Patriotism and Selfishness: Jonah and Ninevah

My sermon today I'm going to change. Change up my order a little bit. Normally we do the reading first kiss in the church setting we would normally have others do the reading not me. something that I actually hope to to get to some point soon, but I digress but this week as we continue along in The Narrative Lectionary for 2020 which is at 4 year lectionary meeting lectionary being that the a guide to reading that you cover the entire Bible in the church and The Narrative Lectionary being election are based on the stories of the Bible starting in Genesis and moving all the way through the Bible every year and although each year picking up a different set of stories to focus on If you continue this week's reading is from Jonah. And I was actually a little frustrated with the reading and the reason is that Jonah is very the very short book. It's only 4 chapters. I think it's one of the one of the Minor Prophets of the section of the Bible that comes from and the reading that makes sense because they you want to shorten it for for reading in the church service is basically two of those four chapters, but it leaves out but I think it may be the most important piece of Jonah and so instead we're going to be all of Jonah because it's only four chapters anyway. but I'm I would read later. I would normally the first I'm going to be later.

The first of the always be let me start with a story. so

I think it would be.

irresponsible of me not to Bring attention to the fact that this service is the first service after the u.s. Presidential election. And I wonder if this is a four-year rotation. If they purposely put Jonah on the first Sunday after the u.s. Presidential election every every for here because it's spot-on but The last 4 years have been really interesting for me. You know, I moved to Japan. Almost exactly three years ago. and I remember I remember very vividly the election of 2016 and how divided the country was and how it all the people in my circle believed that one person would win and then somebody else one instead of we were we were all surprised by it. I remember the conversations I had with people afterwards about The nature of the person who would become president and their moral compass. and I remember people people various reasons for having voted for President Trump. And I did a lot of talking with people and try and understand room and I don't mean out of at a high-level. I'm really trying to understand what I had obviously missed and many people had missed about the concerns and

interest of a large group of Americans

and certainly a large percentage of my family Mike's in the family voted for Trump and in the last election, so I booked people and talk to people and try to figure out what's going on. But what really got me you early in the early days. I thought well You know, let's see. I mean there are serious concerns that people have that. They think that Trump is going to be able to to to dress as president. And so let's let's see where it goes and hopefully it won't go into the dark places that many of my of my friends and and family of choice. We're worried about So I watched and at the time I was doing a lot of travel for for work and find out you know, when I was traveling to New York. I was traveling to to San Francisco. I was I was traveling. Other places in the US to the time how much overseas and things began to get more and more divisive the rhetoric became more and more divisive.

today, I'm not so interested in the politics of of President Trump and the the party what I want to talk about it with the rhetoric because What? I found so hurtful and all those times was the US versus them mentality. That was President. Trump's kind of way of of interacting with his his followers you he he would build up the walls between people he would he would heighten the divisiveness instead of trying to remove it and that really worried me. And that's part of the reason why my family decided to look over overseas in this job came along that. It was perfect for me. Just kind of out of nowhere in that was great, but I would be lying if I said the part of the reason wasn't because I was concerned about the political atmosphere the the divisiveness between various political groups in the US and over the year that got worse and worst. And then, you know we heard things. The left-wing is our enemy The Press is the enemy of the people the news is fake. Other countries are horrible places. This is very kind of patriotic. nationalistic rhetoric and then this week we had an election again, and it was very very close ridiculously close. In fact, I certainly the closest election that I can remember you might my first election was mm but even 10 mm. I don't think it was this close all the movie was remember

and yesterday now president-elect Biden give a speech in the speech.

he said some things that really resonated with me and then the most important one. He said was that those with whom we disagree are not our enemies. That we are all Americans in this context cuz he's speaking to American people. I realize that that our church has an international context but in this context and that we need to work together for the common good and we need to realize that with the election. It was so close. There's a large group of people who are disappointed by By who had won the election in the Deccan people also needs to be heard and needs to be invited into the process of healing the nation as we go forward.

and Biden who I believe is a very faithful Christian.

