Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Psalm 62: 6-14 1 Corinthians 7: 29-31 Mark 1:14-20
Today we only hear a part of
Jonah’s story—we hear a part of the happy ending. Let’s take a moment to remember the whole of
it---how God asked Jonah to go to Ninevah and Jonah took off---having no desire
to be a vessel of God’s mercy to the Ninevites, Jonah ran away. And as he refused to do what God asks, Jonah
puts a whole ship full of sailors at risk because the seas are made turbulent
due to Jonah’s running away from God.
So, Jonah offers to be thrown overboard---recognizing that his fear and
disobedience is putting others in harm’s way.
Remember, for the people
hearing the story for the first time, the seas are symbolic of darkness and
chaos---all things scary and fearful---and Jonah is thrown right into the
middle of that. So, God sends a big fish
to carry Jonah through the seas until he can reach dry land and stand on his
own two feet.
I don’t know about you, but I
meet people who tell me that the Bible is a bunch of hooey because of stories
like this---after all, a person who had been swallowed by a whale (or a big
fish) wouldn’t simply come out exactly the same—in good health with no
problems—if he had been eaten by said whale and spit out three days
later…..come on!
True, as a factual tale, this
may be hard to swallow (no pun intended).
But as a story of Truth, this has great news for us. In the middle of the drowning waters---God
will provide a safety net---a vessel if you will---that can carry us to safety
until we can stand on dry land again.
Oh, the waters of darkness are not just sucked away; the seas of chaos
and turbulence aren’t drained out of our lives---but we can be carried, we can
be held, we can be brought to safety.
Beloved, we are the “great
fish.” We are the whale in this
story. We are to be the vessel of
safety that carries one another until dry ground is reached.
Now, if we look at this
little chunk of St. Paul’s letter to the people of Corinth all by itself---it
doesn’t seem very encouraging or helpful.
What? Murray should act as if he
doesn’t have a wife? We are to
immediately stop mourning, stop rejoicing, and pretend we don’t own anything?
What?
By itself, this chunk of the
letter is confusing. But in context,
when it is understood in the whole, St. Paul is really saying: Start living
differently! God’s Kingdom is
coming. The Kingdom is coming—live
differently!
Jesus echoes this today: “The
time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in
the good news.” In other words, Jesus is
telling us: The time is NOW. The Kingdom
of God has arrived. Turn your lives
around and live out this Truth!
Roughly about 10 youth and a
few adults decided that they weren’t okay with so many people in the world not
having clean water. They realized it was
a problem that could be solved. They
learned that Americans spend about 450 Billion dollars on Christmas each
year. (This is just Americans, mind
you). And then they learned that the
estimated cost to ensure that everyone on the planet has clean water would cost
about 10 billion dollars. A drop in the
bucket. So they took their coins, their
dollar bills, and they put them together—collecting $170 so that some people in
Zimbabwe could experience clean, living water right now.
The Time has been
fulfilled. The Time is now.
A small gathering of people
meet each Sunday evening. Most of them
did not know each other before they came.
Many of them are regulars, but there are also guests who are welcomed
in---strangers one hopes becomes a friend.
Some of these who gather are young people, some middle aged, a few are a
bit older. They gather consistently, and
in that constancy, they are beginning to know one another---to learn one
another’s stories. They become more
comfortable as these regular gatherings take place, and they begin to share
their gifts—enriching the gatherings with their presence, their voices, their
music, their prayers, their vulnerability.
The space in which they gather begins to hold the remnants of their
prayers, their lives, their offerings, becoming holy ground because they gather
there. In itself, it is just a room, but
their presence makes it holy. Their
lives and offerings make it a sacred space each time they return.
The Kingdom of God has drawn
near. The Kingdom has arrived.
Wednesday nights and Sunday
mornings. Thursday mornings and Monday
nights. Adults and children come
here. They come to pray; they come to
learn; they come to continue in the fellowship and teaching of the
Apostles---to strengthen their relationship to God through study and prayer and
play, but also to strengthen their relationship to God by becoming knit to one
another. Knit together into a web of
grace, a safety net of Holy Community.
