There are times when no matter how mature we think we are in our walk with Christ, words spoken that cause harm and grief to another happen and we are left to wonder from where such had come. Words that were not expressed in anger or overt discrimination, but did in hindsight, convey a message that is all too common in society throughout the history of the world where one culture or ethnicity considers another less than itself. Racism is an ugly word and one that has been bandied about recently for political gain by far too many; it is something that all who are human struggle against, yes even those in Christ.
Jonah was a man called as a prophet of God and that gives me hope. Why him, you may wonder? Pastor Swindoll of Insight for Living has been teaching through that book in the Old Testament and has not pulled any punches about this less than charming and likeable Jew. Jonah was a man who was called to go and preach a message to a people he HATED and he went in the reverse direction in direct disobedience of God’s command! God said to go East to Ninevah and Jonah went West, going down to Joppa to find a ship bound as far as he could get from there as he could get by going further West to Tarshish (modern day Spain). Finding himself such a ship, he goes on board and goes down into the hold and goes to sleep, figuring his troubles are over.
Jonah continues his downward spiral, finally landing within the belly of a great fish that God prepared for his racist prophet who stewed in this fishes juices (and his own) for three days before repenting. At this point the fish apparently had all of Jonah he could stomach and landed this racist prophet on the beach where he received the same command from God a second time. This time he obeyed…sort of. It was a message of destruction for his hated enemies after all; one he must have loved to deliver. So Jonah delivers the message then camps out to the east of the city to await the promised destruction…
You all know the story; from the king to the lowliest peasant a fear of the judgement of God leads to repentance and a turning away from the evil that characterized this people. Jonah was livid! The most successful evangelist and prophet in history and he was upset because although he had obeyed God, his heart just wasn’t in it. He still was a racist; he still hated the Ninevites.
What is the take away from a study of this book of the Old Testament? How are we to apply to our lives such a story? Thinking about this after listening to Pastor Swindoll and that “…still, small voice…” there are several things that come to mind:
- Jonah tried to run away from God, to avoid the plan that God had for him to do. He who holds the universe in his hands…impossible, yet this prophet tried to flee from God! Ridiculous, yet how often have we done the same? How often have I run from the one who has called to me over and over as he sent his hound on my trail throughout my life? Even once I had surrendered, time and again I have sought to turn away to my own way…just like Jonah.
- Jonah surrenders (sort of?) in the belly of the fish. He does recognize his plight, that there is no one that can save him from death. In 1987 I was indicted and subsequently convicted for murder, sentenced to life in prison and thus entering my own ‘great fish’ wherein I expected to spend the rest of my life. Raised in the Catholic church I had little to no exposure to Scripture other than a brief time when I went to the Chapel Hill Bible Church while attending UNC. Still, my heart was dark and I remember looking up at the outside wall of Central Prison that cold, sleeting February night when I arrived and thought, “This is where I belong.”
- God’s word or call comes a second time to Jonah and this time he obeys…sort of. It is a word of judgement against Ninevah and that suits this racist prophet very much;“Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4 ESV) In my case my being within prison walls was as if Jonah had suddenly been transformed into becoming an Ninevite. All my life I had been one of the ‘good’ guys; this had been reinforced when working as a paramedic; the old line from the TV series Beretta came back to haunt me over and over, “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.” Here I was, in Ninevah though a Jew (as it were). The first weeks are now a blur; it wasn’t until someone invited me to the weekly worship service in the chapel that anything really changed (honestly I went to escape the crowding in the dormitory…picture the Chicago stock yard). The first week, nothing much happened; the second Sunday, Chaplain Eugene Wigelsworth was preaching (to this day I have no idea what he said, only that a ‘feeling’ that at the end of his sermon it was ‘now or never.’
- So, Jonah obeys and preaches the sermon (gleefully no doubt), then sets up outside the eastern part of the city to await the destruction to come. BUT GOD…. His plan was very different from what Jonah was hoping for; instead of death, there came life to the Ninevites. Jonah’s self-pity and anger at God reflects how his heart was NOT changed, but what about my heart?
We all must set a watch over our lips (as Scripture enjoins us), especially in these turbulent times. Offense, even when not intended, is difficult to overcome and impossible to forget. It will taint a relationship and can harm or destroy fellowship within a church community. Please, let our words bring healing and not hurt.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Philippians 4:8 ESV
Philippians 4:8 ESV
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