We often have a vision of justice and mercy – and who will repent and who is lost – We like to preach and evangelize those who we find sympathetic; we want them to receive mercy! But we also like to see the bad guy, or at least who we think is the bad guy, punished – and we like to see the powerful fall while the weak triumph– many volunteer to preach where it fits what we want – not many when it does not – we are in many ways not too different from Jonah.
For it is the prophet Jonah who has the word comes to Jonah to preach in the City of Ninevah – the capital of the Assyrian empire – a foreign and enemy empire that would conquer the northern 10 tribes of Israel. God sees their sins and sends Jonah to preach to them, Repent or the City will be destroyed! A message to preach to those who do not care for Israel.
And on one hand, we have today’s reading - he obediently listens and follows God – preaching exactly as God has told him. The preaching is well done with boldness, and as a result, the people repent of their sins, change their ways, and God sees their repentance and the city is not destroyed – Yet something is missing from this small section of the Story – After most people remember learning of Jonah and the whale, and there is no big fish here.
This is a small section of the story – The full book is actually very short, only a few pages, and I encourage you to read it – and when you read it, you will find that it is actually hilarious – because Jonah is not that different from us – he sees Nineveh as an enemy who deserves the harsh punishment of justice and so he, the prophet of God, would love to see them destroyed – so his answer is to run away to Tarshish – essentially Timbuktu – Working to not preach to make sure they do not repent so they will get their just punishment and be destroyed!
Why preach good news to the enemy – even if God calls forth to do so – For course this is not the end – he is fleeing on a boat in a storm – and everyone is praying and crying out to their god – seeking help for the divine – all except for Jonah – the prophet of God who is sleeping as he runs away! - Of course – after preaching to Nineveh – Jonah gets angry with God! – why? Because his preaching was successful – he had his sense of justice and mercy - and mercy for an enemy of Israel did not fit! End the end, before, during, and after, he is looking at his sense of justice and seeking to make it happen – yet that is not the drama that was written!
Instead it is the drama of God’s providence overcoming Jonah’s stubbornness – it the providence of God brings about the mercy of God even in the face of the opposition of a weak prophet – It is a story of God seeking all the nations, not just Israel – proclaiming to all even those we might not think are “worthy” – for “worthiness” is not the point! God’s ways are not our ways. – It is also the drama of God’s mercy upon Jonah as he teaches Jonah about his ways!
For throughout there is a certain comedy to the story – the prophet that trys to avoid preaching – the prophet that receives the word of God but tries not not to pray – even as the pagans do – reluctantly preaches, and that is angry and upset when his preaching is successful – This is not the superhero prophet heroically standing up for God – but a weak prophet– and easy to relate with. – put a prophet who learns of God - and one that gives many lessons to learn for us – to always proclaim the gospel – for it is not for us to decide who responds – it is not for us to decide who is “worthy” – for we are not.
But most of all - the comedy really reveals things of God – For God can use those that are less than stellar – for he used the less than stellar preaching of Jonah – God’s providence is not stopped by stubbornness – including our own – God’s mercy is for the nations, no just Israel – for he is sending Jonah to the capital of an enemy – And that God has mercy on all who turn to him – Not only Ninevah but even for Jonah.
I encourage you to take some time to reach the book of Jonah – there in the Old Testament – just check the table of Contents – it is short, moves quickly, has the form of a comedy, and is fruitful for prayer – do not get too caught up with the big fish – but the arc of the drama of God’s action – who are you in the story – what doe the story tell you about God? About us? About what you ought to do?