Sermon for Pentecost 17, September 24, 2023
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship
of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Jonah 3:10-4:11 10When God saw their actions,
that they had turned from their evil way, God relented from the disaster which
he said he would bring on them, and he did not carry it out. 4:1 But to
Jonah all this seemed very bad, and he became very angry. 2He prayed to the Lord, “Lord,
wasn’t this exactly what I said when I was still in my own country? That is why I previously fled to Tarshish,
because I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and
abounding in mercy, and you relent from sending disaster. 3So now, Lord, please take my life
from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4But the Lord replied, “Is it
right for you to be angry?” 5Jonah
went out of the city and sat down east of the city. He made a shelter for himself there and sat
in the shade under it, waiting to see what would happen in the city. 6Then the Lord God provided a
plant and made it grow up over Jonah to provide shade over his head, to relieve
him from his discomfort. So Jonah was
very happy about the plant. 7But
at dawn the next day God provided a worm, and it attacked the plant so that it
withered. 8When the sun rose,
God provided a scorching east wind. The
sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, so he said, “It is better
for me to die than to live.” 9But
God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” Jonah said, “I do have a right to be angry—angry enough to die!”
10So the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this
plant. You did not work for it or make
it grow. It grew up in one night and
perished after one night. 11So
should I not be concerned for Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more
than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know the difference between
their right hand and their left—and also many animals?” (EHV)
Our
gracious God is concerned about you.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Jonah’s
attitude seems to be “good enough for me but not for thee.” In fact, Jonah displayed the self-righteous,
arrogant presumption that he and his fellow Israelites were deserving of God’s
concern and care, but that others, especially people they assumed to be
violent, vicious, threatening, predatorial neighbors, deserved only God’s wrath
and destruction.
The book of the prophet Jonah shows us a side
of human nature that we all need to beware of.
It is natural in the human condition for people to tend to like and
trust those who seem most like themselves.
We grow most comfortable with those of our own family, background, race,
and nationality. To some extent, this
natural pride can be a good thing. If it
leads us to better serve our neighbors, our families, and our nations, we are
doing those things God wants us to do for them.
On the downside, however, this also can lead to
a deadly self-righteous attitude that assumes all others are the enemy, or at
least, less deserving of God’s mercy than ourselves. Now, because we live in a broken world, there
are needed cautions when it comes to politics, civic authorities, and
international relationships. God gives
the power of the sword to government to protect the ordinary person from those
who would cause them harm. Yet, control
of the sinner is not the goal of the kingdom of God. What the Lord was teaching Jonah, and by
extension all people of all time, is that Our gracious God is concerned
about you.
Jonah had hundreds of years of history showing
God’s loving care for the people of Israel.
Furthermore, God had used Israel as an instrument of judgment on the
Canaanites when His patience for their unbelief ran out. However, what always remains true is that God
is a God of love who desires primarily to rescue sinners from this world of predation,
sorrow, and despair.
The Lord of mercy and grace had ordered His
prophet, Jonah, to bring a message of warning to the people of Nineveh. Now, many scholars assume that this was only
a stern preaching of the law. Yet, we
know from the Bible that while the law will make people aware of their sin and
need for forgiveness, only the Gospel can change hearts. Indeed, Paul later wrote, “I am not
ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone
who believes.” (Romans 1:16) Thus,
we rightly conclude that the message Jonah was sent to deliver included both
the fierce warning of coming wrath for their wickedness as well as the promise
that should they repent, or turn to the Lord in repentance and faith, they
would receive the merciful forgiveness of the God who declared, “I desire
mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God, rather than burnt
offerings.” (Hosea 6:6)
Now, being God’s prophet and well versed in the
promises received by his forefathers, Jonah should have rejoiced to see the
Ninevites show a complete change of heart.
From the king to the lowest slave, every person in that great city bowed
down in sackcloth and ashes, participating in a fast of sorrow for their
previous evil ways. Do not be mistaken,
this was not just a show to impress the neighbors. Indeed, the Lord spoke to Samuel saying, “Man looks at the outward
appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) Therefore, in Nineveh, God was gladdened to
see that His message of warning and grace was received by faith.
