November 3, 1999
LIFE & WORK SERIES:
Running from responsibility
can lead to dark places
___Jonah 1:1-16
___By Brett Younger
___Lake Shore Baptist Church, Waco
___None of us wants to admit it, but most of us care more for people who believe what we believe, think what we think and act like we act. The book of Jonah is the tragic story of a man who feels exactly the same way.
___Jonah is a religious person who knows the right words: "I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land" (v. 9). He sings the hymns and gives his tithe. Jonah enjoys his religion, as long as there are no demands.
___Jonah has good reasons for not wanting to go to Nineveh, Israel's enemy. Their soldiers have a well-deserved reputation for cruelty. Like many mega-cities today, Ninevehhas more than its share of crime and corruption.
___Since Nineveh is northeast of Israel, Jonah gets on a boat heading west. It sounds silly for Jonah to try to "run away from the Lord" (v. 3), but it's understandable. We are used to shutting our eyes, turning our backs and walking away from people who make us uncomfortable.
___Jonah is taking a nap when a storm threatens the ship. Throughout the book of Jonah, the "pagans" are more open to God than Jonah is. The sailors begin to pray. Jonah gets a wake-up call as they ask a Ouija board whose fault it is, and the pointer spells Jonah's name.
___Jonah suggests they throw him overboard. They try to avoid this unthinkable act (Would Jonah have the same concern for any of them?), but finally they ask God to forgive them and toss Jonah into the sea.
___Jonah has not committed a sin for which most churches would condemn him. His sin is that he feels superior to some of God's children.
___Jonah's God is too small. If God is the creator of heaven and earth, then God is in Nineveh. Does a mother forget the children to whom she has given birth?
___Jonah does not share God's concern, because he has not learned to see God in the eyes of a seeking teenager, in the loneliness of an unmarried mother, in the disappointment of the unemployed or in the emptiness of the rich.
___In a classic Hasidic tale, a rabbi asks his pupils how they can tell when the night has ended and the day begun. "Could it be," asked one of the students, "when you can see an animal in the distance and tell whether it's a sheep or a dog?" "No," answered the rabbi. Another asked, "Is it when you can look at a tree in the distance and tell whether it's a fig tree or a peach tree?" "No," answered the rabbi. "Then when is it?" the pupils demanded. "It is when you can look on the face of any man or woman and see that it is your sister or brother. Because if you cannot see this, it is still night."
___How do we learn to see God when we see God's children? Do we want to?
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