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 forget 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

Those tall skinny beasts eat the tops of trees.

The brown speckled sovereign of height

was once strangely called the camelopard,

because it looks a bit like a stretched and

squished together giant camel-leopard.

The spotted cat is a fierce-fast land mass,

and yet, I bet, that African crane could

beat a leopard across a deep river dash.

With its boney legs, this awkward thing

can only jump three-feet-three-inches-high;

but at night, the camel-o-par-dalis

towers among the star strung animals.

They do not have sharp horns atop their heads,

or sharp teeth, because they eat grass and trees.

But the giraffe, you see, does not need

mouth-weapons, because it fights with its head,

unlike other beasts who use paws and teeth.

It has been said that one swing of its head

can break the backs of lions and tigers.

And now, consider the wrinkled tortoise.

I saw a crawl into oblivion.

A bareback mendicant in five-o-ones

down among the restless exhaust collect;

and, a steel congregation droning past—

a liturgy that set heaven on fire.

Reblogged from This is why I fled, earlier, on the open sea.:

At the height of my crest-fallen war, your defiant vow bedazzles above, as wing-swoops crush hate-gales in skyward soar. So come now, my black crown, with storming love and release all that I have bound again; a deathly flight—dark, a wing crumpled dove. Rising dawn, shred bleak breaking un-restrain, with meddled grace and queenly haste, you crush and mend these feathered arms—sickly twain. A crippled shame killed-alive, self-gushed. Alas, into star crackled skies, I rise! Dark clouds darken below, and …

which roll deep and darkly down from my sounds;

breathe, smear, new tear, behind twirling ringlets.

My banter burns like fire through war torn towns.

And I, in my blackened verbal palace, ring—

soundless, with those words echoed in my frown.

But, with torrent mercy, bursting, she sings:

Forgiveness! – flooding my silent inferno.

And now, from the ashen ruins—new hope springs!

*Written in the Terza Rima meter. It may be helpful for the reader to consider that apologia properly means, “defense or justification for one’s beliefs, or actions.” This poem expresses the opposite of such a thing.

At the height of my crest-fallen war,

your defiant vow bedazzles above,

as wing-swoops crush hate-gales in skyward soar.

So come now, my black crown, with storming love

and release all that I have bound again;

a deathly flight—dark, a wing crumpled dove.

Rising dawn, shred bleak breaking un-restrain,

with meddled grace and queenly haste, you crush

and mend these feathered arms—sickly twain.

A crippled shame killed-alive, self-gushed.

Alas, into star crackled skies, I rise!

Dark clouds darken below, and I, sun blushed.

And the wind-with-her-words, ah, beautywise!

A scathing launch achieved by mercy’s guise.

Come eternal sunshine,

rise on the dawn of our hearts,

and let the brilliance of your resurrection

begin its recreating work.

A Birth

Skinny stems burst shades like the sun of old;

gushing love from Beauty’s son–blooming undone;

for what reason do these sweet petals unfold?

gushing love from Beauty’s son–blooming undone;

for what reason do these sweet petals unfold?

rise on the dawn of our hearts,

and let the brilliance of your resurrection

begin its recreating work.

From all evil and rebellion;
from pride, self glorification, and hypocrisy,
from envy, hatred, and trouble making,
and from all evil intentions,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From laziness, love of money, and power,
from hardness of heart, greed, and unkindness,
and from raising our way of life above yours,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From misusing and abusing our bodies and minds,
from lying and not telling the whole truth,
from fear of opinion and rejection by others,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From violence, arguing, and gossip,
from being judgmental, unfair, and negative,
from insulting and lifting ourselves above others,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From distorted love, which drives every crooked desire,
from shallow obsessions with image, reputation, and talent,
from careless relationships, selfishness, and arrogance,

Good Lord, deliver us.

By the mystery of your beautiful incarnation,
by your prefect obedience in birth, life, and death;
by your temptation, humility, and resistance of evil,

Good Lord, deliver us.

By your passionate love in word and action,
by your mighty acts of service and power,
by your presence and teaching of God’s Kingdom,

Good Lord, deliver us.

By your agony, unjust trial, and suffering;
by your taking the sins of the world into your Jewish body,
by your brutal death and burial,

Good Lord, deliver us.

By your powerful and world re-creating resurrection,
by your glorious and radiant journey to heaven,
and by your gushing the Holy Spirit upon us,

Good Lord, deliver us.

***

Hear our prayers, O sweet loving God.
Hear us, good Lord.

Lead us and guide us each day,
lead us with clear thought, loving desire, and pure imagination;
lead us and teach us to love you and others with our whole lives.

Hear us, good Lord.

Help us to make good choices each day,
help us to call upon you amidst struggles and temptations;
help us to deny ourselves and find ourselves in you alone.

Hear us, good Lord.

Give us boldness and strength of heart to embody the Gospel;
give us creativity to communicate your love and truth to others;
and give us wisdom and clarity concerning the hurts of those around us.

Hear us, good Lord.

Give us ears to hear and eyes to see and receive your word,
give us the courage and desire to obey your transformative word,
give us the fellowship of the burning heart,
so that we might we hear you speak the scriptures to us.

Hear us, good Lord.

Speak your truth to us amidst our storms of confusion,
speak your hope to us on our plains of emptiness and boredom,
speak your love to us in our dark valleys of despair and insecurity,

Hear us, good Lord.

Release us from the slavery of endless cravings and addictions,
release us from the bondage of burning wrath and self-hatred,
release us from loving the creation more than you, O Splendid God.

Hear us, good Lord.

Teach us the way of sacrifice and generosity,
teach us to walk the path of humility and forgiveness,
teach us the glorious life of worship and prayer.

Hear us, good Lord.

Remind us to seek you when we are weak,
Remind us to return love for hatred,
Remind us that you are Lord and we are not.

Hear us, good Lord.

***

Give us the power to turn away from choices that lead to chaos,
forgive our ignorant and intentional sins,
and give us the grace of your Holy Spirit,
that our broken lives might be amended–
by your promise of new creation.

Sweet God,
Pure and Holy,
Beautiful and Strong,
Faithful and True,
have mercy on us all.