“God Enlightens the Journey: (Part Two) God Encourages U-Turns”
Jonah 3: 1-5, 10 & Mark 1: 14-20 ~ Rev. G. Scott Turnbrook ~ Northwood United ~ January 28, 2024
Several years ago, I brought my son to Northwood for ‘bring your child to work day’. It is a day that children in grade 9, get a bit of experience in the real world and then return to school and write a report on what they learned. Ethan was positioned by the front doors to greet people as they arrived. The first person to arrive came for food. He was listened to…he shared some of his story of eviction, life on the street. We blessed on his journey and shared some resources, albeit meagre, that the city had to offer. A grieving widow, seeking comfort, arrived at the church asking about the planning of a service for her beloved husband. A sex trade worker, seeking peace and direction, arrived next. When we drive home that day, he commented ‘Dad, you sure have a weird job!’ Kind of, I responded, church is a place where people come to feel Christ’s loving acceptance, to make changes, and sometimes to make a full U-turn. And in this day of doing the same thing, day in and out, I guess that is kind of weird.
Today, we are engaging with two texts that have a loaded word: “repent”. Jesus used; Jonah used it. And if I were to use it – today, you might like at me kind of oddly. Repent, sounds like the words a preacher might use on his soap box on Granville St. Repent, sounds dusty and old and archaic. Yet, if we were to consider using the concept of change…I think we might get at the intention of what Jonah was calling to the Ninevites, and Jesus was calling to Simon and Andrew. And as we hear the good news of change, we discover this morning that God, indeed, encourages U-turns at times. The officers in our congregation would site this as section 168 of the BC Motor Vehicle Act that carries a fine of up to $145. What the texts are enlightening us to this morning is the gracious gift of change. At certain junctures in our lives, we are gifted with the opportunity to change. To change after pains of grief; to change after struggles of the past; to change and find God’s light guiding us ahead. God, indeed, encourages U-Turns!
I was listening to a TED talk recently and the speaker was contrasting the power of story with that of data. In her talk, the speaker persuasively argued that we use data ~ figures and numbers too often, as we seek to argue our point. She went on to tell stories and argued that we forget the importance of also using story to truly shape people’s thoughts. And long before this TED talk, the book of Jonah was there already doing it.. telling stories. In contrast to all the other prophetic books filled with the condemning words of the prophets, we have Jonah’s well developed story.
Jonah is an insider; he is a member of the house of Israel; he is a child of God. And he is called the seemingly impossible task of leaving home and going to the hated area of the Assyrian kingdom and prophesying to them. Jonah’s story is more than just a big fish story ~ though there is a big fish; it is more than just a tall tale ~ though it is quite grand. It is the story of real life when we are challenged into the journey is seemingly impossible to navigate.
So, what does Jonah do when he has been asked to go to Nineveh? He does what any wise person facing a challenging situation would…he walks the other way. But that doesn’t work, he is swallowed up by a great fish who swims him towards the very city he was seeking to avoid. 3 days in the belly of a whale ~ remember it’s a fish story! And when the great fish reaches the shores of Nineveh, Jonah is spewed from the belly of the fish onto the Ninvevite beach.
This is where Pam’s reading begins. Jonah protests against the impossible task at hand. And, almost like a petulant child, he goes to Nineveh and gives the worst sermon ever recorded. One sentence “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” It’s almost like he just gets it over with and mutters it under his breath: “there, I’ve done it God. Now can I go home and get away from these horrible people.” And to his amazement, the Ninevites repent! They are not a lost cause; they are not to be the hated enemies of Israel. They repent, they take a U-Turn, changing their, wearing their brokenness and sin ~ donning sackcloth and ashes, and they become a new people. All because Jonah follows his call!
Names are always important, and in the Hebrew language they are VERY important. Earlier in the book of Jonah, we learn his father’s name was Amittai, which means “faithfulness”. And from the faithfulness of the father comes his son Jonah, whose name means “dove”. The dove, a powerful image sprinkled throughout the Hebrew scriptures. Used sixteen times in fact. The dove we think of most readily, of course from Noah’s story. The dove leaves the ark and returns with the olive branch proclaiming the hope of dry land ahead. The essence of faithfulness is that of being sent out, like the dove, to navigate the path that lies ahead. It is not always easy; it is not always comfortable; it is not always the path we would choose. Sometimes it requires taking a U-Turn. Yet it is part of the journey we must walk as life’s journey unfolds.
One of the great things that happens as a result of Jonah, the dove, flying the faithful path was change. Jonah changes, the Nivevites change, the text even says that the mind of God changes (but we will talk about that in a moment). The biblical word used here for change is repentance. As a result of Jonah’s faithful, albeit brief ~ one sentence ~ sermon, the Nivevites repent. They change their ways. Repentance is used hundreds of times throughout the Hebrew scriptures. Scholars tell us that it is used 600! Repentance is making a U-Turn. It is that action of turning away from, of changing one’s path, of restoring, or changing one’s mind. It is used in phrases like “to turn to the Lord with all your heart.” In the case of the Ninevites, they change their ways which were leading to death and destruction. In the case of Jonah, he changes his mind on his prophetic vocation. In the case of God, the text says that God’s mind was changed and the Ninevites were not destroyed. Nothing is set in stone. There is always an opportunity to make a U-Turn, to change one’s direction, to move in the ways of light.
In his book “The Politics of Meaning”, Michael Lerner argues that some of our deepest held values of compassion, caring and community are increasingly being swallowed up by the real world because they no longer seem practical. Swallowed up in the cultural valuing of materialism and selfishness. We are increasingly losing these deeper values that were previously held. When we face challenges like environmental consideration or Indigenous reconciliation or the inclusion of all peoples irregardless of ethnicity or sexuality, these stories of change remind us that walking to the light IS possible. For God encourages U-Turns, corrections, light for our path!
Turning to the Mark text. Jesus arrives calling for repentance. Do you think the parent of Simon and Andrew were excited that they left the family fishing business to follow Jesus’ Way? Likely not. It was change that the light of the world allowed them to see. They made a U-Turn with their life direction and the result changed the world as the body of Christ grew and grew!
I wonder…What about you? What about the challenges you navigate these days? There have been many, so you may be inclined to ask: ‘which one?’ Challenges in your own life may be very plentiful these days. Challenges brought on with the pandemic. Challenges that come along in times of transition. Challenges that come as a result of grief and loss, of pain and suffering, and the list goes on. As the wise saying goes: “you can’t go over it, under it, or around it. You must go through your challenge! Are you able to find the strength to make that U-Turn and move in the direction of light, and hope and life?
The gospel message of hope in Jonah’s story, and in ours, is that in the end, God does not give up. Jesus does not give up in his calling the disciples. God does not give up on Jonah give either. Jus like last week’s prophet, the young Samuel, God keeps calling…and sending little message…and (sometimes) bigger ones. And God encourages U-Turns as the way before us it enlightened. And the good news we learn in these stories is that God doesn’t leave us alone to walk the journey.
None of us walk alone in the darkness. We all walk in the epiphany light. The light the reveals the opportunity for U-Turns, to support others, to find the light ahead. Let us continue to walk the path that God enlightens for each of us ahead.
Amen.