Sunday, January 21, 2024 - Epiphany 3
First Congregational Church of Cheshire
© the Rev. Dr. James Campbell
Jonah 3:1-10
The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
Have you ever noticed that there are lots of folks in the world who claim to speak for God? And have you ever noticed that so many of these so-called divine messages are in direct contradiction with one another? And so, you have to wonder: who’s really speaking? Is it God or just the voices in our heads?
Those are actually important questions, because the Bible of full of stories of a God who does speak. “In the beginning,” Genesis reports, “God said, “Let there be light” and there was light.” The Gospel of John opens like this: “In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God.” So, God and words are inextricably linked together. And the Word of the Lord, given but then retracted, plays a major role in the ancient story we just heard.
Once upon a time, there was a man named Jonah. And one day, the word of the Lord came to him and told him to go to Nineveh (which is modern day Mosul). In this great Assyrian city, Jonah was to announce the imminent judgment of God and to call the people to repent. But Jonah wasn’t too keen on the message or the recipients of the message, and so he ran away. He boarded a ship bound for Tarshish, in what is today southern Spain – about 750 miles in the opposite direction.
Well, this ship got caught in an awful storm. And so, in an act of desperation, the sailors dumped the cargo into the Mediterranean Sea, hoping to keep the old vessel from sinking. But it didn’t work. And Jonah, seeing a direct connection between his disobedience and the raging storm, admitted to the crew that he was running away from the word of the Lord. And he told them that if they would just throw him into the sea, as a kind of sacrifice, then all would be well and God’s anger would be assuaged.
Rather reluctantly, the sailors obliged and tossed old Jonah into the sea. And sure enough when they did, the storm calmed. And sure enough, when they did, a giant fish swallowed Jonah alive. And so it was, in the belly of this great fish for three days and nights, that Jonah had a lot time to reconsider what it means to not only hear but to obey the Word of the Lord. And having learned his lesson, the fish threw him up on the beach. Duly chastened, Jonah set off to Nineveh.
Now you might wonder why was Jonah so reluctant to begin with. Well, in order to understand that, you have to consider the strangeness of God’s command, at least for Jonah’s ears. You see, in the Bible, the word of the Lord is almost always directed to or about the Jewish people. But this prophecy was directed at a bunch of pagans. And the Ninevites weren’t just any pagans. The Assyrians were the mortal enemies of the Jews. Assyria had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and held the southern kingdom of Judah as a vassal for almost a hundred years.
So, why should the God of Israel warn the Assyrians of anything? They were just getting what they deserved. It would be like asking us if we would go talk to members of a terrorist cell and tell them to change their ways.
But apparently, that fish belly has been transformative. And so, Jonah went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to walk across it. Jonah walked for one day, stopped and then delivered an eight-word message: “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Well, it wasn’t exactly an eloquent sermon, but it worked. And lo and behold, the people believed the Word of the Lord and repented of their evil with fasting. Everyone from the king to the animals didn’t take a bite of food and wore sackcloth to show how sorry they were.
And so it was that when God saw the people’s response, God changed his mind. In the King James’ version it reads, rather shockingly: “God repented.” And this divine repentance made Jonah furious, especially after three days in a fish belly! The book of Jonah reports that God’s change of heart was “… evil to Jonah, a great evil, and his anger burned.” And then, in that fine old biblical tradition, Jonah told God off, saying: “… I knew you were a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and ready to relent from punishing.” Imagine that. Jonah was actually angry at God for being merciful.
Now, maybe that sounds outrageous until you realize that 2500 years after the book of Jonah was likely composed, many of God’s people still think and act like Jonah did. They want an angry and vengeful God... for others. The so-called Christian talking heads of cable news and internet platforms are some of the angriest people around: angry about the loss of their version of morality or their sense of dominance or their ability to control others. Forget love, joy, and peace as the fruit of the Spirit. Forget Jesus telling us not to judge. Instead, these folks wear their self-righteous indignation like a shiny medal. They delight in quoting biblical passages about the judgment of God, without ever imagining that they too might be the recipients of such judgment. And these folks never ever consider that God, in love and mercy, might actually change God’s mind.
Which brings me back to where we started: how can we know if the voice we hear is God’s voice or our own? There are no easy answers to that, but here’s a good guide I once heard from a wise person: “If your God hates the same people you do, then that would be your voice speaking.”
