The Flight of the “Flighty Dove” — A Narrative Homily and Other Thoughts (Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 4:1).

There was once a prophet who ran from God, was swallowed by a giant fish, and whose name means the “Flighty Dove.”

 Today we read from his book.

3:1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, 3:2 “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” 3:3 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. 3:4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 3:5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

3:10 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.

4:1 But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry (Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 4:1).

Now, after God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach against it because of their great wickedness, Jonah, “the flighty dove,” ran from God, and he boarded a ship and set sail for Tarshish; a place in those days considered the opposite end of the earth from Nineveh. But the God of the heavens and the earth caused a great storm to come upon that ship. Suffice it to say, after a brief moment of pagan-panic, which included prayer to gods–lower-case g, and an ancient form of “draw straws,” Jonah told the sailors throw him overboard—and they did.  Now, despite Jonah’s plot to end his life early, the God who calls, summoned a giant fish to swallow the prophet; which vomited him upon the shores of Syria three days later.

You might be thinking, why did Jonah run from God? Why did Jonah refuse to go to Nineveh? Well, Jonah, like most of Israel, did not care for the people of Nineveh because of their evil and violence against nations—like Israel. As it were, the people of Nineveh once brutally terrorized and exiled Jonah’s people. Jonah was pissed off at the people of Nineveh; and their city was the last place he wanted to go. So Jonah ran from God but his plan failed miserably.

2:10 So… the LORD spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.

Now, at the break of a new day, I want you to picture our friend, the “Flighty-Dove,” laying on the sandy shoreline, covered in whale vomit—glistening under the hot sun. And since God’s persistence wears down our resistance, The Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying,

“Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.”

This time, Jonah listened to God and went to Nineveh. On the outside, Jonah obeyed God; but on the inside he remained hostile towards his enemies. Now, Nineveh was a massive city, so massive some said it would take three days to walk across it.  Three days. You’re not supposed to do that math; no, instead, you’re supposed to be lost in astonishment with the bigness of the city. So after a day’s walk into that great city, Jonah began to preach against Nineveh.  But how is a guy supposed to get an entire city—as big as Nineveh—to hear his message, especially among a people hostile to Jews? Jonah did not have a bull-horn. He did not have a microphone, and what’s worse, his message was all doom and gloom.  His message was one short sentence. If you recall, it went like this:

“Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

That’s it.

So how would such a short, un-emotional, uncreative message reach the masses? Surprisingly, amazingly – as if God made it happen – the entire city heard the message. All of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth… and even the King sat in ashes.  In those days people would put on sackcloth and ashes when mourning the waste of death.  To put on sackcloth and ashes meant the people knew they were under God’s wrath for their great evil. To put on sackcloth and ashes was like saying: “God, we know you created us from the dust of the ground, and to the dust we shall return!” It is to say: WE RECOGNIZE OUR PLACE! YOU ARE GOD, AND WE ARE NOT. But in the same way that God, in the beginning, saw all that he made—and called it good…

3:10 God also saw what the Ninevites did, how they turned from their evil ways, and so God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

It appears God was waiting to unleash, not his wrath, but his mercy on the people of Nineveh. You see, God cares about all creation, and desires that everything flourish in the way it was created.

Everything.

4:1 But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry.

But why was Jonah angry? His message worked, his enemies turned from their evil, (at least for a time). You see my friends, Jonah’s bitterness and anger ran so deep that he could not accept God’s mercy for his enemies.

What about us? Are we all that different from the nationalist Jonah, who wanted mercy for Israel but destruction for its enemies?  It seems to me, often we want endless mercy for ourselves but not for others, and especially not for those who have hurt us. Indeed, it seems that Jonah forgot something incredibly important about God.

God is not hell-bent on destroying wicked people.

Recall what God spoke through Ezekiel: “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live?” (Ezk 18:23). Indeed, later Jonah reluctantly admits this about God, when he prayed and said, “O LORD! That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing” (Jonah 4:2).

But what about Jonah? Did not God show him mercy too? After all, Jonah disobeyed God, tried to end his life early; and yet, God mercifully saved him.

So often, when we’ve been deeply hurt by a someone: unfairly rejected… viciously assaulted… or ruthlessly betrayed… It’s all too easy for us to write these people off as if we could care less about them… as if God could care less about them. And what about those less pronounced enemies in our lives? What about that co-worker that treats you like an idiot? What about that ex-spouse that demonizes you before your children? Or, what about that person in your community that slanders you behind you back again and again? I think, if we’re honest, we love to see our enemies fall; we love to see people get their “just deserts.” But even though they’ve hurt us, God cares about them, and God actually wants us to care about them too.

And furthermore…

How can we not show mercy when God has shown mercy to us?

 And so, we can waste our lives with bitterness, or we can flourish by giving that same mercy we have received to our enemies—even if it pains us deeply.

So my friends, let us not waste away in the dirt of our expectations about the ills we think people deserve, but let us cling to the God who helps us put away self-preservation, so that we might flourish with a life of mercy and forgiveness.

Bitterness breeds death but Mercy breeds life.

 Amen