That IS The Way It's Supposed to Happen! - Jonah 3: 1-5, 10

There is a MASH episode where the doctors were making rounds in the post-op ward when a patient suddenly codes. He’s not breathing and if something doesn’t happen, he will be reporting for terminal duty at graves registration soon. As Hawkeye and BJ spring into action, one of the doctors – seeing the severity of the situation - calls out, “We need some cross-action here, Father,” and Mulcahy makes the sign of the cross, clutches his prayer book, and begins praying. As three lifetimes pass by in the course of a few seconds, the dying soldier suddenly takes a gasping breath and begins breathing on his own. When he’s commended for his timely prayers, Father Mulcahy stammers, “It’s not supposed to work that way, you know…”

 “It’s not supposed to work that way, you know.” That could very well have been Jonah’s storyline. Here he was, a faithful Israelite, a son of Abraham, called by God to preach to the Israel’s most feared enemy: the Assyrians. Jonah was to travel from Israel, head northeast, and preach to the heathen people of the Assyrian capitol city of Ninevah. “Call out against it the message that I tell you,” God said. “Yet forty days and Ninevah shall be overthrown.” Bold, powerful, 200-proof Law. Just eight words – one of the shortest sermons on record.

Jonah is an interesting man. When God first called him to proclaim against Ninevah, Jonah was so terrified, he tried to run away. He bought a ticket on a ship heading to Tarshish, the opposite way. You know this part of the book: a storm blows up, the sailors use lots to determine Jonah is the cause of the Divinely sent storm, Jonah asks to be thrown overboard, the storm stops, even the sailors repent. Meanwhile, Jonah is swallowed by the giant fish, to be vomited up on the shore three days later. Then, and only then, does Jonah agree to go preach. Finally, he's given eight words. Eight words…what can eight words do?

Both preachers and hearers of God’s Word know it’s majesty. God’s Word is a remarkable gift. It is all powerful. When God’s Word is spoken, everything obeys. From the “Let there be” that God thundered into the hollow nothingness in Genesis one, to the “Be still” that Jesus uttered into the winds tearing apart the Sea of Galilee; from the prophets of old to the evangelists of today who cry out “Repent,” God’s Word is powerful and active, as sharp as any two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12), containing both Law, which shows our sins, and Gospel, which shows our Savior. Together, the whole counsel of God.

At Ninevah, the eight word message from God is crystal clear:  In seven of those words, Jonah says that in forty days, Ninevah – the power center of the Assyrians – will be destroyed. That is the Law, remember. It is good. It is holy. It identifies the sin and the curse that will follow. The Law leaves you hopeless and without means of rescue. The Law leaves you alone.

Jonah just got to preach a wonderful message of bold, powerful, 200-proof Law to the enemies of God’s people and now he’s going to have front row seats for when God exacts his full wrathful vengeance on these terrible sinners. He, Jonah the Israelite, will get to watch Ninevah get exactly what it deserves as enemies of Israel and enemies of God. 

At Ninevah, seven of the eight words from God are crystal clear Law.

But there is one word, one-eighth of the sermon, literally, just a kernel, where there is a nugget of Gospel-hope. It’s the word, “yet.” The Gospel is God’s antidote to the Law. Gospel literally means Good News, and it is the Good News that God will not leave you to the destruction you deserve. God will intervene out of His mercy for broken people and He will not let them die eternally. In His grace, He will offer forgiveness and life to people who do not deserve it.

“Yet…” That one word is the entirety of the Gospel preached by Jonah. “Yet” is not the full, fleshed out Gospel. A more accurate Hebrew translation would be “A continuance for forty more days, but then the city will be destroyed.” There is nothing about a Savior. There is nothing about Messiah who is to come. There is nothing about mercy or grace that is specifically stated. There is no connection to the promises of God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that are waiting to be fulfilled in the fulness of time. But that one word, yet, is loaded full of the mercy of God. He does not desire Ninevah would be destroyed. His desire is that they repent, turn, change their hearts so that the entirety of His grace and mercy can be received by the people. Yet: it stands against the sure certainty of the Law and offer – literally – a word of hope.

