LET’S COOL DOWN.

Hello to the person reading this. We are back in the book of Jonah; this is likely the second last blog in what has become a series of blogs on Jonah. Like I’ve repeatedly said, the book of Jonah is more than just a children’s story it is in fact a beautiful commentary on how we live our own lives. In the last blog I took a look at a poem that Jonah composes whilst he dwells inside a massive fish and highlighted how even though we might hate it, God will often bring us to the end of ourselves in his efforts to form and shape us. Today we are in chapter three of Jonah.

So let’s continue our journey with our favourite hypocritical profit. We will pick up the story after the fish vomits Jonah back out onto dry land. And the author tells us in Jonah 3:1-3. “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 I give you.” Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it.” This time Jonah actually does his job and he obeys the Lord. This is important, what’s going on in Nineveh is something that had to change. They were merciless and they were brutal. The intervention of God was required. God is not a God who allows injustice to go unpunished and he will partner with his people when he inevitably sets out to address the injustice that humanity so often indulges in. As Jonah makes his way through Nineveh he preaches this sermon; “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” That’s literally all he says. Jonah’s sermon is eight words in English. In Hebrew, the language he preached in, the sermon is five words. This is all Jonah, who has apparently repented, says. It’s so weird. God told Jonah in chapter one to; “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” Jonah after having to be pursued by God finally listens to God and he goes to Nineveh and then when it’s time to speak he says five words! None of these words mention God or the wickedness of Nineveh.  Jonah is literally a prophet, a messenger of God. What kind of prophet preaches on behalf of God without mentioning God?

The author wants us to notice that as well. We’re supposed to look at Jonah’s words and think “hmmm something’s fishy here” (pun most definitely intended).  There are two schools of thought on this (this fish pun was unintended). The first is that this is another campy/ironic element of the story. Jonah had to be thrown overboard by God himself to repent meanwhile the worst people in the world by far only needed five half-hearted words. The second is one I personally agree with. Jonah is engaging in prophetic sabotage. Jonah hates the Ninevites and he doesn’t want them to find the forgiveness that leads to life, so if he takes a half-hearted approach and he doesn’t say everything they will disappear and the world will be a better place without them. I think this point of view is more consistent with Jonah’s character. And honestly with our character too, it’s so easy for us to treat the people we deem unworthy of God’s grace with the sort of disdain Jonah treated Nineveh with. We know we can’t flagrantly disobey God so we do it in subtle ways. And it’s mainly through how we treat other people.

The story goes on; let’s take a look at how Nineveh responds in Jonah 3:5. “The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.” It says the Ninevites believed God. That’s so interesting. Jonah didn’t mention God once, but the hearts of Nineveh were so attuned to what God was saying that they repent despite Jonah. How the Ninevites respond is a crucial lesson for us in the Western Christian world. They believe God and from their belief they fast and put on sackcloth in order to commit to God with action. In the Bible belief is completed by action. It has never been and will never be just words and thoughts. Contrast that with Jonah. He said he feared the Lord, but we know he didn’t because he ran away from the Lord he said he feared. Belief without action is not belief it’s merely religious drivel. You see Nineveh in this moment in the Bible is a beautiful example about repentance. They were successful. They were brutal and unjust but that led to success. They were expanding and were the capital of the great empire of the day. Then God rendered judgement and they were suddenly confronted with the fact that they weren’t good they were evil. And now it becomes this choice. Would they trust God’s definition of good and evil or would they stick to their own definition. They chose God because they believed God. How would you react if you were confronted with the same choice in your own life? Would you choose success or would you choose trust? Even the king, the most powerful person in the world then, rose from the throne covered himself with sackcloth and sat in the dust and then he went on to decree that even the animals must repent. Jonah never even made it to the king. The half-hearted sermon he preached went viral in Nineveh and that’s all it took. Ultimately your life will show what you believe. Not your words.

The king’s decree summed up the change of heart in Nineveh. In Jonah 3:8-9 it says; “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? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” When the king says “Let them give up their evil ways.” The word for that in Hebrew is ‘shuv’ it means to turn. So you’ll be going one way and then judgement that you’re going the wrong way is rendered and then you’ll turn away from the way you were going and go a new way. We call it repentance today. There will be days where we will need to shuv. We will be walking a path that leads to ruin for ourselves and for others and we may not see it, but God does. When it’s time to turn, will you turn?

I know that we can struggle with the language. We don’t like to think of God being fiercely angry at us and we don’t like to think of the concept of perishing. But God is just. And even his justice flows from his love. To think that God is not just and he doesn’t condemn unjust actions and then to somehow reason that God doesn’t condemn unjust actions because of his love is ultimately a deep misunderstanding of God’s love. The most unloving thing for God to do would be to overlook the mess we’ve made in the world. The love of God requires justice and his justice comes from his love. God cares about how we treat each other and the Ninevites realise they are in the wrong and they change. Not because of fear but because of trust. May God have mercy on us as we try to do the same.

I hope that this week you can reckon with where you need to turn and I hope that it ultimately leads to a better life and better faith for you.