And here is something else I’ve learned that helps me identify the word of the Lord amongst so many competing messages: when God speaks, God’s word will more often than not challenge our comfortable ways of thinking. The word of the Lord will often bend us away from narrowness and pride and toward a generosity of spirit that might even feel a little heretical sometimes.
This past Friday, I marked the twelfth anniversary of the death of my friend, Bryant. He had been diagnosed with acute leukemia. And, for whatever reasons, had decided to forgo treatment. His decline was exceedingly fast. One day, another friend of his called and told me that if I wanted to see him alive, I needed to come right away. When I got there, he was alive, but unconscious. Still, I sat by his bed, and held his hand, and spoke kindly to him, hoping he could hear me.
Now my friend was not at all religious. In fact, if the mood was right, Bryant would tell you plainly that he was an atheist. He hadn’t always been. He had been raised in church, but people who claimed to speak the word of the Lord at that church had hurt him very deeply. And he had no use for any of this.
So, I said my goodbyes to my friend, but I was not done talking. I needed to talk to God. And so, I went to St. Malachy’s Church in midtown Manhattan, just around the corner from Bryant’s apartment. I found a quiet place to pray, toward the front and over on the left side. And I prayed for my friend. But as I did, I was aware of some old messages that still played in my head about God’s judgment against non-believers. And I was suddenly doubtful and afraid and feeling guilty. Should I have said more to him over the years? Had I somehow failed him, now that the end of his life was here? It was a very dark moment for me.
But then I looked up and noticed what I had not seen when I first sat down. There, in front of me, was a gorgeous mosaic of a Jesus with a very kind face. With one hand he beckoned the viewer and with the other hand his pointed to his heart. And as I gazed upon that image, these words suddenly filled my mind: “There is room enough in my heart for everyone.”
Now, could that voice just have been my own wishful thinking? Perhaps. Or perhaps it was the voice of the One who looks upon us all, saint and sinner, faithful and doubting, damaged and afraid – and sees us with deep understanding, and great mercy, and boundless love. Perhaps it was the voice of that One who once looked down on a great city, and saw the people, and changed his mind.
First Congregational Church of Cheshire
© the Rev. Dr. James Campbell
Jonah 3:1-10
The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
Have you ever noticed that there are lots of folks in the world who claim to speak for God? And have you ever noticed that so many of these so-called divine messages are in direct contradiction with one another? And so, you have to wonder: who’s really speaking? Is it God or just the voices in our heads?
Those are actually important questions, because the Bible of full of stories of a God who does speak. “In the beginning,” Genesis reports, “God said, “Let there be light” and there was light.” The Gospel of John opens like this: “In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God.” So, God and words are inextricably linked together. And the Word of the Lord, given but then retracted, plays a major role in the ancient story we just heard.
Once upon a time, there was a man named Jonah. And one day, the word of the Lord came to him and told him to go to Nineveh (which is modern day Mosul). In this great Assyrian city, Jonah was to announce the imminent judgment of God and to call the people to repent. But Jonah wasn’t too keen on the message or the recipients of the message, and so he ran away. He boarded a ship bound for Tarshish, in what is today southern Spain – about 750 miles in the opposite direction.
Well, this ship got caught in an awful storm. And so, in an act of desperation, the sailors dumped the cargo into the Mediterranean Sea, hoping to keep the old vessel from sinking. But it didn’t work. And Jonah, seeing a direct connection between his disobedience and the raging storm, admitted to the crew that he was running away from the word of the Lord. And he told them that if they would just throw him into the sea, as a kind of sacrifice, then all would be well and God’s anger would be assuaged.
Rather reluctantly, the sailors obliged and tossed old Jonah into the sea. And sure enough when they did, the storm calmed. And sure enough, when they did, a giant fish swallowed Jonah alive. And so it was, in the belly of this great fish for three days and nights, that Jonah had a lot time to reconsider what it means to not only hear but to obey the Word of the Lord. And having learned his lesson, the fish threw him up on the beach. Duly chastened, Jonah set off to Nineveh.