Really shows his discipleship in these words, I think. It's so much in the in the Bible talks about breaking down the Walls between us and them and building a bridge and working together.

So with that. Context in our minds, let us turn to to Jonah and I apologize compared to most of the reading we have but that's how it goes.

the Lord word came to Jonah Amy Theisen get up and go to Nineveh that great City and cry out against it for their evil has come to my attention. So Jonah got up. to flee to tarshish from the Lord he went down to Joppa and found a ship headed for tarshish. He paid the fare and went to board to go with them to tarshish away from the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the fee so that there was a great storm on the sea the ship looks like it might be broken to pieces. The Steelers were terrified and each one cried out to his God. They hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the fee to make it lighter. Now Jonah had gone down into the hold of the vessel to lie down and was deep in sleep. The ship's officer came said to him. How can you possibly be sleeping so deeply get up call on your God, perhaps the God will give some thought to us so that we perish. Meanwhile, the Steelers said to each other come on. Let's cast locked so that we might learn who is to blame for this evil that's happening. They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. So they said to him tell us since you're the cause of this evil happening to us. What do you do? And where are you from? What's your country? And what people are you? He said to them I am Hebrew. I worship the Lord the god of Heaven who made the sea in the dry land.

Then the men were terrified and said to him what have you done for the men knew that Jonah was fleeing from the Lord because he had told them. They said to him. What will we do about you? So sassy will become calm around us for the seat with continuing to rage. He said to them pick me up and hurled me into the sea. Then the fee will be calm around you. I know it's my fault that this great storm is coming upon you.

The Monroe Road to reach dry land, but they couldn't manage it because the fee continue to read against them. So they called on the Lord saying please Lord don't let us perish on account of this man's life and don't blame us for innocent blood you are the Lord whatever you want you can do. Then they picked up Jonah and they hurled him into the sea and the feast Feast it's raging. Men Worship the Lord with a profound reverence they offer the sacrifice to the Lord and made solemn promises. Meanwhile, the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish.

I called out to the Lord in my distress and he answered me. From the belly of the underworld I cried out for help. You have heard my voice you had cast me into the depths in the heart of the fees and the floods around me. All your strong wave and Rushing Water passed over me. So I said I have been driven away from your site. Whatever looking on your Polly Temple. Water temp graft me to the point of death. The Deep surround me see weed is wrapped around my head at the base of the undersea mountains. I have sunk down to the underworld. It's bars held me with no end in sight. When my endurance was weakening, I remembered the Lord and my prayer came to you to your Holy Temple. Though the thief by worthless things lose their chance for Mercy, but me I will offer a sacrifice to you with a voice of things. That which I have promised, I will pay Deliverance Belongs to the Lord.

Then the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah onto the dry land.

The Lord's word came to Jonah a second time get up and go to Nineveh that great City and declare against it the proclamation that I am commanding you. And Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the Lord's word. Now and then if I was indeed an enormous City a three days walk across. Jonah started into the city walking one day and he cried out just 40 days more and then oval be overthrown. And the people of Nineveh believed God they proclaimed the fast and put on mourning clothes. I'm the greatest of them to the least significant. When where did it reach the king of Nineveh he got up from his throne stripped himself of his robe. Covered himself with morning clothes and sat in ashes. Then he announced in Nineveh by decree of the king and his officials neither human nor animal cattle nor flock will taste anything no grieving and no drinking water. Let humans and animals alike put on morning clothes and let them call upon God forcefully and let all persons stop their evil behavior in the violence. That's under their control.

He thought who knows God me fetus and turn from his wrath so that we might not perish.

God saw what they were doing that they had Feast their evil Behavior. So God stopped planning to destroy them and he didn't do it.

