Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
Original Manuscript:
Sophie and I had our second date the day after our first date. At the time, I was already going from Sewanee, where I was attending Seminary, to Nashville, where she was attending Vanderbilt, to hear a friend preach. And I ended up meeting her at the fencing tournament at Vanderbilt because, at the time, that was all I knew of the campus, and because we had a metal friend who was fencing a different weapon from me that day.
Now at this point I knew Sophie had grown up in the D.C. area, one of my favorite places to be. But somehow, right after we were getting ready to leave the Vanderbilt gym for lunch, somehow football came up.
Turns out, in hindsight unsurprisingly seeing as where she grew up, Sophie is a Redskins fan. And all my family grew up in Texas, so I grew up as a Cowboys fan. It’s certainly not as brutal as Alabama and Auburn, but it’s a pretty fierce rivalry.
That could have been it for us, right there and then. But at that point, I was enjoying spending time with Sophie too much to let a minor hiccup like this make any difference. I think we both just kind of laughed, shrugged it off, and moved on with the rest of our date.
Because at the end of the day, this is really a minor issue to have. It just means we don’t watch Redskins/Cowboys games together. In fact, last Christmas, we ended up watching the Man in the High Castle instead.
And there are many more things that can divide us. Alabama and Auburn being one example, as if we ever saw Jesus rooting for the Nazareth Hawks vs. the Galilean Krakens. But we can also let politics divide us, as if Jesus got along with any of the powers that be in ancient Jerusalem. Or maybe it’s about where we were born or the color of our skin. And it’s important to note that Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth hated him, and he spent most of His ministry in Galilee, which is a pretty good ways away from Nazareth. A day or two journey on foot. And least I forget, Jesus wasn’t white, he was as brown as the people we cower in fear of, least they be terrorists.
And it’s so easy to demonize those on the other side of the fence because of what they believe or root for, well whatever it is they believe or root for. It’s hard to see the other side as people until we’re forced to. Until we see that actually the fan of the other team happens to be a cute lady who is smart, kind, and interested in a lot of the other same things that you are, as it was in my case.
And it’s even harder to see that these other people are loved by God just as much as we are, and that God is just as willing to help them as He is to help us.
That’s essentially the story of Jonah. God asked him to go to Nineveh, a land that, at the time, was oppressing Israel. God asks Jonah to go and tell the Ninevites that they had messed up and God was going to destroy them.
And Jonah rebells because he’s scared of what the Ninevites are going to do to him. But as we all know, he gets swallowed by a whale and spit out on Nineveh’s shores anyways.
And a curious thing happens. As the people listen to Jonah, they repent. They turn to the Lord as their God and change their ways. And God says that nothing bad will happen to them now.
And Jonah is ticked. How can God do this? How can He help these guys? I mean, they’re the bad guys for goodness’ sake! And Jonah just stands there, filled with hate, waiting for what in his mind will be the hopeful destruction of Nineveh.
This is very similar to the Gospel. The good laborers come out early, agree upon a wage, and then get to work. Then some other folks come later. And yet somehow these late comers get just as much for their wages as the early comers. How is that fair? They were late! They’re not as good.
That’s not the way God sees things though. It doesn’t matter how early or late you come and join the church and do good things for the Glory of God. It doesn’t matter that you’re on the “right” side of the issue or that you root for the “correct” team to win. It doesn’t matter if you are His people or the nation oppressing them. God offers the gift of life to all who would believe. Even the person who may or may not be here who you hate the most.
Unfortunately, Jonah has a bleak ending, which we actually read today. It turns out that Jonah becomes quite fond of a plant that grows up to shade him from the sun as he waits for Nineveh’s destruction. And eventually this plant withers up and dies. And Jonah is distressed. He’s more distressed over the death of a plant than the possible deaths of a city full of people down below.
And God calls Him out on this and says if Jonah is so worried about this plant, how much more should God be worried about Nineveh. And that is where the story ends. On a cliffhanger.
The words of The Book of Jonah are meant to be for us as well. Who is it that we are holding on to our hate for? Who is it that we are allowing ourselves to be consumed by rage just because we can’t see them as human? Just because we can’t see them as similar to ourselves in anyway? Just because we can’t see them as loved by God?
No matter who it is, whether those who have oppressed us, those who disagree with us politically, those who root for the other team, those who got here later than us, or even those who look different from us, God still loves that person just as much as you and me. It doesn’t matter if we don’t get along with them. It doesn’t matter that we can’t always understand them or talk with them about certain subjects. It doesn’t matter that they’re a little late to the game in furthering the work of God’s kingdom in the world through the church. God still is going to do everything He can to bring those people back to Himself.
And our role in all this? It’s to be what God wanted Jonah to be. It’s to be God’s hands and voice in the world, doing what we can to make God present to that other through words and deeds. And we’re called not to see that other as other but to see them as another human being, with all the good and bad that entails, just like you and me.