Finding Faith ... in the worst sermon every preached

EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 3 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Jan. 19, 2021. This was the 36th digital service we performed after our church was shuttered because of the COVID pandemic.

This week's preaching text: Jonah 3:1-5, 10

3 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

Message:

On the days that I become the most critical of my own preaching abilities, I like to remind myself of our dearly beloved Jonah.

You heard part of the story of Jonah tonight in the first reading. And now I know that as soon as I mention the name of this Hebrew Bible prophet your mind probably immediately goes to one place ... the big fish. ... Or the whale as the story has been popularized over the years in every single Sunday school

There, of course, is a much larger story surrounding our friend Jonah, but we all seem to remember him getting swallowed up by a big fish and eventually being spit out on shore three days later.

Well, in more recent times, for myself when I think about Jonah, I think about this particular text, and the fact that he probably gave the worst sermon in the history of sermon giving! ... So I find that comforting on those days when I walk out of here and I wonder if I've laid down a clunker myself

Now you might be thinking to yourself, "Pastor, what do you mean by Jonah giving a sermon?" ... Well, it's because that is exactly what Jonah -- that God-called prophet -- is doing in tonight's first reading when he reports to Nineveh to tell them to repent on God's orders. As our text tells us, Jonah grumpily starts walking across this vast city -- a city, we're told, that is so big that it takes three days to walk across -- but our beloved Jonah gets only about a day into his mission and he stops. ... He looks around at these people he doesn't like, and he shouts: "Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" ... And he drops his mic, and he's done.

At that point, I imagine Jonah just hanging out, pleased as punch about his cleverness. ... Because, after all, who is going to repent after that pathetic prophetic effort. ... In fact, when I read this text, it makes me think of one of our kids who grumpily receives a chore assignment at home and then sloppily does their least best job to fulfill the requirement. ... I'm sure those of you that have had kids or have kids now can attest to what I'm talking about.

I can see it now. I can see Jonah in that moment when God orders him to Nineveh, talking to himself. ... "Send me to Nineveh, will you God! ... Send me to help bring them salvation, will you! ... Well that's what you get, 'Forty days and you'll be demolished!'"

We don't often preach out of Jonah so a little more context would be helpful at this point because if you don't read beyond the few short paragraphs that are in our reading tonight there's a lot that you miss. ... The book of Jonah, which appears in the Hebrew Bible, or as we more commonly know it the Old Testament, begins with God speaking to Jonah, the prophet, telling him to go to Nineveh to save them, to ask them to repent in their ways.

If you read any literature about the city of Nineveh, it isn't a great place. It is a very violent culture, and they've turned their back on God. So God enlists the help of his prophet Jonah to help them repent, but Jonah hates the people of Nineveh so much that he'd rather run away from his heavenly prophetic duties than to be responsible for their salvation, to be responsible for the one that saves their lives. ... Now that is some serious loathing!

So, instead of answering God's call, Jonah splits. ... Jonah takes off, and he goes to a seaside port and catches a a ride on a ship that is headed to Tarshish. That ship is a cargo ship, and I think that at that moment Jonah is thinking in the back of his head, "How clever of me! ... I will just outrun God instead of listening to my call."

But as we all know: There is no hiding from God's prophetic call. ... So God knows exactly where Jonah is hiding. And in response to Jonah's running, God sets a storm on the boat, which tosses it to and fro. The captain and the crew of this ship are in fear, and so they do the only thing that they know to do in a storm and unload all of their cargo. They dump it into the sea, and yet the storm continues.

Meanwhile, once again, to outrun God, the clever Jonah goes to the hold of the ship, lies down and falls asleep. Well, the captain eventually catches up with Jonah, hauls him up top and the crew comes to the determination that it is indeed the Jonah who God is looking for. So to avoid the storm, they dump Jonah in the sea. Eventually, this is where the big fish enters the story. So Jonah doesn't get cast into the sea only to die, a fate he might rather have endured rather than being sent in Nineveh.

And at this point, he is swallowed up by this gigantic fish. ... Now, I imagine when spending three days in the belly of a big fish, there's probably not much to do. And so our Jonah gets to thinking. After all that time thinking, he ultimately comes to the conclusion that the Lord is his only hope.

As an aside, there's a very nice psalm in the book of Jonah that that shares how he goes from running away from God and to coming to his conclusion that God is his only salvation.

So, again, after all this time in the belly of the big fish, finally Jonah looks to the heavens. And he says, "OK, God, save me! ... Get me out of this fish, and I'll go do what it is that I'm supposed to do. ... I'm not gonna like it, but I will go do it!"

The big fish nears land and spits Jonah out onto shore. And dutifully, Jonah marches to Nineveh and gives the worst sermon ever: "Forty days from now, if you don't change your ways, you're all gonna die!" ... That's it. ... That's what he comes up. ... He has has fulfilled the letter of God's duty, much like my kids fulfill the letter of their chores. ... And I think at this point Jonah might even be quite proud of himself. ... Because, again, who after the worst sermon in the history of sermon giving is going to repent?

But that is why I love this part of the book! ... Because what happens next? ... Lo and behold, much to Jonah's dismay, his worst sermon ever is hijacked by the Holy Spirit and the people of Nineveh repent. ... Through the magic of the Word, they believe in God!

Now, tonight's text ends there, but if you read even just a few more verses later in Jonah, the word of this repentance even gets to the king of Nineveh, who is not a very nice man. But even he joins in the repentance, and throws on a sackcloth like his people, and sits in a pile of ash, a very symbolic act of repentance.

Even worse for Jonah's sake is that God is so moved by the people of Nineveh's repentance, that he spares the city's destruction!

Again, our text tonight doesn't go this far, but if you read further in the book of Jonah, our friend the prophet couldn't be more outraged. Here he had tried to be more clever than God; here he had dutifully done his prophetic duty; he had reported to Nineveh despite not wanting to; he had given his worst sermon of all the sermons ever given; and the Holy Spirit still used his words to move those people.

And Jonah's outrage at their salvation is a really critical element of this story. ... I mean, imagine that God's prophet, a duly appointed messenger of God, hates his enemies so much that he'd rather see them destroyed ... rather than saved.

Faith Family ... can you imagine?

Well, I think you can ... because we have a lot of similar behavior taking place among this nation's faithful right now. ... There are tens of millions of Americans who profess themselves to be Christians, God's duly appointed messengers, right here on earth, who would rather see their political enemies destroyed ... rather than saved by God.

Faith Family ... I know there is plenty of confusion among the faithful in our country right now. ... Confusion about what is right and what is wrong. ... But what I absolutely know to be true is that God loves each and every one of us, and yes, even our enemies.

And I know further to be true that God wants each and every one of us to be saved, and yes, even our enemies!

So we can be like the prophet Jonah who tries to run away from his prophetic duties. But, as Christians, if we think we can run away from our prophetic duties as Christians if we think it's going to help one of our enemies -- Jonah set that example, of course -- but we know God will find us. He will find you in the hold of a ship; he will find him in the belly of a whale.

Secondly, even after God finds us, we can even do our very best worst job -- just as our friend Jonah did tonight -- to carry out our Christian call ... but we also know that the Holy Spirit will take even that minimal effort, hijack it and use it for the betterment of the heavenly kingdom anyway! ... Even when it's the worst sermon ever preached.

And that is the Good News for this Tuesday, Jan. 19, and this Sunday morning, Jan. 24, the third Sunday after Epiphany. ... Amen