Sermon: "Jonah - Detour to Nineveh"

1st in the "Jonah" series.
Delivered April 11, 2010 by Rev. John Schmidt.
Sermon Text: Jonah 1-4

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"Driver's Manual" series study guide: booklet or ordered page layouts

Well today we're beginning a six-week series on Jonah. I wanted to start by reading the whole book of Jonah, getting you a chance to hear the whole book all at once. But instead of me just, you know, reading through the book and then you having to listen to me preach on it as well, I felt that was kind of stretching things a bit. I figured we'd get somebody in here to do the reading for us. So I invited Katie Kavalsky to do that. And I'm going to stay up here because there are some things I might want to say along the way.

But I want to also point out that you have a driver's manual. This is part of our series, and in it you'll find that there is a spot for sermon notes. And so if there is something that, you know, strikes you along the way, we've given you this booklet as part of your personal journey through this Jonah series. Before we begin, let me pray.

Lord, thank you for your Word. Thank you for these moments that we are here together. And we pray that you'll enliven your Word. Open our hearts. For we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.

So now just sit back. Listen. Get comfortable, and let's enjoy the book of Jonah.

[Readings by Katie Kavalsky]

"The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 'Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.' But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord."

Stop. Stop. You have to stop here, all right? There are things that you are just not going to understand unless we talk about it now. In the course of this book, we're going to learn a lot about Jonah, a lot about his character, his thinking. But there is a phenomenal amount that we don't ever learn. For example, we don't know where he lives. We don't know under which king of Israel he serves. We don't know who is ruler of Nineveh in this period of time.

And usually a prophetic book will give us some kind of clue about this. And Jonah is considered a prophetic book. It's among the minor prophets, but it's also sort of a little unusual. It's considered a prophetic book, but there are only five words of prophecy in the entire book. Five words in Hebrew. So instead of really being a normal prophetic book, it's more a book about the life or a moment in the life of a prophet.

And the way it's written, it's written like a parable. It's written like one of Jesus' parables. It has a lot of the same kind of structure. We're supposed to see ourselves in this story. So that's something I want you to remember as we start this book. And just like a parable, it has its ironic moments, these moments when something unexpected happens.

And then I need to let you know about Nineveh. Nineveh is the capital of the Assyrian empire. It's a huge city for the time... 100,000 to 120,000 people. The Assyrians are an extremely powerful and violent people. They had a horrible reputation, the sort of people who skinned their enemies or put their heads on stakes. A very easy people to hate sort of like al Qaeda or the Nazis. But God is present even there in Nineveh because this story begins by God saying, "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." God is present in Nineveh. God is even there.

We have to know about Tarshish too. I have to take another moment. Tarshish, the other great city. Now Tarshish is a little bit different. We don't know its exact location. There are a number of cities whose names are similar. Could be anywhere. The best guess perhaps is Spain. But wherever it was, in Jonah's mind, it's the very end of the world. It's the other side of the world. It's the farthest known geographic point. It's an exotic place. It's a beautiful place, sort of like the South Pacific islands would be for us. And Tarshish is repeated three times in the Hebrew in this area in this passage.

Now to Jonah, Tarshish, beautiful Tarshish, is a place to get away from God. It's an odd thought, isn't it? It's one of our first ironic moments. The exotic, beautiful place at the end of the world is a place to get away from God while the horrible city of violence is a place where God is already present. Well, you can continue. And I think they've already forgotten what we read, so why don't you start at the beginning if you don't mind? Sure. Yeah.

"The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 'Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.' But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. They even threw the cargo into the sea to try to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he had lay down and fell into a deep sleep."

Wait right here.

In the Hebrew, the word 'down' is repeated over and over again in the book of Jonah. Down to Joppa. Down onto the ship. Down into the hold of the ship. And there is another down, a big downer coming. And this down is symbolic of the fact that he is getting farther and farther away from the presence of God in his mind. You can go ahead.

"But Jonah had gone down below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, 'How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us that we will not perish.' The sailors said to each other, 'Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.' They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.

So they asked him, 'Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?' He answered, 'I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.' This terrified them and they asked, 'What have you done?' (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)"

Let's face it. This is not a great plan. He has just now said that he is a Hebrew, that he worships, and then he uses a title of God that's ancient and very common among the Hebrews. He serves "the God of heaven, who created, who made, the sea and the dry land." Who made the sea and the dry land. Did he really think it was a great idea to get on a ship? The Maker of the sea and the dry land is after Jonah, and they are in a storm. You do the math.

