he had promised, God sent a vine
to protect Jonah from the intense summer sun. Jonah was overjoyed
at the blessing he had received from God. But the next day God send
a worm to kill the plant which then withered away. This made Jonah
very angry. So what was God trying to communicate with this vine?
To
answer this question we have to remember that Jonah was angry when
God did not destroy the Ninevites, and that Jonah also was angry when
God did destroy the plant. So at times Jonah is angry when God
destroys something and at other times Jonah is angry when God does
not. What's the difference between the Ninevites and the vine that
would cause Jonah to want one destroyed and the other saved? The
answer to this question is simple. Jonah liked the benefits he
received from the vine, but he disliked the Ninevites. Jonah
expected God to bless the bush he liked and curse the Ninevites whom
he disliked. And Jonah was angry with God when God did not do this.
We
have the same problem as Jonah. We expect God to bless that which we
like, and we want God to curse that which we dislike. We think that
God should take our opinion into account when deciding what to bless
and what to curse. But God doesn't do that. God decides for himself
what deserves to be blessed and what deserves to be cursed. God
didn't consult Jonah about the Ninevites. When God heard their
confession and saw their repentance he was ready to forgive
regardless of what Jonah thought. Likewise when God decided to give
a worm a nice vine to eat he didn't consult Jonah to see if it was
o.k.
This
is an important lesson for us. We don't decide who God cares for and
who God destroys. God's concern belongs to God not us. And this is
really good news. God does not check with anyone else about our own
salvation. God decides what to do with us on our own merits. If we
confess our sins and repent, God will forgive us. Like Jonah we have
to learn this truth. For Jonah God sent a vine and a worm. What
will God do to teach us? What God did was to send Jesus Christ into
the world. The world arrested him and had him put to death. But God
was not concerned with what the world thought about Jesus. God knew
that Jesus was righteous. So after three days in the tomb God raised
Jesus from the dead. This was a clear demonstration for us that God
has no concern for what the world thinks. And in the resurrection of
Jesus from the dead God has sealed upon us the promise that if we
confess our sins and repent we too, like the Ninevites in the book of
Jonah, will be forgiven. So I urge you this Sunday as I do every
Sunday to bow your heads in prayer to confess your sins and turn from
evil so you may embrace the gift of forgiveness from God.
With
this we conclude our look at the book of Jonah. Like Jonah we hear
God's call to proclaim God's forgiveness for all who confess and
repent. But we flee from this command convinced that God will punish
those we consider too evil to forgive. God won't let us get away any
more that he let Jonah get to Tarshish. Like Jonah we symbolically
drown in the baptismal waters and spend three days in the tomb with
Jesus. When we emerge from the waters of baptism we are washed
clean, forgiven and empowered to proclaim the gospel of forgiveness.
It is not up to us to decide who should be offered forgiveness and
who should not. This is God's decision. We are to proclaim the
gospel of forgiveness to everyone, offering them the opportunity to
confess and repent to receive God's promised forgiveness. God is
concerned for all of his creation, so whenever he hears confession
and sees repentance he does forgive. All of creation is offered
this wonderful gift. Let us pray.
Lord
God, we confess our sins and turn from our evil ways. We thank you
for the blessing of forgiveness we have received. Help us to
proclaim this good news to people in our community who desperately
need to hear it so that they too will experience your forgiveness.
This we pray remembering Jonah and in your son's name. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment