The Mission of God
Jonah 3:1-10
We left Jonah, at the end of chapter two, vomit-drenched standing on the beach having spent the last three days inside a great fish. As he comes to his senses, and his eyes acclimate to the light, the word of the Lord comes to him a second time, saying “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” (3:1) Given a second chance, this time Jonah obeys and goes to Nineveh (modern day Mosul, Iraq) which was approximately 500 miles away, requiring a month long journey. Upon arrival, he delivers an unconvincing and unspectacular five-word (in the Hebrew text) sermon (3:4) warning the people of Nineveh of the impending judgment of God.
Following God"s words of warning through Jonah, the entire city immediately repents through fasting, wearing of sackcloth (a sign of grief and humility), sitting in the dirt, and turning from their violent and evil ways (3:5-9). Compare this to Jonah"s l ess than urgent and immediate response in chapter one. The word spreads explosively and reaches the king of Nineveh, who calls for citywide repentance. God accepts their heart-felt repentance and graciously withholds the promised disaster (3:10), much to the dismay of Jonah as we learn in chapter four (4:2).
Like Jonah, we too are called to proclaim the Word of God, which always accomplishes what it sets out to do (Isa 55:11), in the city of Seattle (Mt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8) even if conveyed through a reluctant and less-than-perfect messenger.
All biblical mission involves "going", "seeing", "feeling" and "doing" (cf. Mt 9; Acts 17:16-34). We are called to "go" to the people of the city, "see" the lives and needs of the people of the city, "feel" as God feels for the people of the city and "do" as God would have us in proclaiming the Gospel to the people of the city. Jonah does eventually "go", "see" and "do" but does not "feel" as God does for the people of the city of Nineveh as we see in the next chapter. Statistically, the longer someone is a Christian the fewer non-Christians they know and the less they care about them. Only when you and I go to people and see their lives and needs do we feel for them as Jesus feels for them, thus paving the way for us to rightly and sincerely share the Gospel of Jesus with them. Our job is to be faithful, albeit imperfectly, and leave the results to God. May the Gospel explode in Seattle, as it did in Nineveh, and bring the city to its knees in repentance beginning with us.
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