"The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, 'What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?' 'Pick me up and throw me into the sea,' he replied, 'and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.' Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.

Then they cried out to the Lord, 'Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased.' Then they took Jonah, and they threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the Lord. They offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him."

Well this is the final down. Jonah tells them to throw him into the sea. But these idolatrous, ignorant, anything but God-fearing Gentiles (non-Jews) they don't do it. They don't throw him overboard at first. This is another ironic moment. Jonah, the person called by God, God's own person, a prophet, a missionary, he hasn't cared about their safety. He has put them in danger, and he hasn't cared about honoring God. And these non-Jews are concerned about both.

"Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said, 'In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled over me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.

I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple. The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit God's love for them. But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say salvation comes from the Lord.' And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land."

Well now we're at the famous part of the story. Lots of people get eaten by fish, but only a few get vomited back. This is the famous part, but this is also the part of the story that causes some people to believe it isn't true. And there is some good thinking behind that. The thinking that they have is that miracles just don't happen. And since this is already written like a parable, it's already written in such a stylized way, well maybe it's just a story meant to teach us.

But there is an important danger if we do think this way. If miracles don't happen, then what about the plagues on Egypt when Israel was delivered from their slavery? What about God parting the Red Sea if there are no miracles? What about Jesus' miracle in his ministry? And most importantly, what about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? If God doesn't do miracles, then we have a problem because the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament is a God of miracles. And if we get rid of them all, what do we have left of a Biblical God?

Now, there is also a danger though even if we believe that it's entirely true because then if we view it as real history, our tendency is to think, "You know, Jonah was a real jerk. He needed to hear this. He needed God to deal with him this way." And we forget that it's specifically written for us. That we're supposed to learn something from it. It was written so that Israel then and the Church now can see ourselves in the story. So let's not forget that.

Now the part about the fish is the famous part, but let's take a look at Jonah's prayer. Let's not forget that. It's a prayer filled with verses that we find in the book of Psalms. And verse 9 of chapter 2 is a key verse of the whole Bible. It says this: "Salvation comes from the Lord." This is what Jonah learned about his own life. This is what Jonah learned about Nineveh. And this is the lesson of the entire Bible as well. Salvation is of the Lord. Let's pick up the story.

"Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 'Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.' Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh." Jonah gets a second chance. Jonah obeys and goes to the city that he hates and fears. But has his heart really changed? We'll find out.

"Now Nineveh was a very large city. It took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city proclaiming, 'Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.'" Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown. In Hebrew, that's only five words, and it seems incomplete. Other prophets go on for pages and pages. And there is also no promise here of what would happen if they do repent. Sometimes prophets give that hope. The question we have to ask, "Is Jonah's heart really in this?"

"The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: 'By the decree of the king and the nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? Maybe God will yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.'"

Even though it's such a short prophecy, there is a huge response anyway. God's prophet doesn't tell them that God might relent. And yet they hope anyway. This is another ironic moment. God's prophet has resisted God, and these vile Assyrians hear one message and repent.

"When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction that he had threatened. But to Jonah, this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, 'Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is why I tried to forestall. I fled to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.' But the Lord replied, 'Is it right for you to be angry?'"

God relents, and Jonah is angry. Jonah feared the whole time that God would show mercy. That was his biggest fear. And he knew that God was this kind of God because this is how God revealed himself to Israel. Jonah actually repeats words that we see in the book of Exodus. "I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity." God is gracious. Jonah knows it, and Jonah is not gracious. Jonah obeyed, but he never shared the heart of God.

"Jonah went 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. Then the Lord God provided a gourd and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the gourd." Gourd. Wait. You know, sometimes you have a translation that gets you aggravated. This is one of those moments. It's not like there is this gigantic gourd that's hollowed out and grows over him. It's about the plant. It's a vine of some sort, okay? So the point is Jonah gets some air conditioning.

"But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the gourd so that it withered. 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.' But God said to Jonah, 'Is it right for you to be angry about the gourd?'"

"'It is,' he said. 'And I'm so angry I wish I were dead.' But the Lord said, 'You have been concerned about this gourd, although you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight, and it died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh in which there are more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and also so many animals?'"

