Jonah 3:1-5, 10
The word of 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." 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. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. 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.
Mark 1:14-20
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea — for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
I don’t often deal with more than one lectionary reading per week – there is so much richness to be found once we start digging that one reading is usually quite enough for my message – but today the theme of the readings is so strong, and these two bits are each so short, that I thought it would be interesting to compare the Old Testament version with the New.
Both of these readings, in their full settings, are about the urgency of “right now.” We all know Jonah’s story: God gives Jonah a message to carry to the people of Persian Nineveh - a message to repent, to turn away from their past and present evil behavior, right now, in order to avert the destruction God has planned for them because of those evil ways. Jonah, however, is first and foremost a passive man – he just wants to be left alone. He doesn’t want to get involved. Secondly, he dislikes the Ninevites heartily – actually, all the Israelites despised them because of the role they had played in the first great exile. So Jonah sees no good reason to put himself out to save a bunch of people he’d just as soon see wiped off the planet anyway. He doesn’t really argue with God – he just ignores God and goes the other direction.
God is having none of this, however. He wants the Ninevites saved and he wants it done now – so – storm at sea, belly of the whale, Jonah gives in because it clearly is easier to do it God’s way than to try to fight God. We all know this story. Jonah delivers God’s message – and miracles of miracles, the people of Nineveh listen, and their destruction is averted.
As I said, we all know this story but how much have we actually thought about it? The Biblical Literalists have done such a good job of directing all conversation to the devastatingly important question – to them – of proving that Jonah could have survived in that fish, that we have largely missed the real point of this story, which I see as two-fold. One, this is the Old Testament God going to all this trouble to save a non-Hebrew people. So much of the OT makes it clear that God only cares about the Chosen People - Abraham’s children – so where did this come from, this concern for an alien people? I don’t think it is ever really explained here. And secondly, why is this question of saving Nineveh so very urgent? Why does it have to be this very minute?
Could it be that Nineveh, while important, was always a secondary concern for the writer of this story? Could it be that the one in urgent need of saving was Jonah himself? Good old complacent, “am-I-my-brother’s-keeper?” Jonah, who didn’t care if the world succeeded or failed as long as it left him alone? Couldn’t it be old grumpy Jonah who needed to be awakened to a sense of compassion for his fellow humans? Awakened to an awareness of his birth into God’s rule in the world? Was it perhaps Jonah who was almost entirely lost and needed – urgently – to be reclaimed by seeing himself as one part of a larger whole? It had been, by this time, a couple of hundred years since Nineveh's crime against the Israelites -- surely the question of their punishment good have waited a little longer if necessary. But Jonah -- Jonah was running out of time to be "saved."
Now let’s look for a minute at the gospel reading we also heard read. At Advent we turned the church calendar and changed to liturgical year B - the 2nd year in the 3-year lectionary cycle. That means the gospel readings this year will all be coming from Mark’s gospel. Mark is the shortest of the gospels and the one with the strongest sense of urgency. This gospel is the one that repeatedly warns us that “the time in short.” Mark doesn’t waste any time on infancy narratives or genealogies proving Jesus is David’s son – either he figures that’s all covered somewhere else or he just doesn’t care. Instead, Mark jumps straight into the story of Jesus’ three years of public life. John the Baptist prepares the way, Jesus is baptized, he calls his disciples and – boom – he’s out there healing people. No time to waste. Time is short. Gotta move now.
Again, the literalists have managed to turn this sense of urgency into a rush to get personally saved before the “end times” arrive – thereby, I believe, completely losing the real message, which again, I believe is (at least) two-fold. First is the urgent need for each one of us to find and acknowledge our rightful place in God’s kingdom – right here, right now -- loving, healing, and caring for each other – bringing the reign of God to its fullness – here and now. Being who God created us to be and not being so worried about an afterlife that we miss out on this life.
Second is that this isn’t about us doing anything - this is about God, in the person of Jesus, acting in this world. This is God - moving people’s hearts and minds and pointing them toward Jesus, where they can learn in the most complete way possible. I doubt that Simon, Andrew, James or John got up that morning and thought they’d go looking for a new messiah so they could toss aside their families and livelihoods to follow a complete stranger. Can you imagine doing that? Only, I hope, with God’s strong urging.
There was no time for Jesus to woo them - to get to know them and gradually get them to trust him. There was just “Follow me”... and they did. For them the time was now. For every one of us, the time that God calls us is the “end time” – the end of our lives as we have known them thus far and the time we enter into something new – something beyond our wildest imaginings – a new life in God’s service, building God’s kingdom.
So the literalists get it partially right. This time is the time of our salvation. This, right now, is the life we get. This is the time we are saved from a life lived in our own creation rather than in God’s creation – God’s world. There is a sense of urgency – not because of some outside deadline, but simply because God is talking to us now.
