Did you know that
today, the third Sunday of Epiphany, is the only day during our three-year
lectionary cycle that we read from the book of Jonah? Chances are, most of everything you know
about Jonah comes from Sunday school.
You would think, since Jesus cited Jonah, that the book would figure a
bit more prominently in our lectionary.
But maybe some of the themes are a bit difficult for us to struggle with
in a simple sermon. Maybe they are
better suited to Bible study classes.
And before I get started, I have to admit I plagiarized the theme of
today’s sermon a bit from Bishop John, Archbishop Justin, and Pope
Francis. It made sense as I turned it over
in my head, but I sure did not want you all to think I came up with this on my
own.
That being said,
we jumped into the narrative of Jonah after he has been vomited onto the land
by the fish. In case you have forgotten
the story, Jonah received a call from God to go and preach His coming wrath on
the city of Nineveh. Jonah, naturally,
does not want to do as God has instructed.
God usually has to fight with those whom He calls. Moses argues three times about his
suitability to go to Pharaoh. Jacob has a
hip dislocated. Sarah laughs at God and
gets a baby as she nears 100 years old for her scoff. Poor Jonah wants to avoid Nineveh because he
understands God’s character all too well.
Nineveh was the
capital city of the Assyrian Empire. It
was huge by ANE standards. And it was
the center of power for the superpower of the day. If Assyria wanted something, they took it,
usually at great cost of blood and material wealth to those from whom they
took. Israel, naturally, had been on the
receiving end of a couple bloody and humiliating battles. So Israel hated Assyria. Hated.
I am far too new here to know our real rivals. Maybe their attitude is not unlike Vandy’s
fans towards Tennessee; maybe their attitude is like Tennessee Titans fans’
toward the Colts; maybe it’s like Brentwood Academy vs. Brentwood High. Chances are some of you will offer me some
suggestions later. Maybe a good example
would be ISIS now. Bin Laden before his
death. A great example for those of us
of a certain age would be the country’s attitude toward the Soviet Union during
the Cold War. My kids laugh when I tell
stories of how judges voted according to blocs in Olympic Figure Skating and
Gymnastics. They used to think I had
lost my mind when I talked about nuclear bomb drills where we had to get under
our desks at school to protect ourselves.
Nathan used to ask if we understood the physics of nuclear weapons in
West Virginia, clearly wondering why in the world we thought a desk would save
us. Then he learned that the drills were
practiced country-wide. The whole country practiced those drills? I see from the nods of some that you also
practiced those drills. I also see some
bemusement on the face of those young like my kids. It’s true.
We hated the Soviet Union. President
Reagan would pretend he was ordering a full strike on the USSR as a sound check
before his radio chat sometimes. The
Soviets would scramble to see if our birds were in the air, and many of us
would think it so cool he could strike fear into the heart of the enemy.
Now, those of you
of that age, what if God had commanded you to go to Moscow and preach His
judgment and coming wrath? Would you
have done it? Or would you have argued
with God? And, just to make it seem a
bit more realistically, do you think the Muscovites would have listened? Or do you think you would have found yourself
at a Gulag for the mentally ill?
Jonah does not
want to go because he understands the nature and character of God. In his argument with God, Jonah basically casts
Exodus 34:6-7 back into God’s face.
Jonah understands that if he goes and if he preaches faithfully and if
Nineveh repents, God will not destroy the great city. Jonah wants his enemies destroyed; Jonah does
not want his enemies spared, especially when it comes to God’s wrath.
This lesson was
driven home to me in my ministry in human trafficking. I would rather use a shared experience as a
sermon illustration and not focus on me, but we do not yet have enough shared
experiences. As I have shared during the
interview process and with the youth, I play a game called World of
Warcraft. I am a true veteran. These words will mean nothing to those who
remember the Cold War of which I spoke a moment ago, but the youth will
understand all too well. Back in the
days of Vanilla WoW, there were no dual-specs, there were no cheat specs for
the talent tree, heck there were 63 talents that needed to be spent “back in
the day.” I had been conned into the
game as a holy priest. My friend had
begged me to start playing with him. I
could talk to people online about Jesus and heal people. That was the real job of a holy priest—we
kept everyone else in our groups alive.