The story ends with a question! We don't know what Jonah's answer is. We don't know what his next step is. It ends by us seeing God confront him. Jonah's values are all messed up. Here is a missionary who wants his ministry not to work. You catch that? Can you imagine that letter from your missionary? "Praise God. I've served here for five years and no one has repented." He is waiting around Nineveh an extra few days hoping against hope that maybe they'll be judged anyway.

But that question just doesn't come to Jonah. It comes to us too. Are we holding on to something like Jonah, something we hate, something that aggravates us? Are we holding on to that instead of holding on to God's heart? Well thank you, Katie, for reading. I appreciate you doing that. Why don't we give her a hand?

Well as I said earlier, today we're beginning our new series in Jonah. That's why you see the signs all around us. And this week we're looking at the detour sign. Sometimes when we hear about the heart of God, it appears to us to be a detour because God is not telling us to go where we want to go. Doesn't seem to be the shortest way of getting to where we want to get to in life.

So we've been looking at Jonah and looking at what it meant for Jonah to stop running away from God's will and instead join God in what he was doing. Jonah was called by God to be a prophet and a missionary. And who knows? Maybe at first Jonah liked the idea until he got some of the specifics. "Go to that great city, Nineveh." When he heard that, Jonah felt like God was sending him on a detour from what he felt what was really important. "Hey Jonah. Go way out of your way and do something you really don't want to do."

Do you ever have that kind of feeling about God's will in advance before we even know what it is? And when the book of Jonah was written, the words were intended to confront Israel, the whole people. "You are my prophetic and missionary people. But you view my plans as detours from your plan." And the words confront the Church too. "You are to be my prophetic and missionary people. But you view my plans as a detour from your plans."

Now Central has been going through a whole year of things that might have initially felt like detours to us. We're going happily one way, and then all of a sudden, we're trying to go a different way as we listen to God. It began when we were challenged in a consultation a little over a year ago when we were challenged to throw the whole weight of the maturity and resources that God had given to this church into reaching out to the people around us. They came in and said, "Look at what God has given you. The building, the money, the leadership, the people! There is a world out there. Stop talking about it. Do it."

In response, we've made a lot of changes. One of the changes is Grow Groups. And we realized that it was hard to get new people into our small groups, so we added. In addition to our small groups, we have special kinds of small groups that we call Grow Groups. Three times a year, we open them up again to people, create a short-term community. And it's allowed us to embrace so many of the guests who come into the life of our church. Almost twice as many people have been involved in a small group experience because of that change.

V.B.S. last year. Vacation Bible School became a whole church focus last year instead of just the children's ministry. And we served nearly 200 children more than we ever have before, and a number of families have joined our fellowship because of it. And then we changed Sunday morning to make all of our services more accessible to guests. And again, this was a turn from the way we normally did things. But we've been able to serve 50 to 100 more people every week so far because of that change.

But it's not just the Church that gets detours. Sometimes it gets personal. When we personally see a sign that God's plans for our lives might be new changes, what kind of response do we have? Are we ready to join God? Or does it look like a detour from our carefully planned direction in life? The point of the story is that God has the right to send us on these so-called detours. And our rightful response is to join God in what He is doing.

Now one short, unexpected detour might be the opportunity that Jim shared just a few minutes ago coming up two Saturdays from now (the 24th) for most of, you know, the day. ServeFest is coming. We have an opportunity to sign up for it right now. Now I want to challenge you to honestly look at your heart when you heard that message. A short detour. Not Nineveh. Baltimore. Not go all the way over in a ship and go there. Just a mile or two away.

When you heard that, did you jump at the chance, or did you view it as a detour? Your plans for that Saturday are so important. Your direction has such meaning that the disabled, that the poor, that the needy schools around us, the heart of God is not enough to make us take that detour. I believe God is in ServeFest. And if you believe that on any level, are you open to serving? You know, the fact is, we have a lot in common with Jonah. He is not that different than us. The same stuff goes on in us. So I want to invite you to join us the next six weeks in this journey with Jonah.

Let's pray: God, we thank you. We thank you that you gave Jonah a second chance. We need second chances, third chances, fiftieth chances. God, we thank you for mercy. And now, Lord, help us wherever we are, whatever our struggles are. Help us to step in to your plan, to not view it as a detour, but willingly and joyfully joining you in whatever is on your heart. Teach us that lesson over the next few weeks. We need to hear it again. For we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.

© 2010, Rev. John Schmidt
Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD 21204 410/823-6145
www.centralpc.org