I’m reading a lot right now from Barbara Brown Taylor, so be prepared to hear her quoted - often. As she explains this:
Both of these readings, in their full settings, are about the urgency of “right now.” We all know Jonah’s story: God gives Jonah a message to carry to the people of Persian Nineveh - a message to repent, to turn away from their past and present evil behavior, right now, in order to avert the destruction God has planned for them because of those evil ways. Jonah, however, is first and foremost a passive man – he just wants to be left alone. He doesn’t want to get involved. Secondly, he dislikes the Ninevites heartily – actually, all the Israelites despised them because of the role they had played in the first great exile. So Jonah sees no good reason to put himself out to save a bunch of people he’d just as soon see wiped off the planet anyway. He doesn’t really argue with God – he just ignores God and goes the other direction.
God is having none of this, however. He wants the Ninevites saved and he wants it done now – so – storm at sea, belly of the whale, Jonah gives in because it clearly is easier to do it God’s way than to try to fight God. We all know this story. Jonah delivers God’s message – and miracles of miracles, the people of Nineveh listen, and their destruction is averted.
As I said, we all know this story but how much have we actually thought about it? The Biblical Literalists have done such a good job of directing all conversation to the devastatingly important question – to them – of proving that Jonah could have survived in that fish, that we have largely missed the real point of this story, which I see as two-fold. One, this is the Old Testament God going to all this trouble to save a non-Hebrew people. So much of the OT makes it clear that God only cares about the Chosen People - Abraham’s children – so where did this come from, this concern for an alien people? I don’t think it is ever really explained here. And secondly, why is this question of saving Nineveh so very urgent? Why does it have to be this very minute?
Could it be that Nineveh, while important, was always a secondary concern for the writer of this story? Could it be that the one in urgent need of saving was Jonah himself? Good old complacent, “am-I-my-brother’s-keeper?” Jonah, who didn’t care if the world succeeded or failed as long as it left him alone? Couldn’t it be old grumpy Jonah who needed to be awakened to a sense of compassion for his fellow humans? Awakened to an awareness of his birth into God’s rule in the world? Was it perhaps Jonah who was almost entirely lost and needed – urgently – to be reclaimed by seeing himself as one part of a larger whole? It had been, by this time, a couple of hundred years since Nineveh's crime against the Israelites -- surely the question of their punishment good have waited a little longer if necessary. But Jonah -- Jonah was running out of time to be "saved."
Now let’s look for a minute at the gospel reading we also heard read. At Advent we turned the church calendar and changed to liturgical year B - the 2nd year in the 3-year lectionary cycle. That means the gospel readings this year will all be coming from Mark’s gospel. Mark is the shortest of the gospels and the one with the strongest sense of urgency. This gospel is the one that repeatedly warns us that “the time in short.” Mark doesn’t waste any time on infancy narratives or genealogies proving Jesus is David’s son – either he figures that’s all covered somewhere else or he just doesn’t care. Instead, Mark jumps straight into the story of Jesus’ three years of public life. John the Baptist prepares the way, Jesus is baptized, he calls his disciples and – boom – he’s out there healing people. No time to waste. Time is short. Gotta move now.
Again, the literalists have managed to turn this sense of urgency into a rush to get personally saved before the “end times” arrive – thereby, I believe, completely losing the real message, which again, I believe is (at least) two-fold. First is the urgent need for each one of us to find and acknowledge our rightful place in God’s kingdom – right here, right now -- loving, healing, and caring for each other – bringing the reign of God to its fullness – here and now. Being who God created us to be and not being so worried about an afterlife that we miss out on this life.
Second is that this isn’t about us doing anything - this is about God, in the person of Jesus, acting in this world. This is God - moving people’s hearts and minds and pointing them toward Jesus, where they can learn in the most complete way possible. I doubt that Simon, Andrew, James or John got up that morning and thought they’d go looking for a new messiah so they could toss aside their families and livelihoods to follow a complete stranger. Can you imagine doing that? Only, I hope, with God’s strong urging.
There was no time for Jesus to woo them - to get to know them and gradually get them to trust him. There was just “Follow me”... and they did. For them the time was now. For every one of us, the time that God calls us is the “end time” – the end of our lives as we have known them thus far and the time we enter into something new – something beyond our wildest imaginings – a new life in God’s service, building God’s kingdom.
So the literalists get it partially right. This time is the time of our salvation. This, right now, is the life we get. This is the time we are saved from a life lived in our own creation rather than in God’s creation – God’s world. There is a sense of urgency – not because of some outside deadline, but simply because God is talking to us now.
I’m reading a lot right now from Barbara Brown Taylor, so be prepared to hear her quoted - often. As she explains this:
“...salvation is not something that happens only at the end of a person's life. Salvation happens every time someone with a key uses it to open a door he could lock instead.”
(Barbara Brown Taylor, Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith)
“Salvation happens every time someone with a key uses it to open a door he could lock instead.” Have we heard the urgent call to follow -- to act -- to BE? Right now? Have we unlocked the door?
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