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Jonah 3 & 4, Matthew 6:9-13

Rev. Robert Kennedy

 Prayer for Illumination: Guide us, O God by your Word and Spirit, that in your light we may see light, in your truth find freedom, and in your will discover your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 God relented of the punishment that he was claimed for the city, but Jonah was very unhappy that they repented. Aren't we interesting people? We do not do exactly that exact same thing that Jonah did, the stuff that we do is just mentally unconceivable, but we do it anyway, and we think, oh, that's what I should do, I'm going to be stubborn, I'm going to do this or that, or I'm going to do this or that, whatever I think is right. Not really. Thank you, Lord, in our minds and hearts. What's plausible in this situation? What would the Lord have me say or do in this situation? That's what we say. That's what we preach. We're young, sometimes we're old. Hold through the end of it, then. The end of it is not necessarily the end. For example, when I heard the news that Tom Brady was going to the Super Bowl in a couple of years, and his quarterback there, there he was again in the Super Bowl, and my reaction was, well, that's just not fair. I'm sure he worked hard, he put in the hours, and perhaps he doesn't follow football as much as I do, but there's got to be some sort of situation where you say to yourself, oh, so-and-so got such-and-such, and that's just not fair. I didn't get all that stuff, but I'm sure Tom Brady put in the hours, he has some talent, but it's just not fair. But who am I really to determine what is or is not fair about Tom Brady or anybody else? It turns out we may all admit that life is not fair, but we kind of want it to be, according to our perspective, the way we want it to be. Where is Jonah now? Let's just recap. He was a prophet. He heard God's voice. He was given clear instructions.  He runs away. He's thrown under water. And there he is, floundering away in the sea, but God saves him by preparing a great fish. And what did the great fish do, he swallowed Jonah. But not only is Jonah safe, but he's alive.

But Nineveh, by God's grace, and Jonah's obedience, he finally relents and walks through the streets Nineveh and the entire city got saved. Wow. Jonah obeys God's command and takes not even a single day for God's words to reach the hearts of the Nineveh and changed them. A story for the ages. 

 I wonder what would happen right now in some places if God's will would be happening within this or that city or place or wherever it is that would be appropriate for God's will to be happening. Jesus is the answer. But even the king of Nineveh, whom we assume is not a great guy, he even is converted, the king of Nineveh, back at that time. He's humble. He acknowledges God's power. He withholds his judgment. He calls on everyone to repent. And what do they do? They do repent. So what about chapters 3 and 4? Can we just stop at chapter 2, with the health of Jonah being destroyed, spat out upon dry land. 

But if we stop here, we don't learn about our third and final lesson from Jonah. It's in this chapter. Let me read chapter 4. Jonah’s  angry at God for having mercy. Why would you be angry at God for having mercy upon a city? I want to shake my head and say, I don't know Jonah when he does this kind of thing, but I can't. Because we've all done this kind of thing.  Life does not seem fair. And we pout sometimes about what doesn't seem fair. Jonah, of course, is not pouty. He's asking God to take his life from him. He cannot bear it.

 I'm not asking you, God, to just calm Brady and let him get to the Super Bowl, but I am wondering sometimes about other things. For example, when I was both a full-time pastor and a full-time college professor at Robert Morris University, I got far too much to do.  And I thought to myself, wow. I've taken such a big bite out of this whole thing called life that I'm overwhelmed. Far too much to do. What am I going to do, Lord? I can't possibly figure out a test for this next class. I'm going to spread a moment. What am I going to do, Lord? I can't possibly do this. But somehow the Lord Jesus did provide a way. And oh, Jonah. I have to shake my head again. The city of Nineveh  gets saved, but Jonah, still pouting, leaves. He doesn't like it that God saves. But he leaves. He goes outside the city. He builds a hut. And vines grow around it. He waits and waits and waits. Probably he's waiting to see whether or not men will really keep up with their promise to be faithful to our heaven and Father. But humans do. Humans, I almost feel as if Jonah has popped a popcorn and is sitting there waiting for the fireworks to begin when the city blows up again with all kinds of horrible, sinful-type behavior. But life should be fair, right? Isn't that the way life should be? Fair? No, not really. It's what's God's will is what's fair. 

