January 21, 2024

Third Sunday after Epiphany Year B

Epiphany, Winnipeg

Jonah 3:1-20, Mark 1:14-20

Today we hear two stories about being called by God. Called from the seashore to a new kind of life.

It started with the story of Jonah. You know, big storm at sea, Jonah thrown overboard, swallowed by a big fish. He’s there for three days, then he sings a hymn, gets…spat up on shore, and then everything’s OK, right?

But there’s more to the story than that. Here it is, in a nutshell:

One day God told Jonah to go to a great city called Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a city in Assyria, a nation that was kind of an enemy of Jonah’s home nation, Israel. Assyria would in fact ruin Israel later that same century. But that’s a story for later. God said to Jonah, “Go tell those Ninevites how bad they are! Really bad!” Nineveh is to the east, further inland, so Jonah gets on a boat and goes west on a boat headed across the ocean as far away from Nineveh as he could go. And why shouldn’t he? Who wants to go all alone to an enemy city and tell them how bad they are?

So Jonah tries to escape on a ship at sea, but then there’s a storm at sea and it’s all Jonah’s fault because he’s running from God, so the sailors throw him overboard, and that’s where the big fish comes along. A great fish swallows Jonah, and after three days in the fish’s belly Jonah gets spat up back on shore, and God says to Jonah, “Remember about going to Nineveh?” So Jonah says, “OK, I’ll go to Nineveh.” So Jonah goes to Nineveh and he marches right into the middle of the city and says, “In forty days your great city will be overthrown! Ruined!” It would be fun to announce that to your enemies, wouldn’t it? And won’t it be great to see it happen? But much to Jonah’s surprise the people of Nineveh actually change their violent ways, and the king and the people and the cattle repent, and God repents and has a change of mind and doesn’t destroy Nineveh.

This makes Jonah mad. He’s mad because he thought his enemies would be wiped out, but they weren’t. And he was so sure of himself when he said that they were doomed. But they weren’t. So now Jonah’s embarrassed because his prediction didn’t come true, and he’s upset with God because it turns out that Nineveh is not a lost cause, and God cares about them too. The last words of the book are something like this: “Jonah, stop your whining. Shouldn’t I care about this great city and its hundred and twenty thousand people, and all those cattle?”

And that’s how the story of Jonah ends.

It’s a weird and fun story, and don’t worry about whether it really happened or what kind of fish it was. It’s not a history lesson, it’s a story about what people are like sometimes; even God’s people. It’s about God calling Jonah to to speak an important messge. It’s a story about Jonah who runs away but then does what he’s told, and he ends up so angry when his enemies don’t get what he thinks they rightly deserve. It’s a story about how Jonah’s enemies change, but Jonah can’t change, and he just can’t help but hang on to his anger and his wish for the worst for those people in Nineveh. And it’s a story about how God never ever ends up seeing a nation or a people or a city or a community as unloveable, or as a lost cause.

And you know, it’s a story that doesn’t let us know what happens next. We never hear whether Jonah lets go of his anger and his hatred of Nineveh, or whether Jonah and God kind of work out their disagreement.

It is, like I said, a weird and fun story. But it’s serious, you know. It makes me wonder how happy I would be in Jonah’s shoes, when what I want and what I think would be right doesn’t seem to be what God wants. It’s a story that stretches the limits of how far we might think God’s care reaches; even to our enemies. It’s a story about someone who just can’t see things the way God seems to see them, and we don’t hear whether Jonah comes around to see it God’s way.

Maybe it’s a story that lets us live with some tension, even some disagreement with God. Jonah might have every good reason for seeing Nineveh as an enemy and an unjust nation, and he does not think that they should be spared God’s anger. And so Jonah and God end up kind of face-to-face, with each one saying, “Well? Well?” Jonah says, “God, I don’t think you should have done it this way. You shouldn’t have been kind.” And God says, “Why not? Shouldn’t I care about those people too?” And the story is kind of left hanging then.

Maybe the story of Jonah gives us permission to live in tension with God sometimes, because throughout the story of our lives as people of faith we’ll have times when we wonder whether what we want is what God wants too. And it will be hard to let go

There’s that other story of being called too. Jesus is walking along the shore and he sees two brothers, Peter and Andrew. They’re fishing, and Jesus says, “Follow me and I’ll make you fish for people” and they leave their fishing and follow Jesus. Then Jesus sees two other brothers, James and John, along with their dad and the hired help - They all fish for a living too. And Jesus says “Follow me,” and the two brothers drop everything and follow Jesus. They leave their dad in the boat wondering what just happened, and whether he’ll ever get to hand over the family business and retire. It’s irresponsible, it’s foolish, it’s rash, but they just leave everything to follow Jesus.

But these disciples don’t then follow Jesus into new lives of heroic service and great success. As the story goes along we’ll see soon enough that these people Jesus calls to follow him are actually a lot like Jonah. Sometimes they don’t seem to want to do what Jesus wants, or they do want what Jesus doesn’t want. Sometimes they’ll follow him willingly, and sometimes they’ll look pretty reluctant. Finally, there will come a time when Jesus is about to be taken off to the hillside to be crucified, and Peter and Andrew and James and John will desert Jesus. They will be like Jonah getting on a boat and setting off to get away from God, these first people Jesus calls to follow him will turn around and run the other way. And Jesus will return, and draw them back in, and keep on calling them to follow.

We have our own stories of being called to follow Jesus. If Jonah is Chapter One and the disciples are Chapter Two, then we’re Chapter Three. God called Jonah. God called Peter and Andrew and James and John. And it’s not just men, although that’s who we hear about the most. God also calls Sarah and Rahab and Ruth and Naomi and Mary and Mary and the other Mary, and Dorcas and Phoebe as well. And then God calls Carol and Simon and Drew and Betty and Joshua and, you know, all of us.

As I pondered this sermon this week, I really wanted to come up with something that might make it clear what it means to be called to follow, and what it is that we are all called to as followers of Jesus. But honestly, I couldn’t come up with something clear.

I’m called to be a pastor. Among us there are people called to be teachers, and machinists, and lawyers, and homemakers, and Grade twelve students, and retired or looking for work, and nuclear something or others that I can’t quite get my head around. We’re all called to whatever it is that we do for our day to day lives. And in the middle of all that, like four fishers being called to follow, we are called to follow Jesus. Maybe not to quit our jobs and go who-knows-where – but some are called to that. But we’re called to follow Jesus wherever we are in our daily lives.

Here’s what happens, though. We’re called to follow, and so….we go along in life in the company of this one; in the company of this one who extends love where we might have a hard time extending love. To Ninevites. To Israelis and Palestinians, to Russians and Ukrainians, to the other side whenever we think our side is so clearly right. We follow this one whose love can reach so much further than ours, and we begin to see the world a different way. We begin to see our neighbours in a different way. And if we’re not sure sometimes, and sometimes we run the other way, or when we thought that what we want must certainly be what God wants but it seems like that might not be true…. We’re still called to follow. To spend our days in the company of one who stretches the limits of our love, and who might just bring us into uncomfortable places and awkward situations….places where we learn more about how far God’s love can reach.

And even if we run the other way, Jesus still follows along and calls us to follow. We might spend a few days in the belly of a fish, but God’s love and Jesus’ call reach us there too. And suddenly we find ourselves back on shore, and Jesus meets us there and says “Follow me, and I’ll make you fish for people (instead of people for fish!).” And we hear again how much we are loved. And we follow and learn how far that love of Christ reaches.