I find it hard to believe that God, the God that we have revealed to us in Christ would
want any human being to be destroyed. God is always reaching out through Christ to turn
the face of his people back to God.
If we remember that the people of Nineveh where a ruthless enemy of the Hebrew people
who dragging Israelites out of the promise land into exile. God did not send in missiles
with bombs strapped to their backs, which would indiscreetly kill innocent people. God
sent one man, one man to witness his faith in God by preaching Gods message to a people
that had destroyed this man’s world
When we turn to using violent force to persuade a threat that is not imminent, we turn
ourselves away from God, and we display what little faith we have in the power of the Holy
Sprit.
The message we as pastors can bring to our congregation through this text would be that
God even wants to be reconciled with our so called enemies and that we as Christian
disciples our called to witness to them the good news that God's love is for all his
creation, even when that portion of God's Creation appears to be our enemy.
Mark, Kansas
I do not believe God was bluffing. If so, God would not have needed to repent (change
his mind) about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them.
In addition, this is the same God that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. This is the same
God who destroyed the city of Jericho in order to give the land to Israel.
In addition, the prophets insisted time and again that God used the enemies to
discipline Israel for her evil ways. In no way do I mean to say that I believe that God
wants the United States to declare war on anyone. I do not know fully the mind of God. No
human does. However, I do believe God may use armies on both sides, and that God somehow
will bring good out of whatever happens.
God, though merciful, must be allowed to punish, or God is not God, and mercy is not
mercy.
In no way can we declare unequivocally that we are on God's side in declaring war.
However, even in the midst of war, we can continue to strive to bring about God's peace,
and repentance among all peoples.
Michelle
I too am trying to see and understand God's will with respect to Baghdad (Nineveh). It
is often helpful to me to try to look for a bigger picture when striving for this. Jonah
is a place to start. Nahum is another place to go. Yes, Nineveh repented and God relented.
But the repentance didn't last, and neither did God's forebarence. How does that apply to
present day Nineveh? I wish I had a clear word of God. Our calling is to strive to be more
like Christ; Christ's defining moment was characterized by obedience in going to the
cross, though for a moment at least, he pled for another path. Does God call us to go to
the cross in the face of every tyrant? That has not always been the case. It was not
always the case in the Bible stories. It has not always been the case among nations. I
would offer that at times, perhaps often, in the affairs of nations God calls one side to
go to the cross for the other, and we humans have missed or ignored that call. But it
would be faulty logic and faulty theology to conclude, qed, that this time we must let
Saddam and UBL have their way with us.
Bill in GA
Yes, Ninevah is modern day Iraq but we ought to be aware that drawing a direct parallel
between the Biblical text and today's situation is being, IMHO, a bit too cute with the
text.
I think a better parallel might be this the complex relationship between preachers,
their call to preach, and their congregation. Jonah is called to go to Ninevah. He doesn't
want to go, in fact gets on a boat and flees in the opposite direction. He gets swallowed
up, spit out on dry land, and God calls him again.
He makes a half-hearted effort at preaching repentance which, surprisingly, bears
remarkable fruit. Rather than being amazed or overjoyed he is angry.
Has anyone here ever done a baptism reluctantly, knowing that the couple had no
intention of keeping the vows but the combination of one's own baptismal theology and the
fact that the child's grandmother was likely to throw a church tantrum cause the pastor to
perform the baptism anyway? Or how about the chronic alcoholic who demands a great deal of
the pastor's time in counseling to make himself feel better about the mess he's made of
his life but never listens to the pastor's advice to get some help? Or how about providing
quality pastoral care to the pain in the butt parishoner during a serious operation
knowing full well that a month after she recovers she will be back again trying to get the
pastor run out of the parish?
I think the Jonah story hits much closer to home for those of us who feel we are
overworked and under appreciated.
Matt in NJ
Whereas some prophets in the Bible objected to prophesying because they saw NO hope, it
appears that Jonah objects because there IS hope.
That's not what we read in the lectionary text this week but that's what I read when I
continue through the end of the book.
RevReb
I find a few are uncomfortable with a God who brings judgment. At the same time, I find
myself a great deal more uncomfortable with efforts to "tailor" God so He meets
our standards. God doesn't need to be adjusted to me - I need to adjust to Him. Christ
died on the cross to save us from that judgment. If that judgment wasn't a horrible thing,
what did He die for? Also, a bluff is, essentially, a lie. I am far more uncomfortable
with a God who intentionally deceives. Further, a God who is bluffing is to be ignored,
just as any bluff is to be ignored. In the end of this reading, do we believe God chuckled
and said, "Oh, I was only joshing ya," or was He saying, "I will be
merciful?"