It's not what we think is fair. It's what God's will that actually is fair. God will be displeased again. And they'll get what they deserve. I think that's what he's waiting for as he sits there waiting to see what's happening. So, God acts because of the tree to grow, a gourd tree, which must be a tree like an antelope, provides shade. And Jonah all of a sudden has a smile on his face. And then, ah, God says, this tree is giving shade. He's happy. And we are happy too when we are blessed. But again, we're on the Jonah rollercoaster, but it's really fair to get a whole nod of God loves this plant that provides shade.  

And the plant withers. A problem with the sunburn on Jonah's forehead is for God to bring a suntan version. And so, he says, okay, God, this is it. Just take me. I can't do this any longer. Ah. But I have a reason not to die. And that's what I want you to do, according to God, is let me die. It almost sounds like a pouting and petulant child, but really as we've all seen and heard life is before we perceive it. Life is not fair. Bad things happen to good people. Good things happen to bad people. We rejoice in the shade of a tree one day, and we get blistered by the sun the next day. Well, we arrive now at our final lesson from the book of Jonah. And God himself sums it up very nicely. 

God creates a microcosm of an issue with the plant. Jonah didn't plant the plant. He didn't research it. He didn't look on the internet to find out how to take care of this plant. He didn't do anything at all. And such are the blessings of God. There's nothing that we as humans can do to merit the blessings that we get. We are sinful. We are not necessarily going to do the right thing the next day or the next minute. We can't really defer good things or bad things through the day. We have nothing to do with their appearance. And there really is no such thing as luck. There is God's will. There is a situation where we do listen to and obey God's will, but there's nothing like luck. It's just a fantasy. 

But when the blessing is revoked, when the worm comes and destroys the tree, Jonah is indignant even though he did nothing to merit the tree. It's not fair that I'm experiencing these things. No, I want my shade back. And I want that seed. Damn to hell again, God.  Isn't that what they deserve? But guess what? Life is not fair. It never has been fair. It never will be fair. 

God's perspective on fair and being with us is every step of the way. It is completely fair. We see it in the story of two people walking on a beach leaving footprints in the sand. And you know this. You've heard this before. Evidently one was guarding the other one's profitable spot as they walked on the beach. And after a while the person, the human, looked back and saw only one set of footprints. He said, God, how come you left me? And God said, well, I didn't believe you. I picked you up and you couldn't walk any further and I carried you along the way. Isn't that a wonderful analogy? If God chooses to let Tom Brady win another Super Bowl, well, who am I to say that it is not fair?

 Well, here's the tie-in with Jesus. We are caught up in ordering life according to our definition of what fair is. In Mark chapter 2, Jesus is having dinner with Levi and other known sinners. Think of the Pharisees asking disciples, Hey there, disciples of Jesus, why is your master hanging around with prostitutes and tax collectors? They really aren't worthy. He should find some other friends that are holy, just, right. Their eyes are all this is not fair.  Their perspective is to what's really right. Why is Jesus being nice to the people? Whenever we hear somebody getting ready to say something to us, this sort of sly insult or maybe not an overt insult or something like that, perhaps we can reconsider our response to a thing like that and say, Oh, you're such an encouraging person, such a blessing in my life and a blessing for other people's lives. Help them understand that whatever they're saying to us is an insult maybe or a sly, backhanded remark that help them to know that God has a different way. We learn that God provides blessings, that we receive them, we are thankful for them, we enjoy them. And God teaches to bless them in their rights by not ratting in the city, by not destroying the people and the animals. It doesn't matter that in the world's standards it may not seem fair, but we acknowledge already that life is not fair. 

Sometimes you will receive a shady tree and other days a blistery wind in your life. We live in a sin-filled world. Therefore, we take the blessings as they come and deal with the problems as they come, but knowing that Jesus is with us, Jesus is really completely the answer. 

Finally, we rejoice in the fact that God's perspective on failure is much better than our own. Will the minute lights slip up again? Will we slip up again? If we ever were going to do that, if we were going to slip up again and sin again and do something or say something to somebody, it really isn't God's will. Does God know what we deserve? Yes, He does.  Does God know what other people deserve? Yes, He does. It doesn't matter whether or not we think it's God's will.

So, on Father's Day, we say, Father, Thy will be done.  Now, there's a stone in one of the beautiful little parking type areas. I think it's close to the handicapped back lane. Do you ever read that stone? What's it says? Thy will be done.  That's what we should do. That's what you pray every day of our lives. Whatever it is, Lord, that you want me to say or do in this situation, Thy will be done. 

Amen.