“When God saw their actions, that they had turned from their
evil way, God relented from the disaster which he said he would bring on them,
and he did not carry it out.” We know that this is exactly the outcome our
God wanted all along. God hadn’t changed
His mind simply because those people showed repentance outwardly. Rather, God in His great mercy and love turned
their hearts in the way He wants all of us to turn. Through Malachi, God declared, “Certainly I, the Lord, do not change. That is why you, sons of Jacob, have not come
to an end.” (Malachi 3:6)
Jonah had assumed that God was gracious to
Israel because they deserved His love. Thus,
his perverse nature came in full view when He saw the Lord spare the city. To Jonah all this seemed very bad, and he
became very angry. He prayed to the
Lord, “Lord, wasn’t this exactly what I said when I was still in my own
country? That is why I previously fled
to Tarshish, because I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to
anger and abounding in mercy, and you relent from sending disaster. So now, Lord, please take my life from me, for
it is better for me to die than to live.”
In his foolish pride, Jonah was literally angry
with God because God was merciful. Jonah
wanted to see justice. He wanted to see
God’s wrath poured out on a people Jonah despised. I ask you, does that sound like loving your neighbor? Does it sound like something we might
do? I tell you, it is easy for us to say
we would never be this way, but you might be surprised at the confessing
Christians who have told me they don’t go to church because there are such
terrible sinners in the building.
Sometimes, that person has been hurt by a
member of the church, but other times, they simply assume that the sins they
see in others are worse than their own.
To this, the Holy Spirit has declared, “There is no one who is
righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10)
Through James, He also warns, “In fact, whoever keeps the whole law
but stumbles in one point has become guilty of breaking all of it.” (James
2:10) As we look around this room, we
know that everyone here has broken all of God’s law and deserves only God’s
wrath and condemnation. Then, as we look
outside of this room, we see exactly the same thing, everyone out there is a
sinner through and through, and they all deserve God’s wrath, but all of us
together, both in here and out there, need God’s mercy. We need it a lot. We need it every day and every moment of our
lives. Furthermore, we need the special
care He shows us in the worship service every chance we get.
For that reason, I invite and encourage you to
make use of every opportunity you have to share God’s love with those you
know. When it is needed, indeed, call
them to repentance, but never forget to include God’s loving promise of mercy
for those who return to Him, just as Jonah remembered God saying before Moses: “The
Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and
overflowing with mercy and truth, maintaining mercy for thousands, forgiving
guilt and rebellion and sin. He will by
no means clear the guilty. He calls
their children and their children’s children to account for the guilt of the
fathers, even to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7) Never forget that “The Lord is not slow to
do what he promised, as some consider slowness.
Instead, he is patient for your sakes, not wanting anyone to perish, but
all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
To put Jonah in the right frame of mind, the
Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant. You did not work for it or make it grow. It grew up in one night and perished after
one night. So should I not be concerned
for Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than one hundred twenty
thousand people who do not know the difference between their right hand and
their left—and also many animals?” The point the LORD
was making for all of us is this: Our gracious God is concerned about you.
That promise is the message of Christianity,
that God was concerned about the eternal welfare of all people. Therefore, He sent His Son, Jesus, to live in
perfect obedience, holiness, and trust, so that His life of perfection could be
credited to each of us through faith.
And, because Jesus was the perfect Son of God, He made Himself the Lamb
without blemish who took away the guilt and shame of the world with His
sacrifice.
Having won redemption and justification for the
world with His life, death, and resurrection from the grave, our Lord Jesus
wants to immerse us in His kindness.
Therefore, He sends pastors to declare to you the forgiveness of all
your sins. He comes into our worship
whenever two or three are gathered together in His name, and in a personal
communion, He shares His own real body and blood in the bread and wine most of
you will consume at the altar rail this morning. In that precious meal, Jesus is serving you
Himself as a reminder and pledge that He died for you personally and that “As
distant as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our rebellious acts
from us.” (Psalm 103:12)
With His gracious mercy to Nineveh, God showed
the world His love for sinners who repent and return to Him. God’s gracious heart is so evident in the
Words of Scripture that no matter what we might face in this world, we can say
with St. Paul, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels
nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) Walk boldly in this faith, Our gracious
God is concerned about you. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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