Sermon -- 3rd Sunday after Epiphany (January 21, 2018)

JONAH 3:1-10

In the name + of Jesus.

     The word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time... (Jonah 3:1)  The reason the Lord had called Jonah a second time is because Jonah had no interest in the Lord's call the first time.  Jonah had been called to preach to Nineveh.  Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, an enemy nation of Israel.  When the Lord told Jonah to travel east, Jonah boarded ship to head west.  As far as Jonah was concerned the brutal Assyrians did not deserve the word of the Lord.  They deserved whatever judgment God had in mind for them.  They were not God's chosen people.  They were outsiders.  As far as Jonah was concerned, they should die and go to hell.
     Jonah hated the Assyrians and refused to be a prophet to them.  When Jonah was tossed from his ship into the Mediterranean Sea, he rather would have drowned than preach.  Yet, the Lord was merciful to Jonah.  The Lord provided a giant fish to swallow Jonah whole.  On the third day, the fish vomited Jonah up on land so that he would live.  God did not owe Jonah any special favors.  Jonah deserved to die in the Mediterranean.  Jonah deserved to be damned for his blatant rebellion against God's word.  But God saved him.  Then, God sent Jonah to Nineveh to preach the word of the Lord, and to extend the same mercy which was shown to him
     So, Jonah began his preaching duties in Nineveh.  His message was blunt: “Forty more days.  That's all you get.  Forty days, and Nineveh shall be overturned.” (Jonah 3:4)  While it is likely that Jonah's sermons were longer than just those few words, God's blunt message to Nineveh had its effect.  It is not that the people believed Jonah.  Rather, it is written, “The people of Nineveh believed God.” (Jonah 3:5)  
     The people of Nineveh knew that God had them dead to rights.  The nation of Assyria had been cruel, brutal, and dominant.  They attacked other nations and built themselves up at the expense of others.  It made them a superpower nation, but it did not make them right.  When the people of Nineveh heard the word of the Lord, they did not sheepishly say, “Yeah, I suppose we've done some things we should not have done.  I suppose we stepped over the line a few times.”  That is not much of a confession at all.  It also suggests that much of what they had done was acceptable.  Instead, the people of Nineveh humbled themselves.  Their repentance was not merely a matter of words, either.  They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. (Jonah 3:5) 
     When the king of Nineveh heard the word of the Lord, even he humbled himself.  He did not boast that being a king placed him outside of scrutiny.  He may have held the position of king, but he still had the status of a sinner.  He knew he was guilty of brutality and slaughter, greed and coveting.  Therefore, even the king humbled himself, and he decreed that everyone in Nineveh should humble himself in sackcloth and with fasting.  By wearing the scratchy sackcloth, their bodies would feel as miserable as their souls.  By refraining from food and drink, their stomachs would yearn for comfort as much as their hearts.  And the king decreed, “Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.  Who knows?  God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” (Jonah 3:8-9)  And the Lord was merciful.  When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (Jonah 3:10)
     While the Lord does not give us a deadline, his call to repentance is just as urgent.  As it was in Nineveh, so also our repentance should be evident in our lives.  If it is mere words—“Yeah, there were some things I should not have done.  I guess I crossed the line a few times,”—that is not repentance.  The Lord is rather specific in his commandments about how we are to live.  “Honor your father and mother” and all those to whom the Lord has given authority over you.  We do not honor them when we mock them or despise them.  “You shall not murder,” hurt, harm, or hate your neighbor.  A spirit of revenge and hatred defies God's word.  “You shall not steal,” or even covet what God has chosen to give your neighbor and has chosen to not give to you.  Yet, we envy our neighbor for his blessings, and we are not content with what God has chosen to give us.  Perhaps like Jonah, we treat our neighbor as an outsider, giving the impression, “The grace of God is not for you.”
     When the Lord calls you to repent, he calls you to acknowledge your specific sins against him and against your neighbor, and then to flee from them and fight against them.  This is much better than fasting and sackcloth.  But like fasting and sackcloth, it is repentance that engages your whole body, mind, and heart.  The king decreed the people of Nineveh were to put away their evil deeds and violence; so also we are to put away the sins we are guilty of.  Repentance is not just feeling bad; that is guilt.  Repentance means forsaking the sins that God condemns.
     The Lord calls you to repent.  But you are not saved by your repentance—as if you can measure if you are sorry enough, or as if you can finally overcome every temptation and make yourself sinless.  The message Jesus declared when he began his preaching was this: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)  The Gospel message is that God has mercy upon sinners. 
     The Lord has relented from the damnation that he has pronounced against you for your sins.  He has not withheld judgment and damnation.  Instead, he diverted it so that it all fell on his one and only Son.  This is what the Bible says: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” (Galatians 3:13)  The curse that we have brought upon ourselves for our sins against God and our neighbor Jesus has taken upon himself for us.  Jesus suffered and died as the ultimate outsider—rejected by his Father, forsaken, and cursed.  He died under God's divine judgment for all brutality, for all self-centeredness, and for all people.  Even if others make you feel like an outsider, Jesus does not.  Jesus has taken God's curse from you, and he has brought you inside of God's grace, God's love, and God's family.
     When Jonah had attempted to run away from Nineveh, the Lord was merciful to him.  He did not give Jonah the death he deserved.  The Lord provided a fish which swallowed Jonah whole and then, on the third day, spit him back out to live again.  This sign was ultimately fulfilled by Jesus.  Jesus died and was placed in the belly of the earth.  But on the third day, the grave had to give Jesus back.  Jesus rose from the dead to live again—in fact, to live forever.  Jesus lives to declare to you that his death has sufficiently paid for all your sins.  Jesus lives to declare to you that death has been overcome and that your grave will have to give you back in the resurrection on the Last Day.  Jesus lives to intercede for you and to proclaim to all of heaven and earth, “This one is mine.”  Jesus lives to assure you that God does not delight in the death of anyone—whether we would regard them as enemies or friends, whether we consider them brutal, braggadocios, or brotherly.  The Lord desires the salvation of all.
     The Lord sent Jonah to Nineveh because God wanted his word proclaimed to them.  I suppose the people of Nineveh always knew that they should have behaved better than they did.  But the Lord does not affect our lives with harsher laws or stiffer penalties.  The Lord affects our lives by taking our sins from us and by bringing us into God's family.  The people of Nineveh could not have known what God's mercy was unless it was proclaimed to them.  God was intent on being merciful to them, and he sent a minister to proclaim God's mercy.  Who better than Jonah, who knew what it was to be disobedient, and who knew what it was to receive God's mercy?
     Jonah traveled hundreds of miles to proclaim God's mercy.  You don't have to go any farther than your daily routine to meet people who are living in shame and guilt.  They might know that they should behave better, but they do not know Jesus who alone brings relief and comfort to sinners.  Who better than you, who know what it is to be a sinner, and who knows what it is to receive God's mercy?  This mercy God desires to be known to all whether in Nineveh or in Novi.  The Lord had been merciful to Jonah and sent him to proclaim God's mercy.  And so also you have been shown mercy.  You get to tell it to others—both as your confession and for their salvation.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.