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"Jonah 'N the Whale" Today we conclude the “N” series, those stories from our childhood that when revisited as adults reveal new insights. We’ve had David N’ Goliath, Samson N’ Delilah and now, Jonah N’ the Whale, or more appropriately, Jonah N’ the big fish. When I was a child, my little mind was captivated by the idea that there was a fish so big, that it could swallow a man. And that the man could survive for three days inside the fish, until God intervened to set him free. That was the main elements of the story, after all. A man in the sea, swallowed by a fish, and coughed up on dry land. When I grew a bit older, there were new elements added to the story--the context for the whole fish episode. Jonah had been called by God to go to Nineveh, the wicked capital of the Assyrians, to proclaim that they would be destroyed unless they repented of their sin and turned to the God of Israel. It is because Jonah considered such a crusade useless that he heads in the other direction, and books a cruise to Tarshish. It is on the boat when a powerful storm arises, that Jonah figures that God is not happy with him, and tells the crew that if they will throw him overboard, they will be safe from the storm. After quibbling back and forth for a moment, they relent and toss Jonah into the sea, which did indeed cause the storm to stop. Jonah, is scooped up by the giant fish, and it is there, in the belly of the fish, that Jonah offers his eloquent prayer. God, hearing the prayer, causes the fish to spew Jonah out on the dry land, and God comes again to him, and says, in a sense, “Now that I have your attention…” “Get up, go to Nineveh, the great and wicked city to proclaim the message that I have given you.” This time, Jonah goes to Nineveh, a city large enough that it took three days to walk across it. Jonah gives them his message: “40 days and God will destroy you for your wicked ways.” Lo and behold…they listen. The King orders all in the city to repent in sackcloth and ashes, even the animals. They will all fast from eating and drinking, and will cry mightily to God. It’s not what Jonah had expected to happen. And to tell the truth, he’s none too happy when God decides that Nineveh will NOT be destroyed after all. Nineveh wasn’t the sort of city Jonah would show mercy to, and for the life of him he can’t figure out why God would show mercy to them. Jonah has some words with God, and God sets him straight. God will show mercy not just to those Jonah believes are deserving, but will be merciful to any God desires to show mercy. But Jonah feels used. . . . and that’s probably as it should be! I’ll try to explain what I mean by that. This is one of the stories we teach children at an earliest age. Jonah swallowed up by a big ol’ fish. “Why?” a child asks. “That’s how God saved him from drowning in the sea.” Then, after three days in the belly of the fish, Jonah prayed and God caused the fish to cough up Jonah. “Why?” the child wants to know. “That’s how God saved him from staying inside that fish’s belly and ending up as fish food.” Do you notice, how this story is one of the earliest stories to teach the simple notion that God saves. God saved Jonah from the sea, and then saved Jonah from the fish. God saves us too, we’ll tell our children and grandchildren. God saves you. The question is, “why was Jonah saved?” How many of you are “savers.” There’s a difference between collectors and savers, you know. Collectors sort, display and label the things they collect as part of the enjoyment of each item. Collectors keep cards, or coins, or figurines in such a way that adds value to the item, and makes it appealing to others. Savers put stuff away. They simply “save” things. My mother was a saver. When we cleaned out her home, we found closets, drawers, and corners packed with things she had saved. She saved every butter tub and cottage cheese container she ever used. When one of her kids would ask her why she had so many, she would simply reply, “they might come in handy someday—if you ever need one, I’ll have it.” She saved old panty hose. We found hundreds of pairs of old panty hose, which she was saving to stuff pillows she dreamed of one-day sewing. She saved slivers of soap hoping to melt them into a useable bar. She saved cloth of every pattern and color for making quilts. She saved …well, you get the idea. She had a purpose for her saving. Though, much of what she saved was never utilized for its purpose. Why do you save things? If not but that you have an intention for that thing you’ve saved. You have an idea of how it might be used. Right? Isn’t that why we keep leftovers? Not that we like “used food” as one child called it, but that we have an intention for how it might be used. We save for a purpose. Now then, back to Jonah. I asked, why was Jonah saved? Was he simply saved by God as an end in and of itself, that Jonah will be allowed to go on and live to be a ripe old age? Or is there something else? It doesn’t take much study to quickly discover that Jonah was saved to go to Nineveh. Ah—Jonah was saved that Nineveh might be saved. For a purpose. Jonah was saved to be used, we might say. And that Jonah feels used by God for something God wanted to accomplish is just as it should be. Jonah was God’s instrument and God’s way of bringing Nineveh into the kingdom. The truth of the matter, that’s what God has been telling Israel, the people of God from the very day he brought them up out of Egypt. God had delivered them that they might be a light unto all the nations. Hear it? The Hebrew slaves were saved by God for a purpose! And remember how that deliverance took place? Through Moses, put into a basket and floated down the Nile. God watched to make sure the baby boy was retrieved by Pharaoh’s daughter. Why? God had his eye on the Hebrew slaves, and saved Moses for the purpose of being an instrument that would result in their delivery. Moses was saved for a purpose! Over and over through the story of Scripture, God’s people are delivered, set free, and saved….never simply for their own good. But for the purpose God has for them. Now then…we talk about being saved, in the Christian faith. My question today is…for what were you saved? For what purpose? Too many Christians talk about being saved as if that is the end goal. I had a woman ask me once if I was saved. I said with some certainty, “yes!” Then, she told me the day and date when she herself was saved, and asked me if I knew when I was saved. I told her, yes, I was saved on a Friday. Some more than 2000 years ago. The sky turned black, and the ground shook. For I have embraced the promise from Scripture, “Christ died for the ungodly while they were yet sinners. That proves God’s love for us.” She didn’t like my answer. And to tell you the truth, I was being rather arrogant. But it illustrates what I think is a real problem for Christianity today in many ways. We treat being saved as the goal. The end zone. When it is really only the means to an even greater end. God, from the beginning has hoped to redeem, restore the world corrupted by sin. And each step toward that end includes the saving of, and putting to use, the people of God. We are never saved simply that we might be able to boast of our salvation. Isn’t that what Paul said? No, we are saved for a purpose! Like Jonah. Like centuries and millennia of God’s faithful before us. Saved not as an end, but as a means. Saved for a purpose! What’s yours? Here’s the trouble. The church at times resembles my mother’s closets and drawers, filled with all she’d saved with every intention of it being used. But of course, much of it wasn’t. It gathered dust. It cluttered up her space. And in the end…it was thrown out. It’s purpose was gone. It’s reason for being saved in the first place forgotten. For what purpose have you been saved? I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a desire to be set back and forgotten. God has a purpose and a use for each one saved and made part of the kingdom. Until the world has been saved and the entire creation is restored. We have a purpose. We have a mission. It’s about time we discovered what it is, for each of, us, don’t you think? It’s about time we lived for that purpose.
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