Unexpected Change

Debbie Cato
Jonah 3
Fairfield Community Church
Preaching Series on Jonah Week #2
September 17, 2023 

Let us pray:    God our helper, by your Holy Spirit, open our minds, that as the Scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may be led into your truth
and taught your will, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Unexpected Change

 

Last week we started our study of Jonah.

          We saw how one day the Lord’s word came to Jonah, this unknown man.  God said to him,

“Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

But Jonah didn’t want to go to Ninevah – this city that was a great enemy of God’s people. So Jonah headed in the opposite direction of Ninevah. He boarded a ship for Tarshish.  Jonah thought he could run away from God.

But as soon as the ship set sail, God sent a great wind on the sea and a violent storm arose and threatened to break apart the ship.  The sailors were terribly afraid and cried out to their gods.  They threw cargo overboard trying to lighten the ship so that it would ride higher on the waves, but nothing worked.  The waves just became more and more wild, and the storm grew more and more violent. 

When confronted by the sailors, Jonah admitted that his God - the God of heaven who made the sea and the land was angry at him for running away. His God had caused the great storm on the sea.

Jonah told the sailors to throw him overboard and surely God would calm the sea. The sailors didn’t want to hurt Jonah so they tried to row back to land but finally, after praying to Jonah’s God for forgiveness, they threw Jonah into the stormy sea and immediately, the sea was calm. 

But, Jonah didn’t drown. Jonah didn’t die.  God sent a great fish to swallow him. Jonah lived in the belly of that fish for 3 days and 3 nights. After praying to the Lord in the belly of the fish, the Lord commanded the fish “to vomit Jonah onto dry land.”

The Lord commanded the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land. I think I said last week that I love that verse. The Lord commanded the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land. God was in control, wasn’t he?

THEN…

          The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:

     “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

I imagine Jonah was a little dazed at this point.  He’d had a rather crazy four days.  It had been only four days since the word of the LORD first came to Jonah.  Four days since Jonah decided he would run away from God.  Four days since he boarded that ship bound for Tarshish.  Four days since he got tossed overboard.  Four days since God saved him by sending a fish to swallow him. 

Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of that great fish.  He had just been vomited onto dry land, covered with who knows what from the belly of the fish.  Only to learn that no, God had not forgotten his original mission!  Jonah’s escapades had delayed God’s plans.  They had caused Jonah a lot of unnecessary problems and stress. They had caused the sailors to suffer through that horrible storm on the sea.  But, they had not changed God’s plans.  Jonah was still heading to Nineveh!

Now, it seems to me that the problems and stress brought on by Jonah's disobedience were not without some benefits.  The pagan sailors on the ship were converted!  They worshiped the Lord.  Those moments of near drowning in the sea before the fish swallowed Jonah probably woke him up; and those three days and three nights in the belly of that great fish, wondering what was going to happen to him, probably helped Jonah realize that thinking he could run away and hide from God probably wasn’t the smartest thing he had ever done.  At least, Jonah didn’t make the same mistake again because when the LORD spoke the same words to Jonah after being vomited out of the fish’s belly, scripture tells us that:

           “Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh.”

 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. 

Now, I admit that I’m a bit like Jonah.  More than once, God has had to use a baseball bat to wake me up and let me know that yes, it is Him calling and yes, he does intend for me to do what he is calling me to do.  In fact, being a pastor was one of those things!  I bet you’ve had your own Jonah experiences.  It seems that often when God calls us to do something it’s not our first choice of what we would like to do.  But it’s God’s first choice.  He’s got a bigger picture than we do.  He sees beyond our small little world.  Our own self interests.

So this second time, Jonah obeys the word of the LORD and goes to Nineveh. But I imagine Jonah still isn’t happy about it.  I imagine he’s still afraid.  Nineveh is still a great enemy of the Israelites.  Nineveh is still a wicked city. God is still sending Jonah to preach against Nineveh.  Jonah’s message will still make the people of Nineveh angry.  Nothing has changed since the first time the LORD called Jonah to Nineveh.

