Sermons for the Month

The Challenge of Fishing for People
DATE: January 26th, 2003
SERVICE: Third Sunday after the Epiphany
TEXT: Jonah 3:1-5, 10 and Mark 1:14-20

“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN

God loves us all. We began this Epiphany season with that message - in Jesus light brightens the world's darkness because he came for all people. He calls us to convey that good news, just as he called Simon, Andrew, James and John to do so. The problem is, though, that we cannot be fishers of men and women if in our hearts we are haters of them.

That's our challenge, just as it was for Jonah, and in a subtler way for the fishermen who changed their fishing habits.

Let's take a look at Jonah; we didn't read his whole story today but you may recall that God called Jonah, a prophet, to go speak God's word in the city of Nineveh. Jonah is appalled; Nineveh is the capital of Assyria, and the Assyrians were hated for their oppression of Israel. Johan felt that they did not deserve to hear a word from God. Actually, Jonah was selfish, he wanted to keep God only for the people of Israel. But, he justified his selfishness by claiming that the Ninevehites were too evil to be saved. So, Jonah not only ignored God's command, but got on a ship and went the opposite way.

God, however, does not let him go. Instead, a storm threatens to capsize the boat on which he is fleeing. The sailors and captain determine that it is because of Jonah's disobedience that their lives are in danger. At Jonah's request, and with much fear because they do not want to be responsible for the prophet's death, they throw him into the sea. There is immediate calm. The irony in all this is that those sailors, who were not Israelites, became worshippers of the God of Israel because of their experience.

As for Jonah, God still has plans for him. He does not escape God by dying in the sea. (Here's the fishy part of the story.) Instead he is swallowed by one of the water's inhabitants, and spends three days and three nights in the belly of a fish. While there, he offers a song of thanksgiving to God. When he is spit up on the beach, Jonah is a bit more willing to comply. He goes to Nineveh. But, he's not happy about it.

The description of Jonah's time in the city is not very explicit. We know that he walked about halfway into the city and cried out, "Forty days more and Nineveh will be over-thrown." That's it, which make it interesting to note what Jonah did not say. He makes no mention of God or of the fact that he was functioning as a prophet. Neither does he call Nineveh to repent nor does he even provide a moral judgment on their activity. For all we know, he spoke his sentence of judgment once, quietly. He was doing what he was asked to do, but he was doing it halfway.

The point is that Jonah questioned God's decision to send him there. After all, these Assyrians do not deserve a second chance. What if they actually repent? And, horror of all horrors, what if God decides to forgive them? Jonah knows that God has this tendency to be gracious, and he does not like that one bit. It's OK for God to bestow his tolerance on the people of Israel, but Assyrians? No way!

Yet, in spite of his lagging enthusiasm and halfway efforts, Jonah is a successful preacher. In fact, he is a VERY successful preacher in spite of himself. (Which gives all of us hope.) There is a mass conversion in Nineveh. They believed the proclamation, and declared a fast in which everyone participated. Such an event is unusual under any circumstances, but it would have been unheard of for the Ninevites, especially since Jonah never said it was God who would bring about their destruction. The Ninevites must have been sincere, though, because God saw their repentance and did not bring calamity upon them.

That's just what Jonah suspected would happen, and does it ever make him mad. He things God's mercy belongs only to the people of Israel. He does not want these Ninevites to be saved. The story's ending, which I won't describe in detail, contains this message - Jonah, and the people of Israel, should not presume to limit God's concern only to them, the one with whom God made a covenant, or promise. God's mercy spills out on all people. We mere human beings have no right, nor ability, to say who is or is not saved.

And that, my friends, is the very heart of the ministry of Jesus, who lived what Jonah learned, that God's mercy is for all people. And, he calls unlikely people - like a bunch of fishermen and all of us - to proclaim God's love to all.

But, as I said when I began, we cannot be fishers of men and women if in our hearts we are haters of them. It's such a dilemma, isn't it … especially now as the potential of war in Iraq looms large? Perhaps, like me, you long for concrete answers concerning how Christians should respond in such situations.

I know that war - hatred, destruction, death - are not God's will for us. I know that the ministry of Jesus not only extends love and forgiveness to all people, but also compels us to do the same. Who can escape the words of Jesus in Matthew 5, "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,' BUT I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also…." And, a bit later in the chapter, "You have heard it said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy', but I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you."

The message of scripture is clear. But, we live in this imperfect world with imperfect people; so every generation must wrestle with whether or not war is "justified" because of the greater good that may result from it. This is especially a struggle for you who have loved ones serving in the military, or are doing so themselves - people who are willing to serve their country, to make sacrifices - but must come to terms with whether or not the potential suffering - for themselves and others - is an acceptable risk. There are no easy answers for those who are disciples of Jesus, only the comfort of knowing that He is with us as we struggle.

And, I believe that in the midst of it all God is weeping, not cheering for one group or another, because God loves us all and grieves over a world that is so far from what it was intended to be. And, until Jesus returns to restore that perfect world where, as the prophet Isaiah proclaims, "they will not hurt or destroy on all by Holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the water covers the sea," these dilemma of love and hate, and of how to be faithful, will plague us.

This week I read an article written by Susan B. W. Johnson in January 1997 in which she quoted an Advent sermon preached by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967. In it Dr. King said he was "happy" that Jesus had not said, "Like your enemies," because there were some people that, he said, "I find pretty difficult to like…I can't like anybody who would bomb my home. I can't like anybody who would exploit me. I can't like anybody who would trample over me with injustices. I can't like them. I can't like anybody who threatens to kill me day in and day out."

But, he could love them, he said, adding, "Hate is too great a burden to bear." All of us would ask how it could be possible to love someone who openly hates you. And, there's only one answer to that. Just as God could use an unwilling prophet to convert a whole city, and just as God could speak through men who caught fish for a living, God can transform our hearts so that we love those who we might otherwise hate, and thus proclaim the unlimited love of God even for those who, in our minds, do not deserve it.

Being open to doing so, though, is our choice. It took a few smelly days in a fish's belly for Jonah to respond reluctantly to God's call, but he still could have said "no". The fishermen could have chosen not to leave their nets that day to follow Jesus. So it is that we choose to struggle, to ask the tough questions, to acknowledge the boundless mercy of God and to be open to God's transforming love in our lives. Then, we put it in God's hands, praying always that even in an imperfect world love will prevail.

AMEN

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