Good healers were hard to come by in the game. It was very much an incarnational
ministry. Holy priests had good power,
but it was really only used to heal.
Guess who was the first guy to get targeted by the enemies? Guess who died first trying to keep allies
alive? The holy priest. I was very good at the game. With another priest named Ellyn, we
two-healed Naxxramas and the Lich King 10-man raids. Let those with ears . . .
Although I was
primarily a healer, I had two significant offensive spells. Levelling as a holy priest to level 70 was a
challenge. My favorite spell was holy
fire. Basically, I called down a lightning
bolt from the sky that hit my target. It
was a rather slow spell because it was rather powerful. The best part of the spell, from my
perspective, was that after the initial damage from the bolt, the target would
begin to be damaged by a slow burn. I
would hit them with the bolt and then attack them or heal myself as they
continued to be damaged a bit by the fire the bolt had caused. I know, now you adults are all a little
freaked out that your priest thinks the burn after the bolt made for a good
spell. You are going to be a bit more
disturbed, though, when your priest began to lament that he did not have that
power in real life as he got more and more involved in the fight against human
trafficking.
When I got
involved in that ministry, I spent more time trying to convince people that the
evil was real than I did suggesting how they could help. I would sometimes think, in those dark
moments of frustration, how cool it would be if God gave me that holy fire in
real life. I had begged for God to use
tornados to wipe out particular sites, but He had refused, even though I lived
in “Tornado Alley.” I thought, how
seriously would people, but especially the perpetrators, take their sin and
evil if God just let me hit a few with a bolt and burn them a bit. Maybe the idiot “John’s,” who thought they
could tell the difference between a sex slave girl who liked sex from those who
were doing it for the money, would begin to understand the pain they were causing
by the pain they were receiving. Maybe
the pimps, who would be all kinds of threatening if I did a horrific things
such as buy their girl a lunch or cup of hot chocolate or coffee, would begin
to realize where true power was to be found and feared. Maybe the looming threat of muscle would reconsider
their life’s work if they were forced to endure a supernatural punishment from
God. Maybe the indifferent business
owner who closed his or her eyes or the homeowner that cared only about cheap
cleaning or gardening would change their attitude as they experienced the shock
of the bolt and the pain of the burn.
Yes. Like Jonah, I wanted my
enemies, God’s enemies, punished.
Jonah, as the
reading tells us today, does finally obey God.
He goes and preaches a strange sermon.
It is five words in Hebrew.
“Forty days more, and Nineveh will be overthrown.” It is not exactly the best call to repentance
any of us have ever heard, is it? Can
those of us older imagine the Soviet Union repenting back in the 70’s and 80’s
with that kind of sermon? Yet, all of
Nineveh hears the words of the prophet and repents. The king, we are told, is so moved by Jonah’s
words that he declares that even the ashes will wear sackcloth and ashes as an
outward sign of their inward sorrow. Can
you imagine? It must have been a rather
amusing scene. I wonder how the animals
were fitted with sackcloth? How did they
keep the sackcloth on the animals? There
was no super glue, no duct tape.
Just as Jonah
feared, God relents of His great wrath and decides not to destroy Nineveh. Even though Jonah does not give the best
evangelistic sermon recorded in the Scripture, one cannot argue with the
results. From here, the book goes on to
teach us, as God teaches Jonah, about the love and mercy and power of God. In the end, Jonah and we are reminded that we
have no right to demand or to expect of God that He treat our enemies any less
merciful that He treated each one of us.
All of us were created by Him; all of us are loved by Him. All He demands of us is that we repent of our
sins. It is a lesson taught over and
over in Scripture. What separated the
Gibeonites from the other ites in the Promised Land? What really separates David from Saul? Why is Jesus so mad at the Pharisees and
Priests? Why does He emphasize that we
need to love our enemies? Even evil people
sometimes do good to those who do good to them. God’s character, though, is revealed in our
attitudes and actions towards our enemies.
That lesson was
driven home to me in an “aha” moment of my own.
