A sermon preached by The Reverend Scott Dennis Nowack on January 22, 2012

at The First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Texas. 

Making All Things New

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

            In the movie, “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” Everett, Pete and Delmar are sitting around a campfire by a river.  While they are there, members of a congregation dressed in white come walking through the woods passing them to get to the river to be baptized.  As they walk by, they are singing, “As I went down to the river to pray, studying about that good old way and who shall wear the robe and crown, good Lord, show me the way.”  Delmar is mesmerized by what he sees and jumps in the river to be baptized.  After professing to his friends that he’s been redeemed and all his sins are washed away, Pete jumps in and gets baptized, too.  “Oh brother, let’s go down, let’s go down, won’t you come on down; down to the river to pray.”

            So let’s go down to the river.  Rivers are often associated with life, with new life.  Rivers bring life to the dry land, rivers slice through the landscape bringing nourishment to parched places.  They nourish the earth so it can bring forth plants and trees; food for all God’s creatures.  But then there are rivers and then there are rivers.

If you go to Baghdad, Iraq, which is on either side of the Tigris River, and go up the river for about 200 miles, on the eastern bank of the river you will find the excavated site of the ancient city of Ninevah, the grand and glorious and idolatrous and violent city of ancient Assyria, the enemy of Israel.

            Even though Ninevah was an enemy of God’s people, God cared for Ninevah.  God was concerned about Ninevah and so God looked around for a prophet to go and speak to Ninevah.  Jonah is the man for the job; Jonah, the son of Amittai, an Israelite.[i]

            God said, “Go down to the river” and Jonah said, “No way”.  Jonah flees to the coast, to the city of Joppa, modern day Tel Aviv, and catches a ride on a ship to the other side of the known world, to Tarshish.  While at sea, God brings about a mighty storm against the boat.  The sailors are terrified, believing the gods are angry with them.  They determine it must be the new guy, Jonah.  “Tell us why this calamity has come upon us.  What is your occupation?  Where do you come from?  What is your country?  And of what people are you?”  And Jonah is forthright and says, “I am a Hebrew, I worship the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.  Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it’s because of me that this great storm has come upon you.”  So there goes Jonah, swimming with the fishes and God provides a big fish that swallows him up for three days and three nights.  After praying, the big fish spews Jonah onto the seashore.  And this is where we find him as God calls Jonah for a second time, “Go down to the river.” And Jonah says, “Okay.  I’ll go”. 

            And so Jonah preached.  He preached along the side of the mighty Tigris River, 200 miles north of Baghdad.  He preached not expecting anyone to listen or take what he says to heart, “Forty days more, and Ninevah shall be overthrown!”  He was not seen as a sidewalk preacher in the big city with his megaphone proclaiming the end of the world.  He was not seen as an enemy of the state.  His phones were not tapped, he was not placed on the terrorist watch list.  He was not arrested for disturbing the peace and thrown in jail.  The people listened to what he said and believed him and repented of their sinful ways.  Down to the river in Ninevah they repented, covered in ashes and wearing sackcloth, the traditional signs of repentance.  Led by their king, the Ninevahites humbled themselves before God assuming no control over God.  The king does not assume that repentance automatically guarantees their rescue from God’s wrath.  He was banking on the belief that God has the freedom to act in an alternative way.

And the king was right.  God was moved by what he saw.  So much so that God “changed his mind” about destroying Ninevah and did not do it.  God made them new through the power of forgiveness.

            Jonah was as mad as a hornet and started raisin’ Cain.  He was madder than a mule chewing on bumblebees.  “I knew you were going to do this.  I knew this is what you would do and that’s why I fled to Tarshish.  I knew it because I know you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.” 

What’s the matter with Jonah?  Why is he so upset?

Deep down he was afraid God would actually forgive his enemies, these outsiders from Ninevah.  That’s exactly what God did and after Ninevah repented with an eagerness that the Jews of Jonah’s day often lacked. 

God’s capacity to judge and forgive is unlimited.  One of the core beliefs of the Reformed Tradition, of which we Presbyterians are a part, is that God is sovereign.  God will do what God wants to do.  God is not a prisoner of God’s own previous decrees.  God has the freedom to change his mind and act in an alternative way; God does not have a limited view of things.  The God of the book of Jonah not only gets around, but moreover, has human beings and other elements within creation do his divine bidding.  And what happens in this story is a perfect example of God changing his mind; for once, he is concerned with others more than the “insiders”, that is the “chosen ones” of Israel. 

God is not an uncaring tyrant, and he’s not an automated machine that only does what it is designed to do.  God is a live subject that can and will freely engage and respond to human repentance and change.  The people of Ninevah took Jonah’s preaching seriously because they believed God meant what he said.  God talks the talk and walks the walk.  This is why Jonah is so upset.  Jonah is an “insider” so to speak and prefers for God to be flat, unchanging, and predictable.  God brings in the “outsiders” of Ninevah into the fold of His amazing mercy and grace.

The insiders are surprised by the behavior of the outsiders.  After only hearing a few words from Jonah, probably the shortest sermon ever given, these outsiders repented and cleaned up their act.  The insiders had been listening to the words of the prophets for centuries and the record of their response to those prophetic words was not a positive one.  The attitude of these “outsiders” of Ninevah would be long remembered, and even held up as exemplary (Matt. 12:41).

The message here for us is hard to hear and ponder.  But can you identify with Jonah?  Inside each of us is the cultural, historical, national, economic, educational shaping of our lives and then God taps us on the shoulder and says, “Let’s go down to the river”, and we say, “What river?” 

The story of Jonah asks us as God’s own people, those within the church, about our attitude toward the people of the world; those on the “outside”.  

 This story reminds us that we exist for the sake of the people of the world and warns against an arrogant “insider/outsider” mentality.  It means getting outside our comfort zones, to move into unfamiliar territory.  It means moving our attention outside Texas or Louisiana or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or Los Angles or Kilgore. 

Move?  Move?  But this is who I am.  This is the way I live.  These are the values that I have.  This is the way my family talks.  This is the way we think about the world.  And God says, “Let’s go down to the river, for I make all things new”.

The message of Jonah is critical of those who prefer huddling and cuddling in the safety of our own groups; we who prefer the familiar and what’s always been done before, instead of taking a chance on something new and listening to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  It teaches us that if the God of all creation is free and willing to change his mind as he sees fit to do, then aren’t we, his creation, made in his image, also free to do the same?  We exist for the sake of the people of the world.

For example, it’s easier to write a check than it is to roll up our sleeves and prepare and deliver meals for Saturday Bread.  It’s easier to do what you’ve always done for the sake of tradition then to strike out and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit into new and dangerous places.

Our journeys of faith must be about the task to which Jesus calls us: “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19).  We can never forget that we are ambassadors for Christ, we are ministers of God’s reconciling love in the world.  We exist for the sake of the people of the world; a world looking answers; a world looking for hope, faith and love; a world looking for something to believe in. 

Let’s go down to the river!  The people of Ninevah are waiting for us.

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