Rather than speak of Ninevah/Iraq question, I look at this being an example of God's
glorious second chance. How many of God's greatest heroes were given a second chance?
Abraham put his wife in danger because of his cowardice - twice. Moses was a murderer.
David was an adulterer and a murderer. Peter denied Christ and all of the disciples but
John ran out on him. What can one say of Saul of Tarsus?
How many of us have failed in our ministries? How many of us have been recipients of
God's glorious second chance. A second chance for Jonah and for Ninevah are the themes I'm
seeing here.
And did Jonah repent? If Jonah wrote this book (as ancient tradition claims), then this
book may be the fruit of his repentance. No, by this point in the story he had not
repented, but I see Jonah's repentance coming in what I call the "fifth" chapter
of Jonah - where he writes his tale with tears in his eyes over the lessons God taught
him. Perhaps if we share a time when God gave us a blessed second chance, the message will
come to life for someone in the pew who needs one. I don't think I'll struggle to come up
with a few personal illustrations.
Spurgeon said, "Speak to a broken heart and you will never lack for an
audience." I plan to speak to people who need a second chance from God. I wonder if
any will show up. (tongue in cheek)
JG in WI
I don't think Jonah wants a second chance. I don't think Jonah repented. I don't think
modern scholarship embraces that Jonah wrote this book. I think Jonah went to Ninevah
because he finally realized that he would not be able to flee from the presence of the
Lord. I don't think this book is a book so much about God's grace as it the absence of
Jonah's grace.
The real problem I have with the Ninevah/Iraq parallel is that Ninevah is the
economically and militarily stronger nation. Jonah is a prophet of Israel -- the weaker
nation -- who is told by God to call Ninevah to repentance so they won't be destroyed.
Jonah knows that if God spares Ninevah there is a chance that they will oppress Israel.
There also is a bit of cynicism on Jonah's part. He senses that their repentance will be
short lived.
Yes, we preachers cite Bonhoffer and rail against cheap grace. Yet, there are times
when God grants people what seems to us as cheap grace.
I believe a better parallel than Ninevah/Iraq is this: How about an African American
pastor who is invited on Martin Luther King day to preach in an affluent, white
congregation. He knows that he will be received politely. There will be all kinds of
affirmations of his message and how well his congregation's choir sings. But he also knows
that come Tuesday these very same people will be complaining about how affirmative action
discriminates against white people. The MLK day repentance is likely to be a cheap, feel
good sort where the white congregation invokes the memory of Dr. King's message of
brotherhood to feels exonerated for centuries of racism. But the
Jonah didn't repent, but the people of Nineveh sure did! They wanted a second chance -
and didn't know it until Jonah showed up.
We want second chances, but how often do we really accept them? We often live in a
paradox of wanting absolution and to be counted as equals while never really accepting it.
The Anne Tyler book "Saint Maybe" comes to mind.
The people of Nineveh accepted it. Jonah didn't.
I think of the Disciple Bible Study unit on this. What is our "Jonah" call -
the one we do only begrudgingly? Iraq, a changed neighborhood, a child abuser, a wife
beater, an axe murderer?
Sally in GA
There is no doubt that the book of Jonah speaks of Ninevah's repentance. What the book
of Jonah (and according to the book) Jonah himself doesn't say is that the oracle he
brings is from the Lord.
In fact, Jonah goes one day's walk into a three day walk city and says, "Forty
days more and Ninevah shall be overthrown." He didn't, at least according to this
translation, say that Ninevah would be destroyed. He didn't announce by what authority he
makes such a statement! He's a foreigner who comes into someone else's place and makes an
ambiguous threat!
Where did the forty days come from? That wasn't part of what God charged Jonah with
delivering. What God said was to go to Ninevah and cry out against it, for their evil has
come up before me. (1:2)
Furthermore, Jonah is quoted in the book as saying that Ninevah SHALL be overthrown. He
didn't say that Ninevah might be overthrown. Jonah is not preaching repentance here. He's
proclaiming that being "Overthrown" (whatever that means) as inevitable!
Therefore I find it very interesting that an oracle not expressly noted as a word of
the Lord leads an entire city to repentance. Perhaps that's what "overthrown"
means..radical repentance. That's apparently not what Jonah wanted to see, as evidenced in
chapter four, but what happens nonetheless.
RevReb
