"Merciful Savior"

Jonah 3:1-5,10

Pastor Tom Johnson, January 25, 2015

In my Bible, the book of Jonah is only three pages long—just four short chapters. Jonah is one of the Minor Prophets. If you haven’t done so already, take the 10 minutes to read it through sometime this afternoon of evening as family, couple, or personal devotion. Or read it on your Bible app on the bus or train tomorrow. What you will find is a playful and funny story with a serious message. The story of Jonah is clearly satire—a self-deprecating account of a prophet who runs away from God and his call to preach. God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach against it. Instead, he runs in the opposite direction on a boat toward Tarshish (which is in modern Spain)—all the way across the Mediterranean Sea on the other side of his known world. Jonah says he ran away because he knew God was about to show his love and mercy to the Ninevites. Jonah did not want that to happen. He did not want them to be forgiven for their evil and violence. He wanted them to meet their doom.

But God doesn’t let Jonah run away. He causes a storm and Jonah is swallowed by a big fish—You know this story!—Like a one-passenger submarine, the big fish takes Jonah the right direction. Like someone hitting the eject button, the fish throws him up on the beach toward Nineveh. Jonah still does not want to go. He argues with God. He is unwilling and reluctant. But he goes into the city anyway under protest.

He preaches a terrible sermon—terrible because all it speaks of is the terror of God’s wrath and their doom: “Forty days more, and Nineveh will be overthrown!” It is nothing less than a threat. “Disaster, calamity, and defeat, you Ninevites! The countdown has begun! 40, 39, 38…and down you go!” No light of hope—just the flash of the fury of God. No word of encouragement—only condemnation. No good news—just bad. No Gospel—only law. And a date you can put on your calendar. “A little over a month from now, you and your city will be turned to ash and rubble. The Word of the Lord!” It takes three days for Jonah to walk through this world-class city. He repeats his sermon over and over again: “You are going down! 40, 39, 38…” All along, Jonah knows that the threat is real; but he also knows that God is good and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and mercy. He just experienced this mercy. He ran away and should have met his doom in the deep waters of the sea. Instead, God mercifully sends a more obedient creature—a great fish—who faithfully makes it possible for Jonah to repent. In the back of his mind, Jonah  knows that it is in God’s nature not to follow through with his threats. God describes what we deserve for our sin—sometimes with very vivid and terrifying imagery. But what he really wants to do is to extend forgiveness and set us on an obedient path and spiritual health.

God overcomes the unwilling heart of Jonah. He now overcomes the unbelief of the Ninevites. They believe God. They proclaim a fast and put on sackcloth. They put an end the violence, injustice, and unloving ways. God sees their repentance—their turning from evil—and “God changes his mind.” You were supposed to laugh there. “God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.” That is the punchline. Moses emphatically says in Numbers (23:19): “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” Even so, it only takes three days for the threat of death to turn into promise of new life. What began as a horrific vision of what their sin will do to them ends three days later with forgiveness, restoration, and mercy. From the Ninevites’ perspective, God relented, did a u-turn, and went down a very different path—one of grace, mercy, and love. From Jonah’s perspective, that was God’s plan all along. God’s is merciful. Jonah just doesn’t like it when God’s mercy extends to those Jonah considers undeserving. God also overcomes the reluctant heart of his messenger Jonah. God extends mercy to the prophet as well as those who listen to his preaching. The Lord’s mercy transforms the lives of both the messenger and recipients of his message.

Like Jonah and the Ninevites, we are also a mess, aren’t we? We are not the loving and obedient people God wants us to be. We aren’t the messengers of mercy he calls us to be. If the story Jonah humorously reveals the mercy of God, how much more will Jesus beautifully reveal the mercy of God in our lives? It only takes three days for the threat of death to turn into promise of new life. What begins as a horrific vision of what our sin has done to us on the Cross of Calvary, ends three days later with forgiveness, restoration, and mercy through his glorious resurrection. God reveals how deep and wide his mercy is through our merciful Savior. He calls us to be his messengers. He leads us to take part in his mission where we take ourselves less seriously.We realize he calls imperfect people to bring his perfect message to other imperfect people. But as we witness what he does around us, through us, and in spite of us, our understanding of God’s mercy grows and grows. The hymn we sang earlier beautifully sums it up (“O God of Light” LSB 836 vv. 2-3):

From days of old, through blind and willful ages, Though we rebelled, You gently sought again And spoke through saints, apostles, prophets, sages, Who wrote with eager or reluctant pen.

Undimmed by time, those words are still revealing To sinful hearts Your justice and Your grace; And questing sprits, longing for Your healing, See Your compassion in the Savior’s face.