But Jonah has changed. Jonah has learned to be obedient.  At least he understands he can’t run away from God! Jonah no longer just tells pagan sailors about the power of his God he believes it.  He’s experienced it first hand.

So Jonah goes to Nineveh, and he preaches the message that the LORD gives him to preach.

 “Forty more days and Nineveh will be destroyed,” Jonah proclaims.

Now here’s what’s interesting!  None of Jonah’s fears come about! He preaches against Nineveh, just as God told him to.  He tells them that their great city is going to be destroyed because of their wickedness. But. they do NOT turn against him.

Just like the pagan sailors on the ship bound for Tarshish,

The Ninevites - From the greatest to the least believe Jonah’s God.               
     They humble themselves in deep repentance.
            They declare a fast among themselves.  They all put on sackcloth.

But why?  Do you see anywhere in this passage where the Ninevites know that Jonah is delivering a message from God?  Nowhere does it say that they know who Jonah is!  They can probably tell he’s a Hebrew.  It’s likely he’s dressed differently than they are.  It’s likely he speaks differently than they do.

But, Jonah does not announce that he has a word from the LORD.  He doesn’t say, in forty days God will destroy their city.  He says, ““Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”   The warning Jonah gives to the Ninevites is very ambiguous.  He’s vague.  Perhaps he is hoping they won’t understand.  Remember, he didn’t want to go to Ninevah.  The Ninevites are not his favorite people! Jonah obeys God as minimally as possible!

The Ninevites aren’t Israelites.  They are Assyrians.  Great enemies of the Israelite nation.  They don’t worship Yahweh.  And yet somehow – instinctively – they know that Jonah’s message is to be believed.  They know that Jonah’s message is from the God of Israel.  They know that they are guilty. They know they must repent.  And they immediately - immediately humble themselves, declare a fast and put on sackcloth.

And when the news reaches the king of Nineveh -

          News that his people have set an agenda of fasting and repentance based on the news that their great city will be destroyed in forty days because of its wicked ways, the King of Nineveh follows his people’s lead.

          He rises from his throne.  Takes off his royal robes. 
                    Covers himself with sackcloth and sits down in the dust.
                        The king of this great city!  An enemy of the people of God!

This powerful King, humbles himself and then he issues a proclamation for all of Nineveh which says:

 

“By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. ⁸ But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. ⁹ Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

 

 The king’s proclamation is very comprehensive.  Not only does it address every human being in Nineveh, but it addresses every animal in every herd and every flock.  No one is exempt.

          They shall not taste, nor graze, nor drink.
                   They shall each be covered by sackcloth.
                             They shall each call urgently on God.
                                      They shall each give up their evil ways.

The king wants to make sure everyone and everything is covered. He offers his people the hope that if they do these things with true repentance, God may relent.  God may have compassion and He may turn from anger and save Nineveh.

We have been wicked, the king says.  Let us repent and change our ways and maybe, maybe God will have compassion and change his mind and not destroy us.  The king does not assume that God will forgive them.

When God sees what they people of Nineveh do - 
          Not just that they fasted and put on sackcloth.
                   Not just that they repented.
                        But that they truly turned from their evil ways.
                              That they truly changed.

God had compassion on them, and he did not bring upon them the destruction that he had threatened. God’s mercy was greater than God’s wrath.  God’s mercy was greater than His wrath.

When the pagans in Nineveh heard a word from the LORD - Even a reluctant word from the reluctant prophet, Jonah, They listened. They repented. And they turned.

 And the result of Jonah’s reluctant obedience to God’s call was an unexpected change in the Ninevites that was life-giving and life-saving.  This gives us so much hope, my friends.

So what have we learned from Jonah so far?

We have learned that you cannot run away from God.

We have learned that when God calls you, He will accomplish the task He has called you for, even if it takes detours.

          And perhaps most importantly, we have learned that when we repent and truly turn or change our ways, God will have compassion on us and He will forgive us.

          And just think, there is one more chapter!  There’s more to come!

Thanks Be to God.  Amen.