Jonah

One of my resolutions upon being appointed to serve at CMS was to work through the Bible book of Jonah.  It’s so full of wisdom, insight and sharp truth for the cross-cultural mission enthusiast.  And a fair share of irony, paradox and hubris too. 

My young children love the story of Jonah and ask for it often.  They delight in knowing all the answers to my questions!  ‘Where did God send Jonah?’  ‘Neee-neee-veeeeehh!!!’  What did the Lord tell him to do?  ‘Tell the people to stop doing baaaaa-d things!!!’  Our discussions usually then trend towards whether it was a whale, a large fish, or a leviathan.

The plot of the book is simple enough.  God tells Jonah to preach to the Ninevites, but he runs away.  God sends a storm and then a huge fish.  Jonah relents and preaches to the Ninevites.  They repent and turn to God.  But here’s the sting in the story: Jonah becomes bitterly disappointed in God for saving an evil and wicked people.  The book ends with the Lord posing this question:

“Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

Indeed, Jonah the prophet is revealed as having a deep seated antipathy towards people not like himself.  If it is possible for a genuine prophet of God to be so unlike God, so ungodly, unloving, unkind, then it is also possible that Christians and churches might harbour that same anxiety that the loving Saviour might choose to save … people not like themselves.  People who look different, speak different, eat different, relate different, smell different, choose different, spend different, honour and shame different... 

May the Lord keep Christians from such ungodliness!  May the Lord replace our hearts of stone with hearts of full of loving concern for all the peoples of the world and, indeed, our neighbourhoods.  Perhaps there is someone not like you in your immediate vicinity.  What would it mean to be offer hospitality, kindness and the word of grace to them this week? 

ps. I’ve found Peter Adam’s recent sermons from Jonah helpful.  They were preached earlier this year at Christ Church Ormond.  Go to http://www.ormondanglican.org.au and search for ‘Peter Adam’.