Proper 20 Sept 24 2017 Jonah
If I were to tell you that Jonah is amongst the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, you would probably laugh. At St. Giles’ Church Keith was generous enough to oblige. So I’ll start with two reasons why you might agree with me.
First, he is far and away the best story teller of any of the prophets. Everyone knows the story of Jonah. I’d go as far as to say that apart from Noah’s Ark, it must be one of the most memorable stories in the entire Old Testament. Jonah is absolutely hilarious. He’s the man who, when given a command by God, runs hard in the opposite direction, and goes to sea to try to get away from God. Ridiculous stories are easy to remember.
That’s the easy bit. He is the best story teller. His message, and I would go so far as to say the prophet’s gospel, is even greater. Jonah is called to bring the good news of repentance and forgiveness to gentiles. No other prophet does this so clearly. When Jonah sulks under his shrivelled bush, God mocks him and then says ‘Should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left?’
This is Jonah’s message. The author, uniquely amongst the Old Testament prophets, has a message of salvation not just for Jews, but for the whole of humanity. Yes, I know there are passages from Isaiah which contain a gospel addressed to gentiles, and this is quoted in the stories of John the Baptist’s preaching. But Isaiah’s words were not heeded. The greatest prophetic writing came out of the captivity of the Israelites in Babylon. First the northern kingdom, Israel, was defeated, and then Judah and Jerusalem later. And it was in captivity that the prophets proclaimed that god was not only THEIR God, but the only God. Real monotheism only developed during this period of exile, when the captives might have been most likely to give up their faith and start worshipping the gods of those who put them in slavery. The captivity lasted 70 years and the many people returned to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple, bringing not only the ancient books of Moses and their history in the Books of the Kings and Chronicles, but also the prophetic writings which had sustained their identity in Babylon. Instead of giving up their faith, the prophets strengthened it.
But those who returned became exclusivist. Indeed, they rejected many of their fellow countrymen who had not been taken captive and might have married foreigners. They re-established the Temple, and made it the holy place where only Jews could offer sacrifice. But the story of Jonah is of God’s command ‘Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.’ As we heard today, Jonah knew what God is like, that ‘God forgives.’ Jonah cries out to God ‘O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.’ But, instead of rejoicing in God’s mercy, this caricature of a prophet behaves like the worst of the Jews back in Jerusalem.
I do hope you appreciate that the real prophet is not the cartoon figure he portrays, but someone with a serious message. Of course people say ‘This isn’t real, the Jews never went to try to convert Nineveh, it didn’t happen.’ That is precisely the point. That is what they should have been doing. Once you realise that there is only one god of the whole earth, once you have complete monotheism, you need to realise that salvation is not just for you. It’s for everyone made in God’s image.
The parable which Jesus tells is addressed precisely to this kind of issue. Remember that Matthew’s gospel is written for an audience of Jewish Christians who know the Old Testament inside out. But what they will also appreciate is how exclusivist the Jews had been about their faith. They had behaved as though God was just their God and no-one else could be saved. They had worshipped God all their lives, and now here is God welcoming in these people five minutes before the last trump and letting them in to the kingdom of God with people who had prayed morning and night for a whole lifetime. And they might be thinking that it’s not fair. They might want to have a good sulk like Jonah. Jesus says ‘Are you envious?’ Here we go back to the second oldest sin in the Book. Cain murders his brother Abel out of envy.
The real difficulty with envy is that the person who commits this sin deludes himself into believing that he is RIGHT to be angry like Jonah. The person who sulks wants to make those around, usually the nearest and dearest, feel bad. The caricature whom Jonah has invented tries this on God.
The ancient sin of Genesis 4 is there. ‘The Lord said to Cain, ’Why are you angry and why has your countenance fallen?…. sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you’
Envy is all around in public life. David Cameron’s closest colleagues turned against him to support Brexit to take over as leader. Having toppled him they fell out among themselves, leaving the only person who hadn’t entered this conflict to take over as Prime Minister. Now the battle for the leadership is on again with Boris Johnson’s article in The Telegraph and the aftermath. Still, there appears to be no plan for Brexit, just envy of other players, and increasingly envy of what the rest of Europe appears to have which Britain will be losing.
To see the silly side of envy, we find that women are spending thousands on plastic surgery to look like Melania Trump. Or we may see it in a family squabble headlined as ‘Queen adviser’s downfall ‘linked to snub’ for Prince Andrew’s daughters Beatrice and Eugenie’.
In the aftermath of the latest terrorist incident we have to ask why people given safety and a home in Britain, as well as disaffected nationals, turn against society. Could the motive simply be envy of those who appear to have a comfortable lifestyle by people who realise that achieving it is actually very hard?
At the same time life IS hard, and workers, like those in the parable, may feel there is just cause to be aggrieved.
- For public sector workers whose pay has not kept pace with inflation for many years
- For people on zero hours contracts. Their lot is worse than that of the people standing in the market place, because they can’t take a new job offer as it will make them lose the chance of the zero hours job.
- For former students paying back loans who feel ripped off by the government. Their debt increases at a high rate of interest when the bank rate is practically zero.
- For people here told that the pension age will have to rise, and people in France demonstrating against a similar reduction in what the government sees as an unsustainable benefits package.
Feeling resentment is all too easy.
Treating the story of Jonah as though it were a historical event misses the whole point of this wonderfully instructive parable. Envy is a deadly sin. Resentment at the universality of God’s love, and sulking because we don’t get exactly what we want are the pitfalls which the story reveals. We learn and remember because we laugh at Jonah, and we must learn to laugh at ourselves when we see ourselves tempted to imitate him. It is a great story for children. The line ‘God appointed a worm’ is priceless!
Like many parables, Jonah’s story seems to remain unfinished. After his first mistake, he repents (Jonah 2). But we don’t know whether he stopped sulking under his dead bush. After the prodigal son returns in Luke’s gospel we don’t know whether the older brother will join the feast, or whether he sulks like Jonah. The stories are unfinished, because the story is not about Jonah, or about two sons, or about labourers in the vineyard. The story, and the question are posed to you and to me. Will you, will I, be resentful, sulky and miserable because God welcomes everyone. Remember Jonah. And if necessary, laugh at your stupidity.