Ninevites
Jonah
1:1-3; 3:1-10; 4:9-11
A
little over a week ago, the Associated Press reported that insurgents near
Mosul, Iraq, shot down a U.S. Army helicopter.
Both pilots died. Mosul is
located in the province of Nineveh. On
October 15th, 2005, the province of Nineveh cast the deciding votes
in the referendum for Iraq’s new constitution.
Nineveh is one of three mostly Sunni provinces and is a key area in
Iraqi politics.[1] And I don’t have to tell you it’s a very
fragile area.
Witnesses say they heard
machine gun fire from the ground before the helicopter went down. The crash brings the death total to at least
2,214 U.S. service members killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war in
2003. At least 500 people and more than
50 U.S. troops have been killed since the December 15th
elections. The U.S. military has
predicted more violence for Iraq in the weeks ahead as the country's splintered
politicians and religious groups struggle to form a stable government.[2]
This
is all information we hear nightly on the national news when we have the
courage to watch. Most Americans feel
sadness, anger, frustration, helplessness, and reverence each time another
person dies over there. Why don’t these
people get it that we’re trying to help them?
Why don’t we just let them fend for themselves? When will it end? Will it be worth it?
Question after question surrounds this endeavor.
We
see this area of Iraq, and the people there, as a “they” and not a “we.” We are not like them! We are not the first to hold this
viewpoint.
God
called Jonah to go to Nineveh. Remember
now, that we’re talking about the area around Mosul. Jonah took off and went the other way. He hated the Assyrians with the same intensity that many people
today hate insurgents in Iraq. In
Jonah’s day, the Assyrians were easy to despise. If you could mix up a concoction of Nazi Germany, Iran and Iraq
at their worst, and season with some North Koreans, then you can get a feel for
Jonah’s target audience. The Assyrians
were arrogant and cruel conquerors.
Asking Jonah to go and preach to these people was like asking a man
whose family had been threatened by a terrorist to offer those terrorists
complete forgiveness.[3]
Normally
when we talk about this story, we frame it so we’re the good guys, and we’re
called to minister to our own group of Assyrians or Ninevites…or bad guys. There is no doubt comparing our own call
from God to Jonah’s presents some great challenges. We each can think of people to whom it would be hard for us to
minister. Who among us would be willing
to walk down the streets of modern-day Mosul and preach, “Repent! Turn from your wicked ways and turn to
God!” Most likely, we’d be numbered
among the casualties in Iraq for doing this.
But as absurd as this sounds to us, this is almost exactly what Jonah
was asked to do – to walk among a people who hated him as much as he hated them
– and tell them to turn to God. Oh,
those wicked Ninevites. Oh, those
insurgents today.
What
if the story of Jonah is about more than us…the good guys…going and ministering
to our own set of bad guys? What if we
are the Ninevites? We may not strap on
explosives and walk into crowds, but is our own sin any less? The truth is, we are all inhabitants of
Nineveh at one time or another – alien, off-track, and displeasing to God. Every time we elevate ourselves on a
spiritual pedestal and say, “At least I’m not this ‘Ninevite’ or that
‘Ninevite,’” then we’re really no different than Jonah who turned and ran to
Tarshish. One thing that really struck
me when I was preparing for this message today is just how level the playing
field is. Sure the Ninevites were
wicked. There is wickedness in Mosul
today. But just because there aren’t
people dying by car bombs and gunfire in Orange Grove doesn’t mean God is any
less displeased with our sin. For all
we know, there are people right now who have heard God say, “Go at once to
Orange Grove, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before
me.” I don’t like to think of myself as
a “bad guy” any more than you do, but our sin is great, and it’s real.
I
have always been intrigued with Jonah because it’s the only book in the Bible
that I know of that ends with a question.
God asks Jonah, “Shouldn’t I be concerned about the Ninevites?” The book of Jonah is about God’s compassion
for sinful people. Just as God wanted
the Ninevites back, and was willing to forgive their sin, God wants you back
too. You may have wandered far…you may
have wandered a little. God still wants
you back. God is in the business of
repairing and restoring people. There’s
hope for everybody; you, me, the Ninevites, Iraqi insurgents, and anyone else
you want to throw in the mix.[4]
We
come to the Lord’s table on a regular basis because we need to be reminded of
our wandering away from God, and the clear path there is back through Jesus
Christ. Each time we remember what
Jesus has done for us on the cross, it’s as if God is saying, “Ah yes, those
are my children. They mess up a lot but
my compassion and grace for them is greater than their sin.” It’s time for us…as Ninevites in our way…to
make our way back to God. If there was
enough of God’s compassion for the Ninevites of Jonah’s day, there is enough
for you.
Who
will come back to God today? Who needs
to repent of their sin? Who needs to
hear and believe today, “Jesus died on the cross for me”?
Amen.
[2]
See http://www.boston.com. Associated Press writers Sinbad Ahmed in
Mosul and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.
[3] Some of these comparisons were drawn by Haddon Robinson in his sermon, “The God of the Second Chance,” delivered on February 2, 1996.
[4] This thought about us all being Ninevites comes from a devotional by Ray Waddle found in The Upper Room Disciplines 2006 (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 2005), p. 28.