Not Another Fish Story
January 23, 2000
Jonah 3:1-5, 10/ Mark 1:14-20

    
This past week driving from my house to church on the Saw Mill I was in the left lane approaching the Reader’s Digest exit. I was in the fast lane not because I was going particularly fast, or that I live in the fast lane, rather I was in that lane because I soon would be making that left at Reader’s Digest. I noticed in my rear view mirror that there was a car coming up from behind very fast, in my lane. As the car approached it flashed its high beams, the international signal that means "get the blank out of my way, I am really in a hurry." Well I was going only a little further in this lane and there was not a whole lot of room in the other lane so I decided I would be out of the fast lane soon enough. But let me tell you it was not a soon enough for the driver of this car. She told me this by giving me another international signal.  As she passed I waved but she was far beyond my attempt at traffic humor.
As she roared by I wondered "Where is she going in such a hurry." But when I saw her I understood completely. Or I thought I did. She was young, attractive, blond, with dark glasses, going very fast, and talking on the phone. I couldn’t help but imagine who this might be. Obviously she was wealthy. Her car told me that. It was not one of those pedestrian $40,000 Mercedes that seems to be ruining the whole Mercedes deal. This was one of those big luxurious touring sedans that maintains the image that those buying the cheaper ones are trying to attain.
Achieving this at such a young age, I thought to myself. She had the young and attractive thing all sewn up. The sunglasses gave the right effect. Attractive and mysterious. And she had to be incredibly important. She was talking on the phone and going way too fast. The speed also suggests that she was still of the age where she still felt immortal.
She had it all. The whole package. She was rich and young enough to truly enjoy it. And enjoy it she obviously did. She lived in a world where she was utterly protected from any harm and really her only inconvenience was having to share the fast lane (literally not figuratively) with schmoes like the local Congregational minister who wouldn’t get out of her way quick enough. Now that is living or so my fantasy went.
Actually, the truth is that I know very little about this person beyond her image.
But I must say hers was quite an image. It was the image of modern life that much of our culture is peddling and to tell you true many of us are buying. And we are buying because it is almost irresistible. Who would not want to be young, attractive, important, and rich? All of these are things we spend an awful lot of time pursuing.
And this is a problem especially when you are the frumpy Congregational minister because my job is to somehow figure out how to make that woman turn left at Reader’s Digest and come down to the Congregational church. It is my job to get the message across that blowing down the highway in her big black car with her beauty and her wealth may not be enough. It is a hard sell especially when there is a part of me, which envies that image.
But the good thing is that I really don’t have to convince her of the limitations of her life. God has that all planned out. God has that built into every life lived even miss-mysterious-invincible-in-the-big-black-car.
One inevitable part of the process of life is that she will eventually lose everything that makes up her image. If she is invested in all of these things this loss will be painful maybe unbearable. And it may seem as though God is intentionally trying to hurt her but the truth is that God is just trying to teach her, just like God is trying to teach all of us. The way God teaches is very much a part of the story about Jonah that was just read.
Jonah is remembered in popular culture mostly as the one who was swallowed by a fish. But what we should remember is that this fish was the agent of God. And Jonah’s experience with this fish was pretty nasty. The truth is that sometimes God’s teaching is very trying.
Jonah simply did not want to do the will of God. God told him to go to Nineveh but Jonah did not want to. He did not want to for many reasons but as we find out it was mostly because he did not want God to do that which God does. He didn’t want God to give God’s grace to the people of Nineveh. He did not want God to help them in any way.
Now I have a theory about God, and the life that God has given to each of us.
There is a mechanism at work that allows us the opportunity to learn the will and the way of God. This mechanism has a way of presenting us with the same teaching over and over again until we get it. For Jonah this mechanism came in the guise of a storm and a big fish. As I said, neither of these sound like they were very pleasant experiences. The storm and the fear that went with it, and then being thrown into the sea, and then getting swallowed by a big fish, staying in that smelly darkness for three days, and then getting vomited out. . . well as you can imagine Jonah was convinced that he better go to Nineveh. But he really had not learned the lesson that God had put before him.
Jonah you see was a racist, filled with a kind of burning hatred. He didn’t see why God should have anything to do with Nineveh. Jonah knew what kind of people those were and knew they did not deserve the grace of God. If you harbor that kind of hate God will give you every opportunity to face that hatred and transform that hatred. It is the way of God. God reminds, cajoles, encourages us to grow up in the spirit. In the presence of God there is no room for hatred. The trouble is that learning God’s lessons in life can be quite painful and troublesome. It was for Jonah. And it will be for Jonah until he realizes that the people of Nineveh are also God’s children, worthy of God’s grace, regardless of what Jonah thinks of them.
That actually is a hard one for all of us to learn especially when we are aware of those who have done horrible things and really don’t deserve to live in the grace of God. They don’t deserve a chance to grow unto God. And yet God always hands out this opportunity to everyone.
And the lessons are always so well suited to who we are. It is amazing at how creative and clever God can be in teaching us about the realm of God.
After Jonah had gone to Nineveh and the people had repented he went out from that city and cursed God. He said that he knew that God was going to show that bunch mercy, that is why Jonah had wanted to escape God’s will in the first place.
Jonah has not learned his lesson. So God shows him in a different way. God shows how Jonah has more regard for a plant than all the people of Nineveh and challenges Jonah to consider which is more important. It does not say whether Jonah understood then. If he didn’t I am quite sure that God would create another such opportunity because God always does.
That is why the woman barreling down the highway might want to consider making the turn at Reader’s Digest. She will feel the pain of all that she will lose, and we will to. The difference is that here we believe that in all such changes God is present. In all such losses God is supportive and loving and most importantly all such losses are redeemed through what we learn and who we become if we have faith. At least that is what scripture tells us. God also gives us in this place something even more important than support and love and the promise of redemption.
God gives us each other and this gift more than any other shall see us through.
That is why I give thanks for this place and give thanks for all of you. Together we have a wonderful opportunity to experience our God through each other.
I hear all the time that, and I must say I many times think that church should be a place of harmony and agreement but the truth is that every church has plenty of problems. That is not a sign of God’s absence it is a sign of God’s presence and a sure sign that there is much to learn. That was true for Jonah, it is true for me and you, and even for those who seem to have everything. The great news is that we here have the chance to experience our problems, our shortcomings, our joys, and our gifts as the very presence of God. This is the best news of all.
In Christ Jesus. Amen.