"The Trouble with Mercy"
1-21-24
Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 4:1-5
Broadway Christian Church
David A. Shirey
The reading began with the words, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.” Which makes me wonder how many times it takes for God to get through to us. With Samuel last week, the third time was a charm. God says to Jonah for the second time, “Get up, go to Nineveh … and proclaim to it the message I tell you.”
The first time God speaks to Jonah is at the beginning of Chapter 1 when God says, “Arise, go to Nineveh … and cry against it; for their wickedness has come up before me” (Jonah 1:1, 2). Nineveh was the capitol city of Assyria. Assyria (present-day Iraq) destroyed (the northern kingdom of) Israel in 721 B.C. The book of Jonah begins with a prophet called up for duty—drafted to serve in the Persian Gulf as a missionary to his nation’s bitterest foe.
But Jonah was a draft-dodger. He said, “Go to Ninevah? Nothin’ doin’!” Ninevah was due east by land. Jonah sailed due west by sea. He caught the first ship out of Joppa the next morning and went AWOL from the Lord’s command. Tarshish, many scholars believe, was a coastal city in Spain. Think Acapulco. Miami Beach. Shangri-la. In other words, a much more preferable place to serve God than Nineveh. Being called to go to Nineveh and opting for Tarshish is like being called to urban ministry in Cleveland and singing up instead for being Chaplain on a Caribbean cruise.
But before we wag our fingers at Jonah for his disobedience, let’s be honest and admit how we, too, prefer to serve God on our terms rather than God’s. Have you never told God your preferences? I remember when Jennie and I were beginning our search for our first full-time church back in ’85. We told God we’d be open to serving anywhere east of the Mississippi … and ended up in downtown St. Louis. We got stretched a little! And when we were approached to start a new church 17 years later, we put in our preference again – How about the southeast Atlantic coast? Maryland. Virginia. North Carolina. We were sent to Phoenix – got stretched a lot! I’ll do anything you ask of me, Lord, as long it’s something I want and it’s within my comfort zone. That’s David Shirey left to my own devices. That’s all of us. That’s human nature. But this story suggests it’s divine nature for God to send us to Nineveh sometimes. Stretch us. And here’s why: spiritual growth happens when we step out in faith beyond the same old, same old. Cocooned in our comfort zones, we’re comfortably in control (we think), but in circumstances where we’re stretched, we have to learn to lean on God’s presence and trust in God’s provision. Faith matures when we’re willing to serve on God’s terms, not ours. That means being open to going to Nineveh rather than Tarshish.
But there’s more to Jonah’s choosing Tarshish over Nineveh than the human propensity to choose comfort over being stretched. There’s also the human propensity for, how shall I put it? Disdain. As in the propensity human beings have to despise other human beings. Hold others in contempt for how they look, where they’re from, who they love. Disdain them for their beliefs, their politics, their practices. A way to discover your Disdain List is to note who “they” are when you speak of we and they and who “them” is when you talk about us and them. The causes for human beings’ disdain of others is legion. (I disdain people who disdain others). Jonah chooses Tarshish over Nineveh because Nineveh’s out of his comfort zone, but more so because Nineveh is out of his caring zone. Jonah the Israelite could care less about the Ninevites. He disdains them. He sure doesn’t want to be party to saving them.
So, what did Jonah do? The Scripture says, “Jonah rose to flee from the presence of the Lord” (1:3). That’s a laugh line by the way. Tell me: where is a place away from the presence of the Lord? Name one. The Psalmist says: “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?... If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me and thy right hand shall hold me.” (Psalm 139:7-10). Jonah found out at “the farthest limits of the sea” that God was there. En route to Tarshish, there was a storm. Jonah was tossed overboard, whereupon Scripture says “the sea ceased from its raging” (1:15), thereby sparing the lives of a boatload of sailors who didn’t know the Lord, let alone worship and serve God. Then “the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah” (1:17), thereby saving a man who knew the Lord, but defied him. Which evidences a glorious truth about our God: You can’t run away from God’s presence or run out of God’s mercy. Neither Jonah, nor the sailors. Nor the Ninevites. Nor you. Nor me. There is nowhere anybody can go that is beyond God’s presence or God’s mercy. How good is that?
You may remember that having been cast overboard and swallowed up, Jonah prayed from the belly of the great fish. It’s a long and pious-sounding prayer that fills up the entirety of chapter 2. Here’s a fella who moments before had wanted nothing to do with God, but when trouble struck he “got religion” real quick. Lord, you know how much I love you and if you’ll just get me out of this mess, I’m yours forever. It’s been said “There are no atheists in foxholes.” Well, neither are there any in whales’ bellies! Jonah prayed a prayer that strung together every churchy word he knew, whereupon Scripture says, “The great fish vomited out Jonah upon the dry land” (2:10). Violet illustrated the scene for us on our worship guide. Don’t you know that some of the things we human beings say and do in God’s name are enough to make God sick at his stomach? There’s no telling the things I say that cause God to roll God’s eyes.
Which brings us to what Lynelle read: “The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh… and proclaim to it the message that I tell you” (3:1-2). This time Jonah went. And what did he do? He went a third of the way into the city. Which says to me he still wasn’t “all in” with what God wanted him to do. To prove my point, he then preached a measly eight word sermon: “Forty days more, and Nineveh will be overthrown!”(3:4) (You wish I’d take a hint from Jonah and preach eight word sermons!) Jonah said all of eight words, then he dashed back out of the city. Do you get the impression Jonah didn’t want the Ninevites to hear what he had to say? That he didn’t want them to have a chance to repent?
But what happened? Nineveh repented. God had mercy. And Jonah got mad. Jonah let God have it in no uncertain terms. Quoting from Jonah 4: “This was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.” My paraphrase: I knew you’d have mercy on that sorry bunch of heathen I hate! I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. That’s why I ran from this job in the first place! Nineveh repented. God had mercy. Jonah got mad.
What’s wrong with this picture? A man who disobeyed God’s call and received mercy, who was dead and buried in a fish’s belly but was saved, who said No to God but was given a second chance, didn’t want other people to receive the same mercy. That’s the trouble with mercy: We want it for ourselves, but not for certain others. I’ll leave it to you to reckon with who’s on your No Mercy list. The trouble with mercy is that God insists on showing it to people we disdain – who don’t deserve it any more than we do.
But listen: the good news of the gospel is that Jonah serves God’s purposes in spite of himself!
In spite of his refusal to go to Nineveh in the first place;
In spite of his only going a third of the way into the city and giving a one sentence sermon;
In spite of his scolding God for being too darn merciful;
In spite of his disdain for the people of Nineveh who are God’s children, too.
In spite of all that, God used Jonah to accomplish God’s purposes. The people of Nineveh heard Jonah’s mumbled words, repented, and were saved. Martin Luther said God uses crooked sticks to draw straight lines. Jonah served God’s purposes in spite of himself!
Knowing that, ponder this: if God works through imperfect prophets to proclaim and accomplish God’s purposes, there’s hope for you and me! In spite of ourselves, God is using us for the good. And even more remarkable: in spite of the people that drive you crazy, make you shake your head and grind your teeth, God is able to use them for God’s purposes, too.
There’s no trouble with mercy. The trouble is with us. But that doesn’t trouble God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love to us and to all.
You can take that gospel truth to the bank … and to Tarshish and to Nineveh and to Broadway.
Let all God’s Jonah and Joannes say Amen.
