Rev. George Miller
July 17, 2022
Jonah 1:1-6
Today is an important day for my family and me.
July 17, 1946 is the day my Mother, Carol Ann, was born.
July 17, 1995 is the day we buried my Father, Herbert Allen.
July 17, 2005 is the day that I was ordained in the UCC.
For anyone who’s heard my messages, you know that I’m not a big believer
in Heaven as a place we got after death, and certainly not a Heaven that is exclusive. If anything, I believe Heaven is right here
on earth, right now.
Nor do I believe in Hell. It goes
against the core of my being to think that the God who formed us, knows us by
name, would delight in having anyone suffer for eternity.
If anything, I believe there are those who experience hell on earth, and
that is enough for a lifetime.
However, I am willing to believe that if there is a Heaven where we go
after we die, I believe everyone gets to go.
I believe that God is so compassionate, so great, so awesome, that God will
love us into Heaven even after we take our final breathe.
This is my belief. Yours may be
completely different.
I believe that if Heaven is real, God will love each and everyone into
it, no exclusions, no matter what horrible things or tragic mistakes we have
done.
Not all pastors believe that. Not
all Christian churches preach this. Inclusivity
doesn’t sell.
Inclusivity does not build large congregations or stir excitement the way
anger and exclusivity does.
Ministry at Emmanuel UCC is not about earning a spot in Heaven, but
living as though Heaven is already here and we get to play a part in making
Heaven known around us through-
our worship, hospitality, Shepherd’s Pantry, Garden of Hope, Trips to
Biloxi, concerts for Haiti’s students and being Open and Affirming.
Sadly, many of our neighbors still worry about the afterlife, if they are
good enough, that God does not love.
This was experienced 3 weeks ago at Sebring’s Pride. It was a grand event. About 300 people were present, beautiful,
strong, unapologetic.
We were blessed to be invited as a guest speaker. After the march, a Mother came up to me.
Her son, who was gay, committed suicide 6 years ago. Every Christian representative she talked to told
her that her son was in Hell.
We were the 1st to tell her that is not true. I shared with her the theology of God’s grace
and love, a love that can bring anyone into God’s Kingdom.
With tears in her eyes, she said “Thank you,” that for the 1st
time she had a sense of peace. We hope
she still has that peace and is holding onto it.
For as we learn in the book of Jonah, chapter 4, verse 2, our God is a
gracious God, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and ready
to relent from punishment.
Jonah is not the first place we hear God described this way.
Exodus 34:4, God passes before Moses saying, “The Lord, the Lord, a God
merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
In Number 14:18, Moses repeats these words back to God when God is angry,
making God remember who God is.
Psalm 51, 103:8, and 145:8 repeat this sentiment as does Nahum 1:3.
Nehemiah 9:17 tells us that even when the Israelites wanted to turn from
God and return to their slavery in Egypt, God did not turn away from them.
Yes, plenty of Scripture talks about God’s wrath, God’s anger. But that’s often directed at those who knew
better, like religious and city leaders.
Yes, plenty of Scripture talks about God wrath and anger, but its often
about injustice, unethical behavior, and people’s complicity in cruelty.
It’s sad that so many churches and preachers want to define God as the
angry Poppa who will send all but a select few to Hell.
It’s sad, because so much scripture tells us, point blank- the Lord is a
gracious God, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and ready to
relent from punishing.
It's so sad because that’s the God we witnessed via Jesus at the well, in
the Upper Room, by the seashore.
I can’t speak for you, but that’s the God I believe in. That’s also the God Jonah believed in, which
is why Jonah ran away in the 1st place.
Jonah is a story that is often known for 2 things- a giant fish and for
Jonah running away from God’s call.
Many pastors identify with Jonah, as we too have often run from our call.
But in closer reading, Jonah did not run away from God because God called
Jonah. Jonah ran away from God because he
knew who God was.
Jonah knew that the Lord was gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast
love, and ready to forgive.
That’s why Jonah ran. Jonah ran because
he knew exactly who God was, and this made Jonah mad.
To help us better understand, here’s the backstory. Jonah was a faithful Jew living in Israel. During this time, Israel was being oppressed
by Nineveh.
Nineveh had all the power. They
had the people, the money, the army, the ability to wipe anyone out.
Think of Nineveh as Russia and Israel as the Ukraine.
So when God calls Jonah to give a message to Nineveh to cry out against
their wickedness, Jonah says heck no.
Instead of doing to Nineveh he goes to Tarshish, 3,000 miles in the
opposite direction. Tarshish was a place
of opulence- a land of gold and silver, peacocks, and great apes.
It’s as if God had called Jonah to go to Russia, but instead he flees to Orlando.
Why does Jonah flee? As we hear in
chapter 4, Jonah knew that God was willing to forgive the Ninevites.
Jonah knew that if they repented and changed their ways, God would not
act in anger, God would not rain down fire.
This angers Jonah. Upsets
Jonah. He doesn’t want God’s grace to be
given to his enemies. He wants to see
God sending Nineveh to hell.
But Jonah knows God well enough to know that’s not what’s going to
happen. So Jonah runs to the land of gold
and silver, and he learns that you can not run from the God of Love.
And when Jonah does go to Nineveh, when he does cry out to the nation,
they listen. The King, the people, even
the animals fast, mourn, change their ways.
This pleases God, and the entire nation is saved. But Jonah is not pleased.
He scowls, he sulks, he complains, he gets so angry he could die.
God sees this. God knows what’s in
Jonah’s heart. God speaks to Jonah.
With great distress, Jonah says “See- this is why I fled. I know that you’re gracious, you’re the giver
of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 100th chances. What I wanted was for you to wipe them all
out.”
To which God says “Should I not be concerned about Nineveh? Should I not care about their citizens, their
animals, their land?”
Jonah is not just about a person who flees, or a giant fish. It is a mirror-
a mirror held up to us for those times we are angry, those days we desire
vengeance, we want to exclude, those times we are so angry we want to die.
Jonah is about God, and who God is.
That the God who created the world, who delivered us from slavery, who
gave us the Sabbath, the God who came to us in the person of Jesus Christ, is
the God of Jonah.
God is the who we encounter in Exodus, Nehemiah, Nahum, the Psalms.
God is not an angry Poppa sending us to an eternal Hell. God is the Loving Father who is gracious,
merciful, slow to anger, overflowing with love, and eager to forgive.
Does such news make you angry, or does such news light up your heart and
inspire your life?
Who is the God you are willing to place your trust in?
Amen.
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