Rev. George
Miller
November 15,
2020
Jonah 4:1-11
A few weeks ago we studied
Exodus 32. Moses is on the mountain for
a long time. The people get antsy and ask
Aaron to create an idol.
God gets upset. God plans to wipe them out. Moses reminds God about the promise made to
Sarah’s family. God changes God’s
mind.
By chapter 34 God proclaims “The
Lord is merciful and gracious.”
This story is usually referred
to as “The Golden Calf”. But perhaps it
should no longer be called that, as doing so places the emphasis on us and what
we do.
Perhaps Exodus 32-34 can be
called “God’s Grace and Mercy” as it refocuses the attention on our Creator.
There is a power in referring
to Exodus 32 as a story about God’s grace and mercy, because there is power in
the words themselves.
For example, in Hebrew, the
word for merciful is “rehem” which translates as “womb.” Merciful literally translates to “motherly
love,” the kind of passion and compassion that is experienced when carrying life
within you.
God is merciful; God
responds with womb love…
This story from Exodus about
God’s motherly love clearly left a long-lasting impression upon the Israelites,
and an impression upon Jonah. After all,
it’s because of God’s womb love that Jonah ran in the 1st place.
So often when we hear of Jonah,
we immediately think of the big fish.
But how did he get in that belly?
God calls the prophet Jonah
to go to Nineveh to cry out against their wickedness, but Jonah doesn’t want to.
Nineveh is the enemy; they’re
violent, bloodthirsty, and cruel.
So, Jonah says “Heck no!”
and runs in the opposite direction.
Is it because Jonah is afraid
for his safety? Is it because Jonah is
unsure he’s got the skills for the job?
No. It’s because Jonah knows all to well who God
is.
Jonah knows that the Lord is
a God of grace and mercy. Jonah knows
that God is capable of changing God’s mind.
Jonah knows that God will most likely show womb-love to his enemies, and
Jonah doesn’t want this.
Jonah wants
retribution. He wants annihilation. He wants God to tear the Ninevites limb to
limb and burn the place down to the ground.
Jonah does not want them to
be given a second chance, which he knows God will do.
That’s why Jonah ran. That’s how he ended up in the belly of the
fish. Because he wanted wanton destruction,
not womb love for his enemies.
Funny how being cast
overboard and in the belly of bleakness can change a man’s mind.
So eventually Jonah does
make his way to Nineveh, he does share a word from God…
…and as a result, the city,
the citizens, the king, even all the animals are saved.
But Jonah is upset. So upset he wants to die. Jonah did not want Nineveh saved. He wanted them utterly destroyed.
He wanted karma. He wanted some good ol’ what-comes-around-goes-around.
Instead, he saw the city turned
around, transformed, and able to see a new day.
Jonah wanted God to get the
belt and whoop some butt, but instead God pulled Nineveh to God’s bosom and
showed them motherly love.
What does Jonah do? He throws a temper tantrum. It’s kind of cute. In some manner, we can joke and say Jonah responded
like a typical man.
He doesn’t get his way. His ego is bruised. He feels his reputation has been ruined.
So he pouts. He goes into “woe is me.”
Ladies- have you ever seen a
man do this when they don’t get their way?
Perhaps a son, a brother, a spouse?
It’s somewhat endearing; how
delicate the male ego can be, the fragility we hide behind loud voices and big
muscles.
But to be fair, being a man
is not always easy.
To be told that we are
expected to always be strong, to win at any cost, to defend/protect, to be
willing to die for your country, that there are only good guys and bad guys.
And no one really teaches us
men how to lead, how to be weak, that it’s ok to show emotion, its ok to be
fragile.
We’re often taught that as a
man, our identity is tied to how much we win, how much we dominate.
No one really teaches us how
to respond when we don’t win, or how nurturing can achieve as much as destroying.
So when we do lose, or
things don’t go our way, or unearned grace steps in, we often don’t know how to
best respond.
No one teaches us that life
is not as simple as good guys and bad guys.
That both sides think they are the hero, and that often times we are
just people in which good and bad exist simultaneously.
So when things don’t go our
way, we don’t always know how to respond in a healthy manner.
When we fail at our
perceived task we think we’re worthless and worry about our reputation.
When we are sick or diagnosed
with a chronic illness we think we must hide it, deny it, or pull away from
those who care the most about us.
That’s why focusing today on
men’s health is so essential, because rarely do we discuss the health problems
or aging process of men.
We don’t really discuss the
horrors our soldiers endured, especially those who served in WW 2.
We don’t discuss the male sadness
that comes with slowing down. What is
really means when we can no longer drive, when we can no longer look after our spouses
and family.
We don’t often say the words
testicles or prostrate, or discuss how they change as we age and the fear of
discovering we might have cancer.
We don’t discuss the reality
of when we come to depend on the little blue pills and what happens when we feel
our testosterone slip away.
We rarely focus on the man
who is widowed or the boy who is being sexually abused.
So when these things happen
to us, as men, we tend to internalize, and we may either turn inward or we may lash
out.
No one really teaches us men
how to be strong in our weakness, how to speak the words we really mean, how to
accept defeat when our reputation is at stake.
In some ways, Jonah could be
a Patron Saint for all men who have found themselves in situations they never
wanted to be in the first place.
In some ways Jonah is our
stand in for when we face rough seas and would rather sleep, when we are
feeling swallowed by darkness, when we feel we’ve been made the fool, for when
the perceived bad guy gets away.
But here’s the cool thing- I
love how God responds to Jonah. I love
how God let Jonah have his moment.
Just as God shows mercy to
Nineveh, God shows the same womb-love to Jonah.
When Jonah expresses his wish
to die, God doesn’t dismiss his emotions, God does not immediately correct him.
God assists Jonah with working
through his emotions by responding with a teachable question “Is it right for
you to be angry?”
When Jonah’s response is to
walk away and sulk in solitude, God does not desert Jonah. God is still right there.
God gives space for Jonah to
feel anger. God acknowledges Jonah’s
anger.
Then, God reminds Jonah who
God is-
“Should I not be concerned
about those who don’t know their right from their left?”
Is God talking about Nineveh?
Is God talking about Jonah?
Is God talking about us?
Once again, we witness how God
is free.
Once again we witness how
the Kingdom of God does not operate like the kingdoms of the world.
Once again we see how very
human our spiritual ancestors were.
Once again we realize just
how much kindness and humility, passion and compassion really play in our
faith.
Jonah wants kingdom wrath,
God shows Kingdom Love.
Jonah wants God to be cruel
knowing full well that God is merciful.
Jonah wants to be left
alone, God says I am always right by your side.
Jonah is just a human, flawed,
imperfect, in his own ego.
But this does not stop God
from being by his side and giving him another chance to grow and to learn.
God’s grace, God’s mercy,
God’s womb-love.
For that we can say amen and
amen.
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