Many come because life has shown them that it is these people who hold
them in the drowning waters of life---who carry them to safety during the
storms---and they come so that those who do not know this truth yet can learn
and know and experience what it means to be bound together by the power of the
Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever.
And by coming, they are turned and re-turned toward the One who loves
without limits.
Repent and believe in the
Good News. Turn your eyes upon Jesus and
live differently.
You know, the book of Jonah
is about Jonah’s need to turn, to repent, to realign his nature with that of the
nature of God. In this short tale, Jonah
is angry that God is willing to show so much grace and mercy to his, and all of
Israel’s, great enemy. Ninevah is the
capital city of Assyria—a nation that seeks to overtake and destroy
Israel. Ninevah, in its own history
books, records how this empire brutally treated people—an empire built on
violence and torture in order to inspire fear and obedience. Jonah is not happy that God is going to give
them a warning….a second chance. These
people?
Yes, God’s nature is to be
merciful and gracious—even to those we deem unworthy---and it is God’s nature,
once a people or a person has turned back toward God—it is God’s nature to
forgive. Jonah is angry. And, if we are honest, we totally understand
Jonah. How many times have we said or
thought with great glee: “Oooooh, you’re gonna get it.” Because for those who are our Ninevites—those
we deem unworthy of grace---that’s exactly what our hearts want. We want them to “get it;” to feel pain, hurt,
shame, disgrace, and humiliation.
More than once God asks
Jonah, as he pouts about God’s mercy: Is it right for you to be angry? You see,
just like us, Jonah is a believer. He
can quote Scripture; he knows God’s gracious nature. But he still wants God to act according to the
ways of the world---the bad guy gets what’s coming to him (violence and
destruction, preferably) while the good guy (and that’s us, obviously!) rides
off into the sunset while the applause for the hero fills his ears.
But God isn’t interested in
that kind of justice---the kind where someone has to lose in order for someone
else to win. In God’s reign, all are
meant to win. We are not in charge of
who receives grace from God. We are
pointers to God’s grace. Speaking to us,
and not just Jonah, God asks: Is it right for you to be angry because I am
gracious?
The church, when it is being
the church, is a sign---a living, breathing instrument---of what God’s reign
looks like. And friends, it doesn’t look
like the world we already know.
Following Jesus requires that we live differently. If the Ninevites are not automatically
disqualified from God’s grace, then no one is.
Thanks be to God.
God’s rule requires that we
quit taking sides. We are to quit demanding that some are worthy and some are
not. In Christ there is no us and them;
there is only us. Jesus says, Follow
me. To believe in the good news---to
believe in Jesus---is to live as Jesus.
If we declare Jesus to be our Lord and Savior, then we must live that
belief each day. Belief isn’t some intangible
thing that we hold in our heads; belief is how we live. To believe in the Good news of Christ is to
choose for the common good and not just our personal satisfaction. It is to recognize that we are to act in
welcoming and accepting ways that bind us together---knitting us into a web of
grace, the safety net that carries one another to dry land. To believe in the good news is to act from
the truth of God---the truth of radical equality, radical hospitality, radical
generosity---the truth that Jesus lived in his life in order that we might see
and know how to live ours.
The Benedictine writer Joan
Chittister writes: “Rebuilders are those who take what other people only talk
about and make it the next generation’s reality.”
Jesus calls us to be rebuilders. “Come and follow me,” Jesus says, “And I will
make you fishers of people.” Fishers who
cast out safety nets and webs of grace in order that all might be carried
through to safety and empowered to stand on dry land again.
Let us be a community of fishers,
fishers of people. Casting nets of
kindness, concern, hospitality and generosity out into the world. Rebuilding God’s Creation right in the center
of this community. Let there be nothing
less than a revolution of our hearts, minds, bodies and spirits. Come, let us follow Jesus. The Kingdom of God draws near. God is with us. Turn and re-turn. The time is now. The time is
now. Believe. Believe and live differently. Live Jesus.
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