Today we reflect on one of the greatest stories in the Bible. And I’d like to give you some homework, to go home today and read the entire book of Jonah. It’s not a long book. In fact it may take longer to find the book of Jonah than it does to actually read it.

The story begins with God commanding Jonah to “Go at once to Nineveh… their wickedness has come before me… Tell them to repent.

Now Ninevah as the capital of Assyria and Assyria was a fierce nation. They were enemies.

And Jonah was very afraid to go to Nineveh, as they had done many frightening things. So, what did Jonah do? He set out and fled to Tarshish. He fled from the presence of the Lord.

In other words, Jonah did exactly what God told him not to do. Jonah did not want to preach to the enemies of Israel.

So he flees and he boards a ship which is then caught in a great and terrible storm.

The crew frets and are frightened for their lives. But Jonah, he sleeps through the storm. The crew casts a lot a the lot falls on Jonah. After fearful deliberation, they throw him overboard.

The sea becomes calm.

And Jonah is lost in that sea.

God provides a great fish, and the great fish swallows Jonah whole and the fish keeps him for three days. This is God’s way of giving Jonah another chance. And Jonah prays. “You brought up my life from the pit.” Jonah says to the Lord, with thanksgiving, I will do what you ask me to do.

So the Lord asks him for the second time to go and preach to Nineveh.

And so, Jonah goes to Nineveh, and this is how he preaches.

“40 days more and Nineveh will be overthrown.”

That’s it. That’s all he says. He has obeyed God, but with a bad attitude. Then he just goes and sits and he waits for Nineveh to be destroyed.

But a strange thing happens. The message gets through to the kind, and he declares that all must repent. Everybody in Ninevah, and even including the animals, put on sack cloth and ashes, and repented.

Seeing this God changed his mind, and he did not bring judgement against Ninevah.

Now this made Jonah very angry. He is sitting in the hot heat, putting. God has forgivien but Jonah has not forgiven the people of Ninevah.

And while Jonah is sitting there in the heat of the day, God causes a tree to grow next to him and the tree brings much needed shade to Jonah.

Then God causes an insect to come and eat the tree and the tree dies. This enrages Jonah all the more. “It is better for me to die”.

And God comes and talks to him. Is it right, Johan, that you are so upset about a bush? Should I not be concerned in the same way about the city of Nineveh, which has 120,000 people in it, and not to mention all their animals?

Isn’t it the case sometimes that petty things seem so much larger than God’s gifts to us?

The story is open-ended. We don’t know what Jonah decided to do. But we have the same option that Jonah had. We can repent too.

This story is great because the good guy, Jonah, flees and gets angry at God. And the bad guys repent.

It shows us that God’s gift is offered to all.

The way that we learn to forgive others is through the experience of being forgiven by God.

Sunday 21 January 2018

Reverend Shelley McVea was recorded at St. Saviour’s Church, 43 Kimberley Avenue, Toronto, M4E 2Z4.

416 699 6512

Email: [email protected]

www.stsaviours.ca

Services are held every Sunday morning at 10:30 am in the historic village church of St. Saviour’s.

All are welcome to join us in worship and fellowship.

Today's sermon was based on the lessons of the third Sunday after the Epiphany

(Year B RCL).

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

Mark 1:14-20

Psalm 62:6-14