But Jonah thought this was utterly wrong and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord. Come on Lord wasn't this precisely my point when I was back in my own land. This is why I flipped the target earlier. I know that you are a merciful and compassionate God very patient full of faithful love and willing not to destroy. At this point Lord, you may as well take my life for me because it would be better for me to die than to live.

The Lord is bonded is your anger a good thing. But you only went out from the city and sat down east of the city there. He made himself a hot and stopped underneath it in the shade to see what would happen to the fitting. Then the Lord God provided a shrub and it grew up over Jonah providing shade for his head and saving him from his misery. Jonah was very happy about the shrub. But God provided a worm the next day at dawn and it attacked the Trump so that it died. Then at the sun rose God provided a dry East Wind and the Sun Beat Down on Jonah's head so that he became faint. He begged that he might die thing. It's better for me to die than to live. God said to Jonah if your anger about the shrub a good thing and Jonah said yes, my anger is good even to the point of death. But the Lord said you pity the shrub for what you didn't work and which you didn't raise it grew in a night and it perished in a night yet for my part and I pity Nineveh that great City in which there are more than 120,000 people who can't tell their right hand from their left and also many animals.

Madden's the reading that is the entirety of the Book of Jonah.

I find you to be very interesting book. It's taxed was probably written during the Persian. Of Jewish history after the Jewish people had returned from Exile after the Persian king had them back. Which means that it was also written long after the life of the historical Jonah we hear about Jonah in one of the books of History. I forget exactly which one I think it's a king but I can't remember the Wii you mentioned are in much more detail. And so we believe Jonah probably really existed. But at this point that the author of The Book of Jonah is writing this as kind of looking back into Times long gone almost almost a Once Upon a Time kind of story. I need lots of backed up by the language used which is much later than when General lived and also by anachronism mistakes regarding history and geography in the in the text. For example, God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh and the author seems to think of Nineveh as being the capital of Assyria, which it was for a long time, but during the life of Jonah it actually wasn't the capital. So that's that's where we can see that this book is probably be probably being written later.

So the book is structured as a didactic narrative. Meaning a teaching story is a story designed to teach a lesson and it's aimed at the authors contemporary. Look aimed it at the Jewish people living at the time that the author is writing, which is again really late in the Old Testament writing. I'm right before kind of when the Old Testament was after the return from Exile and we're rebuilding Judah

so what is the story that it tells the story of Jonah a prophet? And I'd like to mention Jonah is mentioned. In other books kind of acting that the way we expect profits to act going out in the end telling the Kings of Israel and Judah that they're there in a wicked way. They're going to lead to their destruction and so on but in this book, it's not the Kings of Israel or Judah that God sends Jonah to preach to it is none of that. None of it being the capital that in the author's mind of Assyria and Syria being one of judah's enemies one of one of the you know, kind of powerful Nations at the time who will later come in and attack and War on on Judah and so to Jonah it seems that that Jonah doesn't want to do that fellow doesn't want to go preach and and save the the enemies of Judah he so he runs instead of going to Nineveh. He goes to tarshish, which is literally in the opposite direction tarshis. It was a small town in the Iberian Coastline in Spain.

And so he run goes and he tries to find a boat. and a Define the boat that we talked about the nerve that there's this language of going down. So he goes down to the to the Port City. He finds a boat. He goes down on onto the boat. Then you go down into the bowels of the boat. And then later when he even he goes down to the fee and if you've eaten by the fish and he goes down into the bowels of the fish and then he'd have his prayer. He's down at the base of the mountain under the water is all of the imagery of going down and down further and further and further until literally. He's at rock bottom.

So back to the store and get you find the boat. Hoping to make it, you know away from God somewhere we can hide from God.