As I said, I had it all figured out how God would best be
glorified. The Holy Fire would strike
fear into His enemies. They would all
see and repent. Better still, the rest
of the world would notice and begin to take God seriously. It was a good plan, an ok thought,
right? I see nods of assents. The problem was that I had not internalized
the lesson taught to Jonah and us.
I received a call
one day about some girls walking the streets downtown. This was actually unusual. So I headed downtown to see what was
happening. Sure enough, there were three
or four ladies offering themselves from money not too far from our bridge and
ballpark. I struck up conversations with
a couple ladies, asking if they wanted out.
As I was chatting with them, a man came up to drive his girls away from
me. If I was not buying them, I was
wasting their time and costing him money.
Every now and then you will hear I do something really stupid and crazy
that really works out. This was one of
those.
I explained that I was a priest, in case the
green shirt and collar around my neck was not obvious, and proceeding to ask
the pimp to let me speak with the girls and talk them out of the life. We had a back and forth and my words about
having a bishop for a boss who would bust my butt if I did not do my job
resonated with him, but he needed to make money. So I asked if he and I could talk. Yes, when I first related this story to my
bishop he had very much the same intake of breath as y’all. He suggested a bar, and we spent a few hours
over the next several days getting to know one another. For those that want the longer account, you
can check him out on my blog. His name was
Bennie.
I learned that
Bennie was the product of a broken home.
His dad was never around. His mom
lost to a drug addiction and lost her kids.
Bennie grew up in about a half dozen foster homes. Some foster homes are wonderful, but some
only want the check generated by the state to take care of the kids. Bennie claimed all his foster homes were the
latter. He learned rather quickly he
could run away and they would not chase, not even file a police report, so long
as the checks appeared in the mailbox.
Benny began to equate his intrinsic value, and the intrinsic value of
all human beings with money. The rest,
as they say, is history. Bennie grew up
idolizing the pimp culture made famous in Chicago. He wanted the money, the fame, and the
respect that came from the lifestyle.
The idea that God loved him was a joke.
The idea that God would forgive him was ludicrous. Don’t hate
the playa; hate the game, Preacher. I
didn’t make the rules, I just win by them.
I wish I was
sharing this story with an ending worthy of Nineveh. Jonah did a far better job than I. There was no conversion moment for
Bennie. There was no repentance. When he left town for his next stop, he
intended to continue in his business. He
predicted he would continue to be hassled by cops. He predicted he would continue to run afoul
of gangs and other pimps when he set up shop in new locales. He predicted that he would likely die long
before he got old and before he could enjoy all the money he was making. That was his life. That was the deck stacked against. My role in Bennie’s life, it seems, was one
of sowing, and I pray even to this day that Bennie meets his Jonah, that Bennie
repents and causes all heaven to rejoice.
I trust that other members of the Kingdom of God have followed where I
sowed and have watered and manured. And,
if Bennie still refuses, I know it was not because he did not know.
You see, sitting
there on the stool one evening, as I listened to Bennie’s story, I realized how
fortunate I had been. Yes, mom and dad
had divorced, twice, but both were active in my life. Both took seriously their responsibilities to
raise their kids to know right from wrong, to know that God loved us. How many Bennie were not so fortunate? How many places are like Nineveh and still
have not heard God’s word? Forgive him, Lord, he does not know what he
is doing rang clearly in my ears.
Over and over as I listened to his story, I realized so much of Bennie’s
foundation was missing. He had simply
filled the holes as best he knew how, equating bling and cash with respect and
fear with love. It is a wretched
existence. What’s worse, he expects a
violent end. Yet it was my job to remind
this lost child of God that he could choose a different path, a more
challenging path, that led to eternal life and love. How I wish for Bennie’s sake I would have
reached him. Oh, I know, the idea of a
priest and a pimp having a drink talking God and sociology and psychiatry and
business is proof enough that God still does amazing things in our lives and in
the world today. But how much better
would it be to tell you how he repented, freed his girls, and works to reach
other pimps today? But neither I nor you
nor Bennie nor the people of Nineveh would have any hope had not God reach down
into all our lives.
