[Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Hebr. 9:24-28; Mk. 1:14-20]
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
God is nothing if not persistent.
God is nothing if not stubborn.
Perhaps we could give this sermon the title, Persistence is Godliness.
Why is God so persistent?
Because God’s too involved with us, too invested to let go of us.
God cares too much, loves in such an unconditional way that He won’t abandon us.
And we’re all called to live in response to this care and love and forgiveness.
We could leave it at that and the preacher could potentially sit down.
The message of the Gospel is a simple, clear message:
God loves us, a life-giving, peace-giving love, so let’s show that love to others, and add a little bit of our own love while we’re at it.
However, on this special, important day, we’ll explore the wonderful, positive consequences of the Gospel message a bit more with the story of Jonah and Nineveh.
The story of Nineveh is one of grandeur and vice.
Our narrative this morning is set in the 8th c. BC, and the city was the flourishing capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire during the reign of King Sennacherib.
The Bible describes Nineveh as “an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk across” (3:3), that’s most likely including the suburbs and surrounding areas. Its population counted more than 120,000 souls (4:11).
Those inhabitants weren’t what we would call pious, far from it, but when Jonah finally got his act together and did as God had asked of him, namely preach repentance, a surprising thing happened: the Ninevites and their animals donned sackcloth and ashes and fasted and prayed.
God relented in punishing them, much to Jonah’s dismay.
God forgave them and gave them a second chance.
Nineveh became a city of new possibilities, of new priorities.
If God persists in demanding repentance, God also persists in grace and love even more.
It can’t be said often enough, emphasised enough,
God set us free, justified us so we can be co-workers with Him in the World.
It can’t be repeated often enough,
let our hearts and minds be still, be at peace, God has redeemed us for eternal life, so that we can strife for justice and peace in this life.
It can’t be underlined enough,
let God worry about heaven, our job is to worry about earth.
We’re people of peace, a peace in our souls, peace as a free gift from God, peace as a result, a fruit of our salvation.
We do well to remember last week’s Gospel reading when Jesus told his disciples “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Mt. 5:9)
It takes a certain kind of stubbornness, of arrogant stubbornness to persist in war and conflict, even to one’s own detriment, but thanks be to God it takes an even greater, blessed persistence, godly stubbornness to strife for peace.
We all need to be a Nineveh, and become a new possibility, a new priority.
On this very important day, the one hundredth anniversary of the armistice of World War One, the Great War to end all wars, one of our top priorities as Christians is still peace in the World we live in.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: (Saint Francis of Assisi prayed)
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy...
In Christ, God has prepared us for such a challenging task.
Today should remind us that the peace of God does indeed pass all understanding.
It’s a new different peace, a new different way of reconciliation, of wholeness which in Hebrew is called shalom.
It’s a deeper, permanent way of living and living together, of leaving all our human strife behind, of overcoming all those barriers which we humans have foolishly constructed, out of fear, out of envy and out of hate or out of sheer ignorance.
God’s grace isn’t like a pie, it doesn’t mean that when there are more pieces handed out that they’ll be smaller pieces.
If God persists in demanding repentance, persists that we turn our lives around, God also persists in grace and love.
God will never give up on us, He’s too stubborn, too loving.
The story of Nineveh is one of grandeur and vice.
The story of Nineveh is one of Law and Gospel, a classic text book example, straight from seminary or theological college.
The Law orders them to turn around, turn from their old sins.
The Gospel promises them, assures them, that when they turn God will be right there with forgiveness and open arms.
And we all know how unhappy Jonah was about that.
Will we be unhappy when the warmongers turn, or glad, relieved, elated?
Are we happy when people turn their lives around, when they take hold of the second chance they’re being given? Or are we like Jonah, secretively -or not so secretively- hoping they’ll fail?
Are we going to rejoice with the angels when one sinner repents, and grabs hold of the new opportunities they’re being offered? Or are we going to be like Jonah, and be miserable and sulk, away from people and their happiness and their new changed lives?
Armistice Day, Remembrance Sunday invites us to be persistent in peace and support those who persist in their efforts for peace.
Today invites us to be holy and remain stubborn in our holiness and be stubborn for others and happy for them and with them when they too have their moment in Nineveh.
Jonah was a prophet.
Let’s not be like Jonah!
And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.