And yet when you get on the boat and he's on he's on the ocean he's he's on his boat that is screwed by apparently a very International crew with a bunch of different God because there's a storm in the boat is is the summer so bad that the boat might think break apart so bad that the the merchants that that he hitched a ride with her throwing there where the overboard cuz it's you know, it's either get rid of the stuff and light in the boat are lose their own lives. And it's are praying to Allah various God to help them and then they noticed that John is not there and then go wake him up to your wife sleeping through all of this and ask him who he is and they they threw a lot to see who's at fault in the storing of watts are the casting of lots of the really common way of discerning God's intentions in this time rain steam of the way of Defending God's intentions and and it turns out that it's gonna fall to the ask Jonah. Who are you where you from and what's going on and they quickly realized that you and is trying to run from God and that God is calling the storm until they ask Jonathan. None of them know the god of the ethereals Israelites that they asked Jonah what we do and Jonah realizing that that his own selfishness is causing this problem causing the storm. He says just throw me overboard. Show me overboard in the Seas were turn to normal. He doesn't take me to Nineveh so that I can do what I'm supposed to do. He doesn't he doesn't want to go back and do the thing that he's the god to ask him do he so disgusted about the idea of preaching dinner by the he's like, you know what just throw me overboard and I'm going to drowned and that'll solve all of our problems. It would just be better if I was dead. They don't want to because they're good people and they don't want to sit on a unnecessarily cause this man's death who's just going with them until they try to get to shore. They tried it to get to shore dry land but they just can't do it. The storm is just too powerful. They can get dry land. So finally they pray to God and they say forgive us, you know, please forgive us. Don't please don't hold us accountable for this man's life because you know, it's your storm in the reason why we're doing this and then they they tossed him overboard. Into the ocean into the waters. And as soon as they do the water calm down in the boat able to continue no problem and this move the the Sailor so much that they may praise and worship God because of it. But Joey doesn't drown instead. God sends a big fish and is often translated. I think in the King James and the whale Mother's the whale the texts of the big fish that we're firmly in the in the realm of of fairy tales and legends here, you know, this isn't a real this isn't a real fish. This is a story being told much later about where they've chosen an earlier person in the subdivision the story but this is not a historical narrative and so a big fish follows Jonah and he goes down to the depth of the fish and he's been 3 days they're down in the ocean inside this fish. And finally, he has literally hit rock bottom. And so he prays to God. for his salvation And he pray that I think giving to God instead that's so you know, it's not busy. It's not his own will but God's Will and so the guy tells the fish to vomit him up onto the beach that we does and then God comes to him again and said, okay go to Nineveh. Like I told you the first time and this time you want to go with Jonah go to Nineveh and we met we don't have any narration of the actual trip. You arrive there and it's such a huge City that it takes 3 days to walk across this is another way while we how we know that it was this written later because at the time it was written and if I had been destroyed but we know from our College I've been sending it was never this pic was never it was number three days walk across but in the minds of the later author, they imagined it of this historical take a big dick f****** my Camelot or something really cuz it's that it's this amazing place that it was huge in that all these people in it and it must have taken 3 days to walk across it.

so so you want to go then and you walk per day into the City and he begins to preach any tell Ali tells them is in 40 days. Nineveh will be destroyed.

Apparently Vale tell them it doesn't tell them how to fix. It doesn't give them doesn't tell them anything about God. You just tell them you know, what in 40 days then it was going to be destroyed.

But it's preaching still. Convinces the people in the king to turn from their ways to too fast to put on morning clothing to to pray for for forgiveness from God. And so God forgive them because they do they ask because they repent and ask for forgiveness and not in a superficial way but in a real deep way and so God forgive them and that just makes Jonas. So angry because Jonah says this is why I didn't want to come in the first place. He says I didn't want to come because I knew you were just going to forgive them and kind of reading to line. These are our enemies and they shouldn't be forgiven because there are enemies they should suffer. They should be made to feel God's Wrath. So I can't believe that God would actually forgive them. And so he goes and sets up camp next to the city waiting for God's Wrath to come upon the city. But doesn't come. and instead God create a bush that grows up over where he's sitting to provide him with with shade and and keep him out of the Wind. and the Sun any quite love this and then God send the worm the next day signs in the insect to eat the bush and destroy it so that it dies and when the bush dies and goes away then then Jonah is in the sun in the in the blistering wind coming off the the desert like he's young it's horrible and he said you might as well just kill me a better for me to die than to live through like this and then we get kind of the focus of the story got this when you care so much about this bush. Even though you didn't grow it. You didn't plant it you had nothing to do with it. It just appeared. And you had nothing to do with its demise, but you're you're so angry that you say you might as well just die. and yet

