Grace Finds A Way

Jonah 1:1-17, 3:1-10

“Grace Finds A Way”

06 November 2016 St. Andrew’s Military Chapel Singapore

            Jonah is a familiar story that captures our imagination for a variety of reasons. Danger lurks around every corner. The storm on the sea to get Jonah back on track. Jonah’s message of impending doom for an entire city. Jonah spending three days in the belly of a fish.

It’s also full of humanity in which we tend to see ourselves. Jonah slow rolling God so he doesn’t have to do a job he doesn’t like. Jonah playing telephone and proclaiming a different message than what God sent him to deliver. Jonah getting mad that sinners receive grace. Jonah oblivious to the fact that God was giving him as much grace as God provided Nineveh.

But, this is most definitely a tale about God’s grace, persistence, and purposes.

Nineveh is most likely located in present day Mosul, Iraq and Jaffa is located in the southern portion of present day Tel Aviv. Even today, there probably aren’t many people who would willingly go from Tel Aviv into war torn Mosul, even if it was to proclaim destruction to a city and a people of which you weren’t fond. It was dangerous in Jonah’s time and today Mosul is grabbing headlines as Iraqis are fighting to keep it out of the hands of ISIS.

Jonah, either because he doesn’t like the message or fears for his life, decides he doesn’t want to follow God’s command and tries to run and hide from God. And he tried to get as far away as possible from God. If we look at the Hebrew text we see that Jonah was told to rise up and go to Nineveh but he went “down” to Joppa, “down” to the ship and then down into the inside of the ship. No matter how far Jonah went to escape God, God was going to find him.

God sent a mighty wind to wake up Jonah, but he was dead asleep in the ship. Those of us who have sailed on the open sea know that it takes quite a large swell to get the salty dogs worried about the sea worthiness of their ship. And these sailors were afraid. I’m imagining waves over 20 feet (6 meters for our metric friends) and winds over 40 kts. The sailors were frantically calling upon their gods to calm the sea to no avail. Knowing that the foreigner’s god may be the one to save them, the captain pulls Jonah out of his slumber in a last ditch effort to calm the storm.

Jonah knows he’s the reason and offers to be thrown into the sea to save the ship. Sailors being sailors, they initially reject that offer because the law of the sea says you don’t leave someone alone and unafraid in the ocean if you have the means to pluck them from danger. So, the sailors furiously attempt to row back to shore. But, the storm only grew in intensity at that effort leading the sailors to finally relent and throw Jonah overboard where the tempest immediately calmed. The sailors needed no more convincing and made vows to God.

God uses Jonah’s running for God’s purposes and a ship full of sailors believes.

Jonah now goes down even farther in the belly of a fish. It’s as if God said to Jonah, “You want to get as far away from me as possible, here you go.” Three days later Jonah’s smelly submarine ride comes to an end, he’s spit out of the fish and washes up on dry land. He’s knows he has to make it to Nineveh and give them God’s word so he sets out for Nineveh.

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria and Assyria wasn’t known for being kind to Judeans. They would violently kill Judeans and they may have even paid their soldiers based on the number of Judeans they killed. So, Jonah has one more trick up his sleeve for God. If God wouldn’t let him avoid going to Nineveh, he was going to alter the message.

God told him to, “cry out against [Nineveh]; for their wickedness has come up before me.” Go and tell them God is displeased with what they have done and how they have treated God’s people. What Jonah tells Nineveh is, “forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

When we get to chapter 4, we realize Jonah knew what was going to happen at Nineveh. All of his resistance wasn’t because he feared for his life or because he didn’t like God’s message. In fact, he probably wanted to proclaim against an enemy of Israel. He resisted because he knew that God’s grace would win out. He knew that God’s grace was there for the taking and it wouldn’t take much action on the part of Nineveh for God to pour out abundant grace on Jonah’s sworn enemies. So Jonah does everything in his power to keep God’s grace from those he doesn’t like, those he doesn’t think deserve God’s grace.

Sound familiar? If we don’t like God’s message of radical inclusion and grace, we change it a bit to suit our own theology and our own ends. Preachers proclaiming natural disasters come to certain countries and cities because of their behavior. Congregations excluding people for the way they look, the way they talk, their education, their political preferences, their spouses. Changing God’s message for our own ends isn’t new to our family of faith, we just need to recognize when it happens.

In this passage, God is showing Jonah in a very memorable way that God’s grace is universal and nothing will stop grace from showering even the darkest cultures with its brilliant light.

And this grace is usually delivered in surprising and ridiculous ways. From an Israelite to enemy territory. Being swallowed by a fish that would terrify most people to save someone from the terror of the sea. Just think back to the times in which you most vividly remember God’s grace in your life. It was probably delivered in a manner that not only defied expectations, but in a way you found ridiculous.

Grace also comes despite, and sometimes in spite of, our actions. Jonah still received God’s grace and love even after he ran and changed God’s message into one of despair and doom. God used Jonah’s misguided words and actions to the salvation of an entire city. Nineveh wasn’t exactly innocent either. Nor did they really do much to receive God’s grace. This story demonstrates that grace is available for those professing even the slightest slimmer of faith, faith the size of a mustard seed. Nor do we need to mention God to get people to believe. Not once did Jonah mention God to Nineveh and they still believed and repented.

God is at work in strange and mysterious ways and God’s grace will always find a way into our heart transforming us and those we meet.