Now you might wonder why was Jonah so reluctant to begin with. Well, in order to understand that, you have to consider the strangeness of God’s command, at least for Jonah’s ears. You see, in the Bible, the word of the Lord is almost always directed to or about the Jewish people. But this prophecy was directed at a bunch of pagans. And the Ninevites weren’t just any pagans. The Assyrians were the mortal enemies of the Jews. Assyria had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and held the southern kingdom of Judah as a vassal for almost a hundred years.
So, why should the God of Israel warn the Assyrians of anything? They were just getting what they deserved. It would be like asking us if we would go talk to members of a terrorist cell and tell them to change their ways.
But apparently, that fish belly has been transformative. And so, Jonah went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to walk across it. Jonah walked for one day, stopped and then delivered an eight-word message: “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Well, it wasn’t exactly an eloquent sermon, but it worked. And lo and behold, the people believed the Word of the Lord and repented of their evil with fasting. Everyone from the king to the animals didn’t take a bite of food and wore sackcloth to show how sorry they were.
And so it was that when God saw the people’s response, God changed his mind. In the King James’ version it reads, rather shockingly: “God repented.” And this divine repentance made Jonah furious, especially after three days in a fish belly! The book of Jonah reports that God’s change of heart was “… evil to Jonah, a great evil, and his anger burned.” And then, in that fine old biblical tradition, Jonah told God off, saying: “… I knew you were a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and ready to relent from punishing.” Imagine that. Jonah was actually angry at God for being merciful.
Now, maybe that sounds outrageous until you realize that 2500 years after the book of Jonah was likely composed, many of God’s people still think and act like Jonah did. They want an angry and vengeful God... for others. The so-called Christian talking heads of cable news and internet platforms are some of the angriest people around: angry about the loss of their version of morality or their sense of dominance or their ability to control others. Forget love, joy, and peace as the fruit of the Spirit. Forget Jesus telling us not to judge. Instead, these folks wear their self-righteous indignation like a shiny medal. They delight in quoting biblical passages about the judgment of God, without ever imagining that they too might be the recipients of such judgment. And these folks never ever consider that God, in love and mercy, might actually change God’s mind.
Which brings me back to where we started: how can we know if the voice we hear is God’s voice or our own? There are no easy answers to that, but here’s a good guide I once heard from a wise person: “If your God hates the same people you do, then that would be your voice speaking.”
And here is something else I’ve learned that helps me identify the word of the Lord amongst so many competing messages: when God speaks, God’s word will more often than not challenge our comfortable ways of thinking. The word of the Lord will often bend us away from narrowness and pride and toward a generosity of spirit that might even feel a little heretical sometimes.
This past Friday, I marked the twelfth anniversary of the death of my friend, Bryant. He had been diagnosed with acute leukemia. And, for whatever reasons, had decided to forgo treatment. His decline was exceedingly fast. One day, another friend of his called and told me that if I wanted to see him alive, I needed to come right away. When I got there, he was alive, but unconscious. Still, I sat by his bed, and held his hand, and spoke kindly to him, hoping he could hear me.
Now my friend was not at all religious. In fact, if the mood was right, Bryant would tell you plainly that he was an atheist. He hadn’t always been. He had been raised in church, but people who claimed to speak the word of the Lord at that church had hurt him very deeply. And he had no use for any of this.
So, I said my goodbyes to my friend, but I was not done talking. I needed to talk to God. And so, I went to St. Malachy’s Church in midtown Manhattan, just around the corner from Bryant’s apartment. I found a quiet place to pray, toward the front and over on the left side. And I prayed for my friend. But as I did, I was aware of some old messages that still played in my head about God’s judgment against non-believers. And I was suddenly doubtful and afraid and feeling guilty. Should I have said more to him over the years? Had I somehow failed him, now that the end of his life was here? It was a very dark moment for me.
But then I looked up and noticed what I had not seen when I first sat down. There, in front of me, was a gorgeous mosaic of a Jesus with a very kind face. With one hand he beckoned the viewer and with the other hand his pointed to his heart. And as I gazed upon that image, these words suddenly filled my mind: “There is room enough in my heart for everyone.”
Now, could that voice just have been my own wishful thinking? Perhaps. Or perhaps it was the voice of the One who looks upon us all, saint and sinner, faithful and doubting, damaged and afraid – and sees us with deep understanding, and great mercy, and boundless love. Perhaps it was the voice of that One who once looked down on a great city, and saw the people, and changed his mind.
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