when God it is worried about Nineveh this huge City with you know, thousands of people and animals and you know it in in all of this going on and who is worried about them and is worried that they are going to be destroyed. That is somehow not okay to Jonah. The use of the pair of this the author uses this this comparison between the bush and and Nevada City.

That's Jonah often. We we hear only about Jonah and the whale as it's kind of again become a fairy tale story line, but not about the fact that Jonah that the real point of the book in the Jonah is is resisting God's will throughout the entire book and the readings for today that if we hadn't heard the whole thing. We would have missed this entire bit about Jonah being angry that God is merciful to none of it would have just ended with and God was merciful and didn't didn't throw them. Which of the Great Lesson in God's mercy but misses the whole point of the book, I think.

The Bible is full of narrative. That is an area that has a hole with a narrative story of of God and God's interaction with people leading up to the story of Jesus Christ and how God wishes to to bring everyone into reconciliation with God. Now Jesus was able to overcome the evils of the world.

But we have all these characters in the story in the narrative and a lot of people. Look to be characters as Role Models, especially children. I remember, you know, I didn't go to Bible. I didn't go to Sunday school very often does a child because I didn't attend church with older but I was with my friends to come up to Sunday school and then things and I am I remember, you know, you have a picture of Jonah and the whale on the wall or you'd have a picture of you admit you have a picture of a whoever Moses. but the truth is that you know that the Bible is not a children's story and and it has depth and of character and narrative and the the people in it are often flawed deeply deeply flawed. David who fell last time who is the the kind of Pinnacle of the of the king of Judah that is Anointed by God and is seen as being you know being so great in God's eyes is also in a womanizer and an adulterer. Who who

in a does does lots of bad thing and yo, he he he the woman that he likes bathing on the on the rooftop of a house next to him and gets her husband killed in battle for the he can can then marry her and it's her son Solomon who becomes the next king. You know and and Solomon had his problem he has hundreds of wives and all this kind of thing. So so there's people in the Bible are not meant to be just role model B complex deeply flawed people and here's what we see in Jonah and what we're supposed to see in these people is not a story about somebody else. This is not a warning about other people. The point of these stories is to think about how in our lives we are. The people on our lives. Are we Jonah?

How how are we behaving the same way that Jonah behaved in the story?

You know, we are right now more politically divided in in the world. Not not just the United States but across the world then we have been in a very long time in the united states is divided between what is often called the right and was often called the left or the conservative and liberal that the Democrats and Republicans or whatever labels you want to put on it. And in the UK, there's a similar issue between kind of the the Nationalist desires of the UK to be starving and separate from the other nations in the in Europe versus the the the desire of the people who want to be part of the community of Europe and being work with their neighbors. I'm in Japan that there's been issued like this for many years that you know, the ruling party has this nationalist streak to it with Steve. Japan is being better than the other countries that have no wants to get rid of the of the the closet the Constitution that prevents building up an army so they can so that we can have an army here in Japan. They can they can have a Defender even have a strike capability. And all this kind of stuff we are politically very divided. There is a lot of US versus them in the world right now. And this is what we see. In the story of Jonah and it's important because we have to realize this is not new. This is part of the human condition. This is part of our flawed nature a flawed nature that the story of Adam and Eve points to write that some people call Original Sin, but I think is better joke, I think original sin has been kind of abused into this idea like getting to this idea about babies aren't baptized and they go to hell because they have original sin and all this kind of stuff but I didn't think of that concept that they were getting at with that as a no more deeply flawed nature.

