1-21-2024 “Running from God’s Call” (Jonah 3:1-5, 10) ~ Epiphany III

Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor

The story of Jonah is one that even the unchurched know some of the details about it. Jonah is swallowed whole by a great fish and is delivered to the shores of Ninevah. I have always found it funny that the graphics of this story are used to adorn the nurseries of infants. It’s either that or Noah’s Ark. Two harrowing stories, to say the least, and we plaster them up on nursery room walls! “Look, kids! This is Noah’s Ark. This is when God destroyed the world, except for eight people and all species of animals!” My wife, a huge lover of all furry, winged, and scaly creatures, would say, “I don’t blame God. I’d save more animals than people, too.”

This story is really about conversion. It is about a change of heart. It is about trying to run from God’s call but finding that when God has other plans for your life, there is a reason: one that needs to be embraced.

There is a darker side to this story, too. It is one of the shorter books in the Bible, so I encourage you to go home and read it in its entirety. God wants Ninevah to repent from their wicked ways, so he sends Jonah to warn them. But Jonah doesn’t want to go. It’s not because he’s lazy and it’s not because he does not feel worthy (as many a biblical character exclaims when they are called to serve God). Jonah does not want to preach to the Ninevites because he hates them. He does not want them to repent. He wants God to destroy them. You can see that this book (one of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible) is not the lovable little fish tale that we often depict it as being. We’ve reflected upon this theme in the past. Today, I want to focus on the flight itself — on Jonah running from God’s call.

We need to back up a bit, though, and talk about baptism. This sacrament contains multiple meanings — meanings that have been debated for centuries. One of the things that happens when we are baptized is that we receive the Holy Spirit. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive any number of spiritual gifts. We are also called to use those gifts for the upbuilding of the Church and to help make God’s kingdom a reality in our midst. This is not to be taken lightly.

Let’s bring it back home. We will hold our annual meeting in two weeks. We will approve our budget for 2024 and will elect officers who will lead our church throughout 2024. There are some surprises. Pam Loughran will be our new Moderator. Jan Haughey will be chair of the Resource Team, the position that has been faithfully held by Joe Kendall for quite some time now. Joe will still be Treasurer, doing the stellar job he has been doing all along. Rachel Rigoli will be the new chair of Outreach. There will be a few other minor changes. But keep something in mind: we have all kinds of committees in this church. It isn’t just the chairperson who does the work. There is a team of people who work with the chair. You see Gloria Gilson and think “Deacons,” but the Deacons also include Carl, Elaine, Mo, and Beverly.

Where do your skills lie? Do you have a desire to help with our mission work? Maybe you’ve always wanted to teach Sunday School. Are you a crafty craftsman who would be an asset to our Resource Team? Maybe you’ve always wanted to be a lay reader. Maybe you want to be in the choir! (I told Elaine I would make the pitch.)

What’s my point? There are many ways that you can use your gifts to serve the church. You can be on a committee, you can help with Senior Supper’s, or any other ministry that requires people with the skills that you possess. You know what those gifts are. What’s holding you back?

But your spiritual gifts are needed outside these four walls, too. There are many who sit in darkness, waiting for the light of Christ’s Gospel to shine upon them. This is when we are more like Jonah. Volunteering to help out at church is one thing. Being a witness for Christ to others is another.

When you talk to others about Jesus, you often feel strange. Is this person going to think that I am some kind of holy roller? Is she going to see me as a Jesus freak? Will I be seen as a zealot, some type of religious rube? Jonah didn’t want to talk for God either. So, here’s a bit of advice: don’t start by talking. Start by asking questions. Listen! Seriously. Just listen. Listen to what others have to say. Most people are more than willing to talk about their religious beliefs — the questions they have and the concepts they struggle with — but they won’t call or even see these questions as related to their religious beliefs.

But people have a story, experiences that are unique. They have dreams, fears, and hopes for their children. They are worried about making ends meet. Some of them are worried about their health. These are huge existential questions. They may not say it, but, if they have a religious bone in their bodies, they’re thinking, “Where is God in all of this?” They may be hindered by another idea that haunts them — the fear that maybe there isn’t a God after all. Phew, that’s worse. Imagine for a moment, though. Imagine the despair, the dark cloud that follows them everywhere: all this difficulty, all this pain, and there isn’t even a God or a Heavenly existence after this! That’s what life is all about.

And this is where you step in. You’ve got good news. Tell them how you too have felt that way. You’ve asked the same questions. But something happened. Something changed your life. You’ve found the answer to life’s most burning questions. You may have found that answer years ago. Maybe you found it more recently. It was a realization — the realization that you are not alone. You’ve never been alone. You’ve been able to shoulder the burdens of life because you don’t carry them alone. You are accompanied by a personal God — one who came to the world in the flesh to experience life as we know it. Whatever you are carrying, Jesus is carrying it with you providing you with a love like none other. As he tells the disciples in John’s Gospel, “I will not leave you desolate” (14:18). As he said at the end of Matthew’s Gospel: “And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (28:20).

And if someone tells you that they are overcome with guilt, that they are struggling with their past, you can tell them, as Paul told the Romans, that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (8:39). Jesus already paid the price for that sin, for every sin. He paid for it on the cross and rose from a borrowed tomb to offer you the greatest gift imaginable: everlasting life.

That’s good news! That’s the truth. That’s the hope that unites us with one another as part of the living body of the living, ever-present Christ. Death, despair, guilt, hate — none of these have the final word. God does, and God has told you that each of us, each and every one of us has a story to tell to the nations. It is a story of love, of hope, of salvation, of peace — it is the story of us and it is the story of God. Amen.