THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF CANTON
Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor
Sunday, January 21, 2018 ~ Epiphany III
Sermon: “The Greatest Fish Story”
Hebrew Bible Lesson: Jonah 3:1-5, 10
© 2018, Dr. Tamilio
I love to fish. It is my way to unwind. I fish for large-mouth bass every summer up in Maine. I’ve notice that the further away I get from the fish I have caught in the past, the bigger they get. I think the biggest bass that I ever caught was actually about eighteen to twenty inches long, but when I talk about it my hands get farther and farther apart each year. When I’m ninety that fish is going to be as big as Moby Dick.
There are all kinds of incredible fish stories out there. The greatest one ever told is the one about Jonah. It’s a fish story, because we assume that it was a whale that swallowed Jonah. In fact, in a game of word association, the name “Jonah” usually gets the response “whale.” However, nowhere in the Bible does it say that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Chapter one verse seventeen says that “a great fish” swallowed Jonah. It could have been a whale (although a whale is a mammal) or it could have been a shark. Who knows? Scripture doesn’t say. But the bigger fish story has to do with why Jonah ended up in the belly of the great fish. Most people cannot tell you why. Jonah’s tale has become a short of children’s story.
Simply put, Jonah is running away from God’s call. God wants him to go to Nineveh and warn the people that their sins are swelling God’s anger. The idea is to get them to repent, before God destroys them. Jonah tries to escape the call. He takes passage aboard a ship heading away from Nineveh. A great storm erupts and it is discovered that the reason for the tempest is Jonah trying to flee from God’s call. At Jonah’s request, he is thrown into the sea. He hopes to perish. However, God send a great fish to save him and deliver him to the shores of Nineveh: the very place he was trying to avoid. Jonah complies with God’s request and is successful. The Ninevites repent. This is where the nice little children’s story ends. This little fish tale quickly becomes dark.
Jonah does not run from God’s call because he is lazy or has something he’d rather do. It isn’t because he feels unworthy, as we have seen with some of the other prophets. Jonah does not want to fulfill God’s call because he does not want the Ninevites to repent. He hates them, because they are the enemy, and he wants God to annihilate them. You don’t believe it? Read the text for yourself. Chapter three ends: “When God saw what they [the Ninevites] did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.” Chapter four begins:
But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Jonah is so filled with hatred of the enemy that he would rather die than see God be gracious towards them! Oh yes, there’s a sermon here — and it’s a whale of a tale.
There is always an enemy. It may be someone in our lives whom we despise. Maybe the person wronged us at work. Maybe we were the victim of a violent crime. Maybe it is a loved one who was unfaithful or who lied to us. Or the enemy may be an entire group of people: enemies of the state, as they say. Typically, this is a nation or a terrorist group with whom we are at war: ISIS, for example. Maybe it is a potential combatant, such as North Korea. Other enemies include groups of people we disagree with when it comes to politics: if you are a liberal Democrat, then it is conservative Republicans; if you are a conservative Republicans, then it is liberal Democrats; if you are a pro-gun rights advocate, then it is those who want to limit gun rights; if you are Pro-Life, then it is the people who are Pro-Choice. Etcetera. You get the point. Adversaries abound.
Typically, we are willing to love the enemy, as long as they change and become like us. If they don’t, we demonize them. Subtly, we often think that they lay outside of God and God’s will for humanity. Of course they do! God doesn’t side with Al Qaeda or Kim Jong Un! God does not love those whom we hate. God is not a New York Yankees fan!
Regardless of our political or ideological differences, though, we are called to pray for our enemies. Jesus made that very clear. In Matthew 5:43-46, Christ says,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?’”
There are a few things going on here. One is that we should rise above the evil that others perpetuate. Two wrongs don’t make a right, as mom always said. The other thing is that love and prayer are transformative. They can change hearts and lives. If one is engaged in doing evil, loving and praying for them can lead them to repent. We should rejoice in that. That should be a source of glee. Jonah should have rejoiced as well. He could not see beyond his hate, though, which is why he was so upset when the Ninevites listened to God and chose to repent — but God, in turn, is not swayed by Jonah’s hate. Read the next (the fourth and final) chapter of Jonah’s story when you get home.
God wants us to love, my friends. That message lies at the heart of the Gospel. We are called to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. And the idea here is that our neighbor includes those outside the circles we usually draw. It’s easy to draw those circles and it is easy to hate those we demonize as the other, the enemy. But God challenges us to move beyond our comfort zones — to venture into risky, troublesome terrain to bring a message of peace, love, and forgiveness. We can try to run from the call, but we might become fish food. Let the love that breaks down barriers be more than a fish story. Let it be the guiding compass for your lives. Amen.