At convention
this week, Bishop John and Bishop Dabney reminded us all present that our
primary responsibility, by virtue of our oaths taken at baptism, is to
introduce people of the world to this person, Jesus. We don’t proclaim a special knowledge like
the Gnostics, we don’t have weird formulas, we don’t revere theology like some
faiths, God is not some impersonal force moving inexorably through
history. We remind people, ourselves
included, that we are reconciled to God through the work and person, Jesus
Christ. Jonah was right. God is forgiving and merciful and slow to
anger. We know that best through His Son
our Lord, Jesus of Nazareth. In this
season of the Church we call Epiphany, we remind ourselves that God manifested
Himself in Christ that the whole world, the entire world, would turn, serve
God, and glorify Him! God, through
Christ, is inviting everyone we meet into a reconciled relationship with Him. It is an amazing story, a wonderful story—one
truthfully not fit for mouths or ears like mine. Yet that is the very responsibility He has
placed on each one of us through our baptisms into His death and into His
Resurrection. The problem, of course, is
that we are too much like Jonah. We like
to think we deserve God’s grace and that others do not. And so we hoard our relationship with Him,
and, in so doing, allow that others might be condemned. The youth describe it as the “Brentwood
bubble,” but we adults know it extends far beyond the city limits of Brentwood.
You see, until we
internalize the lesson God gave to and through Jonah, we have missed a large
portion of our own relationship with God.
Until we grasp that lesson fully, we are but babes in our faith. When our Lord hung on that Cross and breathed
His last breaths and said, “Forgive them, Father. They do not know what they are doing,” He was
speaking of you and of me. Before we
grasped at His saving hand, we were like the Ninevites and Bennies of the
world, not aware we were loved and not aware we needed a Savior. And, what’s worse, when we begin that walk
with Him, we forget that He calls us to go to the Nineveh’s and Bennie’s of the
world, proclaiming His Good News of great joy and hope.
In November at the conference, we got a note
from Justin and Francis via their emissary David. Both were pleased with our work and the
attention we were paying to survivors and victims of human trafficking. Then came the however. Justin and Francis reminded us that if the
Church is only working to serve those in need, if the Church is only working to
draw in those on the margins, if the Church is only serving the poor, the
widows, the orphans, and the lepers, She is only fulfilling part of Her
calling. The Lord calls His Bride, the
Church, to call the world to repentance and a reconciled relationship with Him through
Christ. If we feed the working poor but
do not call owners to pay living wages, we have missed an important part of our
calling. If we work hard to free and
care for slaves but do not call those who use them and those who own them to
repentance, we have missed a large chunk of our calling. If we labor tirelessly to provide those
victimized by sin but do not call those who sin and victimize into relationship
with the Lord Jesus, we have failed to embrace the full mission given us. Weighty words, are they not? Not nearly so weighty, I believe, as that Cross
He bore for all our sakes, even though we were at enmity with Him.
Brothers and
sisters, where and who are the Nineveh’s of your lives? Who are the Bennie’s of your life? Who are the people that you would loathe to
escape the wrath of God? Chances are,
when I was talking about the rivalry between Vandy fans and UT fans, between
Colts fans and Titan fans, between the US and USSR so many years ago, people
began popping into your head. My guess
is that the Holy Spirit has reminded you this day of those foreigners, those
others, those black sheep in your family, those co-workers, those bosses, those
employees, maybe even that priest that you think does not deserve God’s grace
like you. Brothers and sisters, I am
here to remind you that God calls you every bit to manifest His love and His
glory to those who drive you nuts or who do evil in His sight, that His kingdom
might grow yet again. Our Collect today
picks up on that calling every bit as much as does our reading from Jonah. Give us
grace, O Lord, . . . to proclaim to all people the Good News of His salvation,
that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of His marvelous works. Chances are, your life will be the best
sermon they ever hear. It has been given
to you to proclaim tidings of Jesus, redemption, and release! What kind of sermon will you give them? Will it be one of humility and empathy,
understanding in all truth that you were not worthy of such grace? Will it be one that, empowered by the Holy
Spirit, calls entire cities to repentance and into right relationship with our
Lord? Will it simply remind you, day in
and day out, that you were once every bit at enmity with God but now, thanks to
His mercy and His grace, prepared for that Wedding Feast prepared from the
beginning of time for all those who have chosen to follow Him?
Peace,
Brian†
No comments:
Post a Comment