And we see that the story of Jonah is flawed. God. Tell Jonah to go but Jonah is so selfish. So Patriotic about his own country and hate their enemies so much that he runs from God rather than go and preach the good news of God took to those enemies even though there's nowhere to run. He runs he runs he thinks maybe if I go to the farthest outskirts of The World God will lose me. You won't forget me. You will not see me, or maybe he thinks of God as being Regional to to the land of Judah and if he escapes then then God won't have dominion over him anymore. But whatever the reason he runs and yet. Drop the story. It's not him. But it's the the the non-jewish people who interact with who really show God's love.

Sailors don't want to throw him overboard even after he tells them just to throw Motorworld. They're like no we can't do that. You know, if the Sailor pray to God, please you let you know don't don't put the send button are on our hands when he rides and then other people to Nevada mediately realize they're the wrong way than they really start with her morning and and everything and trying to trying to make them in where is Jonah has been defiant to the whole time even when he goes and then it but it's only because he he's kind of been forced to write like God. It said no, like really you're going to go do this and you know, you need to try to kill yourself. I'm going to prevent you from doing that. You can go do this kind of thing. I mean just You know, he's like fine yugos, but he's angry about it the whole time.

This is just part of the human condition is part of art of our nature to to build walls between us and other people which starts in our family units and that grows into our communities and it grows into our nation's. I just want to be interesting things about the Japanese language is it actually just built into the Japanese language? So when you speak your speech patterns change depending on whether the person you're talking to is part of the in-group that you're speaking it from. So, you know, when you talk to people in your community you talk to them differently than you do your family members and we are two people at your job you talk to them differently than you do at your in your community and we talk to people on the street talk to them differently than all those groups because they're in different Social Circle. There's different levels of US versus them and we have this in the US the same way. The god ask us to kind of Rise Above This to rise above our own selfishness and our own short-sighted nationalism this idea that somehow this nation that we have made that the human being have created is better than all of the other nations of the Earth. Raft to rise above that and feed it rather. We are all created in God's image, even though that we disagree with even those who we hate are also children of God. And God calls us to take care of those who are the most vulnerable in our society and open our hearts to though they're different from us.

It's difficult if it goes against our nature.

Our world needs healing.

our respective Nations need healing

we need to come together. We need to find Common Ground. We need to stop seeing one another at enemy to be defeated.

at the same time need to hold one another accountable.

We can't just let it go. We have to embrace God's justice.

We have to embrace. The community of all humankind we have to accept that others are made in God's image just as we are. that includes

the lgbtq + community that includes people of other Faith groups Muslims and Hindus Sikhs Jews Buddhist. wickens

That includes people of opposing political Idea Idea Idea ologies. Cleats Democrats Republicans Libertarians. includes communist cludes socialist includes capitalist

God has called us to be a co-creator in this healing of our world. That is so desperately needed. but like Jonah

the call can seem overwhelming to us. And we can run from it. We can hide in our nationalism. We can hide in our bubbles in our Social Circles in our Echo Chambers.

or we can embrace the call. We can realize that running from God is only an illusion. only a temporary state of being

there is nowhere to run.

God will eventually find you. God will eventually convince you

to rid yourself of your selfishness to rid yourself of US versus them mentality, even if it takes eons and eons.

That's the core of our beliefs of Universalist, right?

Invite you to embrace God's call for healing.

my shin brace got call for radical healing a radical inclusion. Call for deep active listening to those who disagree and got call to hold one another accountable. not just To nod and say, okay. But to really engage and discuss issues when you can and it's difficult. It's really difficult. And you're not always going to succeed and sometimes you're going to be at a dinner table with your family at Thanksgiving and you're going to say, you know, I just don't want to talk about this today and that's okay. Don't feel like you failed if you can't do this. but whatever small-capacity you can try to embrace the call even if that's just talking with one relative or one person on Facebook. Whatever can might be Brace God's call to heal the world.

Kumon