3rd Sunday after Epiphany
January 28, 2018
Jonah 3:1-10; Mark 1:14-20
A two year old’s favorite word: NO. It’s partly because
they’ve learned to say it. It’s partly because they’re learning some individual
agency and exploring what things they have a choice about. Sometimes they want
the choice just to be able to say NO. Even as grown-ups, some of us still have
a very easy time saying no. We’re clear on what we want, we’re clear on our
abilities and our limits, we know what’s within our realm of being able to
handle and what’s not. Others of us, though, are people pleasers. We don’t like
to disappoint others. We don’t want to tell them NO. It makes for very spoiled
kids when parents don’t want to tell their children NO. Yet we do it in other
relationships as well. There seems to be a cultural trend that we don’t like to
tell people NO. Of course, it’s related to the fact that we have forgotten how
to be on the receiving end of the word. When we are told NO, we often try to wheedle or complain or throw a fit.
We’ve forgotten how to graciously respond when we are told NO. We don’t like
being told NO, and so we try not to have to tell others NO, either.
This
morning’s Old Testament story comes from the third out of the four chapters
that make up the book of Jonah. Unlike the other prophet books in the bible,
which tell you what the prophet says and what God says through the prophet, the
book of Jonah is about the adventures
of the prophet. And Jonah has adventures because he tells God NO. He listens to
what God has to say, he’s got that connection, but then he tells God NO. You
may have noticed that the first verse we read said, “The word of the Lord came
to Jonah a second time.” That’s
because the first time was back in
chapter 1, verse 1, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai.” God
sent the same word to Jonah, twice. The same message, twice. God has to repeat
himself, and I can’t think of a single other place in the Bible where that
happens.
You
see, what usually happens, both with us
and in the Bible, is people making excuses to say NO. Moses tells God that
he’s not a good public speaker. So, God sends Moses’ brother, Aaron, to help
him. Jeremiah says he’s too young. People aren’t going to listen to him because
he’s not old enough. God says, in effect, “You’re fine. Now go.”[1]
I actually tried that excuse once, the first time I was asked to lead bible
study in the pastor’s absence. When I was about 22 or so, I was part of
Disciple bible study at the church I was attending. The pastor was going to
miss a session and wanted me to lead it. I told him, I’m 40 years younger, or
more, than just about everyone else in the study. Are you sure? And he said
yes. He was one of the two pastors, by the way, who knew I was called to become
a pastor myself. Except at that point in time I was in grad school for my
master’s in education and I was burning out. So when two other people during
that time suggested I go to seminary and become a minister, I told them no way.
I’m burned out on school. I am never getting another degree. Well, you can’t
ever tell God never. But God did give me a few years off before I went back to
school for seminary.
We
are good with excuses. I didn’t hear you. I didn’t understand what you wanted.
That’s too hard! You do not understand what you are asking! I don’t want to go
back to school. I’m too young. I’m too old. I’m not good enough. I don’t know
the material. The excuses are endless. Jesus even gets them. In Luke 9[2],
“Jesus and his disciples travel along the road, and someone says to him, ‘I
will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replies, ‘Foxes have dens and the birds
in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head,’” and
the guy disappears. “Then Jesus says to someone else, ‘Follow me.’ This guy
replies, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus says to him, ‘Let
the dead bury their own dead. But you go and spread the news of God’s
kingdom.’” Finally, “someone else says to Jesus, ‘I will follow you, Lord, but
first let me say good-bye to my family.’” This guy puts a condition on it. Yet
Jesus replies to him, “No one who puts a hand on the plow and looks back is fit
for God’s kingdom.”
There
are all kinds of excuses that we give God to not to do what he asks us to do.
Yet there are only two real reasons behind these excuses: I don’t want to! And
I’m afraid to![3] So
often it falls into one of those two categories. Our will, what we want to do, does not line up with
God’s. No, God, I don’t want to be kind to that person. No, God, my time is my
own and I don’t want to spend it that way. No, God, my money is my own, I
earned it, and I don’t want to spend it that way. No, God, I just really don’t
want to do that. Sorry. Or, it’s fear. God, what if I mess up? What if I don’t
know what to say and look stupid? Or sound stupid? No, God, I’m afraid to go to
that part of the city. No, God, I’m afraid to trust you more. No, God, I’m
afraid that doing this is going to change my life and I like my life just fine
the way it is thank you very much. Or, maybe, no, God, I’m afraid that doing
this is going to change my church, or change my community, or change my
friends, or change me. We are afraid of failure and we are afraid of change,
because change means loss and haven’t we had enough loss already? I met with
our new Finance chair this week, who has big plans for our church, by the way,
and he said something I asked if I could quote. He said, “There are one hundred
reasons why not. You only need one why.” I’ve listed a dozen excuses and
reasons why not. There are dozens more out there. The one why is because it’s
Jesus who calls.