Remember: God’s Word does what it will accomplish. The Holy Spirit, at work in the words of the prophet, does what only He is able to do: he breaks the hard hearts of the Ninevites. When the people of Ninevah hear these words of God, they repent. To demonstrate their sorrow, they put on sackcloth – think burlap – and fast from eating. The king, likewise, hears every word of Jonah’s message from God. He, too, repents and orders the nation into a state of penance where neither animal nor person eats or drinks. He calls people to repent and turn away from their sinfulness, their evilness and violence.  And then holding God to his one-word Gospel promise, he says, “Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

You are familiar with the story of Jonah and the great fish and God’s miraculous saving of Jonah. This is an even greater miracle: that they believe the Word of the Lord and trust in what is only a crumb of mercy. You notice the change of heart: it’s a complete reversal of both behavior and lifestyle, turning away from their old way of heathen living and toward God and his mercy. The change is so great that they even go above and beyond what is commanded: where God demands they turn from their evil way, the people of Ninevah demonstrate it with sackcloth and fasting. The people of Ninevah are saved – not because they suddenly become good people. They are saved because of the promise of God contained in “yet.”

When you get home this afternoon, grab your Bible and read the book of Jonah. It’s short and a fascinating narrative – not just because of the fish story in chapters 1 and 2, but because of the demonstration of God’s great mercy and grace. The sailors carrying Jonah? They receive God's grace and mercy, not because of the preaching of Jonah, but because they witness the power of God. For Ninevah, hearing God’s Word, the entire city is led to repentance. And Jonah, prophet of God, spokesperson of the Lord Almighty, he gets excited and calls the King and the entire city to celebrate and rejoice, right? You would expect that he throws a party because there is contrition and change and returning to the Lord, right? It’s the classic story of the lost being found and the broken restored.

But, not Jonah. Jonah gets mad because the Lord relented and decided not to destroy the city and its inhabitants. You can hear him yelling heavenward, “It’s not supposed to work that way, you know…” You said you were going to wipe them out! I said you were going to wipe them out! My reputation is on the line! Your reputation is on the line, God! You’ve got to be kidding me! The entire sermon was 7/8 threat and warning, I risked life and limb, I ran away and you pulled me back in just so these people could be saved!

That is exactly the point: God desires not the death of the sinner. Death: it’s not supposed to work that way, you know. God created towards life, not death. And when man interrupted creation’s perfection with the fall into sin, that wasn’t supposed to work that way, either. Adam and Eve were supposed to be holy and obedient in love towards God. Instead, they were selfish, desiring something that wasn’t theirs: to be Godlike, knowing good from evil. That was not supposed to work that way.

So God intervenes against His own promised destruction. With Words spoken, Words repeated from generation to generation, through the mouths of more imperfect people into the ears of imperfect people, the perfect promises of God were proclaimed, filled with calling people to repentance and delivering mercy, compassion, and grace. No other man-made diety has ever done such a thing. God not only intercedes, He provides the answer to the punishment in His perfect, holy Son, the fulfillment of the words spoken through Jonah.

It would take about 40 centuries, not 40 days, the Rescuer and Redeemer of Ninevah and all of creation would enter into our world through the Virgin Mary. He would take into Himself all of the terrible things done in Ninevah – the cruelty, the prostitution, the rampant materialism, the arrogance – and Jesus would die for those people of Ninevah. And, beauty of beauties, Jesus would take into Himself Jonah’s anger at God’s mercy, his arrogance at pretenting to know better than God, his foolishness of thinking himself better than the people of Ninevah. And, joy of joys, Jesus takes into Himself our sins.

This IS how it’s supposed to work: Christ has taken your schadenfreude into himself. He, without any self-righteous arrogance, did not consider Himself above anyone. He, who humbled Himself to kneel before sinners and serve those who turned their backs to Him, yet He was obedient even unto death on the cross to die for you. It was his pleasure as God’s Son to take your pain – all of it.   

Evidence of this is in the three-day sign of Jonah. Not in Jonah being swallowed by the whale and being spit up three days later, but in Jesus being swallowed by the grave and his resurrection three days later. And now you, baptized into this sign of Jonah, this death and resurrection of Jesus, are also called - not to be a prophet, but to live out the “yet” of the Gospel. Yet, while you were still a sinner, Christ died – and rose – for you. You don’t have to go to a foreign, enemy country; you live the Gospel right here: in your home, in your place of business, where you shop, where you conduct your daily work, where you play. You, who have received mercy, are called to be distributors of mercy; providers of mercy; purveyors of the hope that is given to us to share through Christ.

This….this is how it’s supposed to work. God, in Christ, working in you; working through you.