Listen to the Sinners

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Our ideals and desires sometimes get in the way of understanding God and being able to accomplish His will.

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It is nearly impossible for me to go on any social media or watch any TV anymore. This week, I spent time being more intentional with watching my children and I don’t mean with the natural normal careful watchful eye that I have as a mother. I mean that I would sit in another room and actually spy on my kids. I wanted to see their personality, what they enjoy doing with their free time. I just soaked in these memory makers.
Have you ever tried to put yourself in the place of another person in a particular moment? Have you ever tried to understand what another person is thinking and feeling? This is called empathy. It is easier for us many times to just say “Well, this is what I would do!” Or we say things like, “Why can’t this person just do what is right (or what I think is right)?” I have heard some people say that individuals need to think for themselves and then proceed to tell them how they should think and believe. We are not going to win arguments or especially win people for the Lord this way. So, how can we converse with people who think different, believe differently or do things in different ways? Offer them some empathy!
Pray and Read Jonah 3:1-10
Jonah 3:1–10 NRSV
The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
This story, this little writing is famous for two things. From a children’s perspective, Jonah being swallowed by a whale is both scary and amusing. We use this story to teach them that you cannot run away from God, and you should do what is right. From a more adult perspective, the story reminds us of the same principles of not running from God and doing what is right even though God’s calling on our life may be hard and difficult for us alone to accomplish.
The story itself is not meant to be studied from an historical perspective as with the other minor prophets but is rather a tale of one prophet who did not follow through on doing God’s will to the letter. We read in the first two chapters, the most famous part of the story. God tells Jonah to go and tell Nineveh that God is going to judge them for all the evil they have done. During this time, there were a lot of nations doing a lot of evil things and God had prophets like Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Jonah among other minor prophets tell these people to repent of their sins and turn from there evil ways. What is interesting here is that in the story, we do not read that God told Jonah about the “repentance option” for Nineveh. However, I believe we all know God well enough to know that repentance is always an option, actually that is really what God wants for all of us. God calls all his creation to repent and turn from the ways of this world and live into His righteousness. I guess Jonah didn’t hear that part of the message or may not have wanted to hear. Jonah knew how terrible the people of Nineveh were and didn’t even what to go to them. He may have been afraid of what they would do to him, and how the message would be recieved. So Jonah ran in the opposite direction. His running caused problems for others even and landed him in the depths of the ocean in the belly of a large whale as we understand this creature. That gets us to the passage we read today. Jonah learned that he has to do God’s will or he will only face more troubles. Begrudgingly, he takes the three day journey to this town to tell them how terrible they are and that God was going to take them out. But God forgave them and this shocked Jonah. So we read in the next chapter that Jonah went out into the wilderness and sulked. This is literally where the story ends.
Jonah is the epitome of difficult people. Some people can not be pleased. Some people will fight the entire time while doing something that will be good for them or others all because the journey to glory is not meant to be easy. But instead of judging Jonah for being difficult, let us apply our lesson of empathy to him. To have empathy for Jonah, we need to put ourselves in his shoes.
Our ideals and desires sometimes get in the way of understanding God and being able to accomplish His will. This is the case with Jonah. Honestly, let us listen to Jonah for a minute. God was sending him to a dangerous place that was known for their violence and pagan worship. Jonah was obviously scared to go there. If God told you to go somewhere dangerous, wouldn’t you have doubts? Then after all that happens to you and the pain of the trip itself to see God just forgive these horrible people had to be a little disheartening. We all want people to come to Jesus and live for Jesus. But think about the vilest person that comes to your mind. Think about someone who has hurt you severely. What if they suddenly began to give God glory for forgiving them and you see them living a life of blessings and not having to pay for their wrongdoing? How would you feel? You may feel a little hurt. This is what Jonah was thinking at the time. Jonah wanted justice. Maybe the overthrowing of Nineveh would not be a literal overthrowing of government but an overthrowing of the way of life and culture. Nineveh was throwing away their old way of life and becoming like new. That was the message that even someone like Jonah should appreciate.
Sometimes what we see as justice may not be what God sees as justice. God’s call to all of humanity is one to draw all of creation back home. So when God calls us to spread the gospel, we need to be willing to walk into places like Nineveh and tell people that they need to cast out their old ways and live a new life found in Christ. Yet, maybe we need to listen and know those who we call our enemy. In order to get people to listen to you, you have to listen to them. Don’t weep when you do not see justice being served the way you think it should. God always has a plan, and you do have a part in this plan. However, so do many others that you would not believe also are a part of this great plan. Instead of listening to what you think is right and desiring things be the way that you think is good and fair, listen for God’s voice in sound of repentance and pray for revival as is God’s will. This is why Jonah had to go to Nineveh. Jonah had to go to those whom he judged as evil and have to converse with them. Since Jonah was willing to go to them, be present with them, they willingly heard what he had to say and they repented. When you read chapter four you get the impression that Jonah knew that God would show them grace after Jonah had absolutely exhausted himself. But this whole journey wasn’t for Jonah but for Nineveh. How much better is it to be a part of some else’s redemption story than a part of your own story of prideful righteousness?
Who do you need to listen to this week? Whose story do you need to understand before you cast judgement? How can you show empathy this week?
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