Let’s
go back to Jonah for a moment. Jonah
falls in the category of “I don’t wanna.” God tells him to go deliver a
message to Ninevah. Ninevah is the modern day city of Mosul, Iraq. Back then,
it was the capital of Assyria, the archenemy of Israel, who, in fact, is about
to invade and conquer Israel. Jonah
is being sent to enemy territory, to tell them that their great city will be
destroyed in 40 days. Jonah doesn’t want to go. He doesn’t want to go because
he knows God’s nature and he believes God will be merciful and not destroy
Ninevah. Jonah doesn’t argue with God, though, he doesn’t give excuses, he just
boards a ship headed in the exact opposite direction. He runs away. And it’s a
little ironic because we just read last week in Psalm 139 that there is nowhere
we can go where God is not. “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I
make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.”[4]
Jonah deliberately disobeys and tries to flee from God, who is inescapable. Jonah
goes through some misadventures involving a storm and a big fish. Through it,
the Gentile crew on the ship repents and ends up worshiping God. And, after God
makes the big fish throw Jonah up on dry land, God again tells him to go to
Ninevah. Jonah reluctantly goes. He still doesn’t want to be there, but he
stops trying to run away. He delivers his message to the Ninevites, and lo and
behold, the Ninevites listen and repent. Jonah was successful! They listened to
him! Yet Jonah isn’t happy about it, he has no compassion for the Ninevites,
and in the last chapter he turns whiny and argues with God. God, I knew you
were going to be merciful. Why’d you even bother to send me? Jonah is obedient
in his actions, but there hasn’t really been any change of heart.
In
direct contrast to Jonah, our Gospel reading was about Jesus calling the first
disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, and John. These four guys easily could have
given some excuses, like, where’s my food going to come from if I don’t fish?
Who’s going to take care of my fishing boat while I’m gone? It’s not Zebedee
and Sons’ Fishing Company without the sons. We can’t leave our dad behind. We’d
feel guilty. He expects us to fish with him and the crew. Yet, in this case, a disciple is someone who does what God
asks.[5]
Peter, Andrew, James, and John all immediately leave their livelihoods and
follow Jesus when he calls, “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish
for people.”[6] I
will make you fishers of men. You see, when God calls, he will also equip you
and make sure you have what you need. In the last chapter of Jonah, Jonah sits
out in the desert to watch what will happen to Ninevah. God causes a vine to
grow up and provide some shade for him. Jonah gripes about that, too, because
he’s still feeling argumentative. However, God will take care of you,
especially when you’re following his will and not your own. He won’t leave you
stranded. He won’t leave you hanging.
God
wants you to say YES to him because he knows what might happen if you do. He
knows how lives will be transformed, yes, including your own, and including so
many others as well. You can say YES with a little trepidation, a little reluctance,
a little uncertainty. That’s ok, and that’s normal. As the King of Ninevah
asks, “Who knows what God will do?”[7]
God so often acts in unexpected and surprising ways, and yet we know that those
ways will also be merciful and loving. Who knows how far God’s love and mercy
extend? Psalm 36 says, “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your
faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your justice is like the deepest sea.”[8]
You can offer all kinds of excuses. More than a hundred. You can be pretty
creative with them, too, and trick yourself into thinking that they’re valid
reasons. Or you can be honest and just tell God, I don’t want to, and I’m
afraid to. There’s a reason the Bible says over and over, “Do not be afraid.”
It’s easy to be afraid. It’s harder to say that I’m not going to act out of
fear. I refuse to let fear be in charge of my life. It can be harder to say,
I’m going to act out of love. I’m going to let the God of love be in charge of
my life. It can be harder, and yet so relieving, to surrender and just say, Ok
God, I’m going to go with it. I will do what you want, even though I have no
idea how it’s going to happen or how it’s going to turn out. I’m going to trust
you to take care of those details. You only need one why. Thanks be to God.
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