Jonah 3:10-4:11
God's concern for Ninevah
3:10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.
4:1 But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry.
4:2 He prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning, for I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment.
4:3 And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."
4:4 And the LORD said, "Is it right for you to be angry?"
4:5 Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.
4:6 The LORD God appointed a bush and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort, so Jonah was very happy about the bush.
4:7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered.
4:8 When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, "It is better for me to die than to live."
4:9 But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?" And he said, "Yes, angry enough to die."
4:10 Then the LORD said, "You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night.
4:11 And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also many animals?"
I wrote a major paper in seminary on the topic of “editorial cartoons,” suggesting that much of the prophetic voice of contemporary society had passed on to the best of those who drew and syndicated editorial cartoons that lampooned politicians, public officials, and pretty much all elected bodies, when they either fumbled their public duty, scandalized themselves or their office, or otherwise used it as a pathway to corruption that benefitted them, personally. The first major editorial cartoonist was Thomas Nast, who is credited with creating (or at least cementing in place) the Republican Elephant and the Democratic Donkey as symbols for America’s two major political parties. His submissions to “Harper’s Weekly” helped bring down Tammany Hall’s Boss Tweed. Pat Oliphant was one of my favorite editorial cartoonists, but I confess to being particularly informed and entertained by the two best “Pittsburghers” in the list: Tim Menees, and Rob Rogers. A good editorial cartoonist can in one panel capture what should be the object of public outrage, when a typical politician is being a typical politician, but they may also express in that same single panel the grief or fear of a nation in time of war, or during an horrendous event like the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Some even employ a few extra panels and some superior humor to ridicule bureaucrats and policy wonks alike, such as what Berkeley Breathed has done for decades in “Bloom County.” One of the very earliest editorial cartoons is the one pictured in my image with this sermon posting—the woodcut of a snake cut into eighths, with each segment labeled with the initials of one of the American colonies or regions. This cartoon first appeared in Benjamin Franklin’s “Pennsylvania Gazette” in May of 1754, and became a symbol of the need for organized action against the threat posed by the French and their native allies during the Seven Years’ War. Cartoons, while usually thought of as a form of child’s literature or a short piece of entertainment, can say a lot, when employed by skilled commentators and communicators. They may even be prophetic, especially when they develop a wide audience.
So what does this have to do with the story of Jonah in today’s lectionary passage from the scriptures? Lots. The Bible is filled with myths and stories that capture complex, social, spiritual, and even political issues in a small collection of words. The first few chapters of Genesis give us images of the creation that aren’t meant to be history, but intend to communicate that we and our world are not accidents of the cosmos. Stories like the literary masterpiece we call “Job,” and the truly “editorial cartoon” of Jonah and Ninevah, offer us truths too deep for a mere historical telling of them. As I profiled in another recent sermon, a Bible “myth” has nothing to do with whether the account is of a “real event,” or not. A Bible myth imparts a truth that is not contingent on the historicity of the story. Think of the parables of Jesus. The “Good Samaritan” is no less powerful as a lesson in ethics and compassion if we understand it as a fable. Is it any less impactful if there never was a specific “Samaritan” who encountered a robbery victim along a road? The “Prodigal Son” (or more appropriately, the “Loving Father”) and its lesson about wise choices, paternal love and forgiveness, and compassion for another’s tragedy, is no less “true” whether or not there ever was a real father, a rebellious son, and a jealous, bitter “older brother.” I confess to having an obviously stupefied look on my face when I have encountered persons who claim that if these stories had “not actually happened,” then they wouldn’t be in the Bible. What makes them “true,” friends, are the lessons and/or insights they impart, and what makes them BIGGER than life is the fact that they are not meant to be actual historical accounts of persons who experienced these things. The “editorial cartoon” nature of these Bible myths is what makes them universal and timeless.
The whole of Jonah is this kind of biblical “cartoon” that quickly captures and exposes one of our most basic human failings, as well as a universal truth of the Divine. Whether there ever was a “real” Jonah who was sent by God to offer a saving and prophetic word to people of a region known as “Ninevah” is, at best, ancillary to the story. Were this an historical account by the author of a “real” event, it’s lesson to the rest of us would be no more amplified, than if it were a kind of parable. If you can get this, you have the beginning of an understanding of the power of the biblical myth. Some anchor their faith in the belief that God must be a God of specific, historical happenings wherein God and humans have built a lesson on a kind of “trial and error” basis. Those of us who understand God more as a “first cause” of great stories and narratives that shine a light on the best and worst of the human heart, are not only comfortable with “myths,” but prefer them, as one doesn’t have to “defend” some “date and time” when they occurred, or seek to prove that they did. The near “constant” search for Noah’s Ark is good example of this. For some, if the Noah’s Ark story can’t be proved as “real,” then maybe God isn’t “real,” either, nor should we trust the rest of the Bible. But what if the “true” truth is that stories like Noah’s Ark are just God’s way of getting us to clean up our act, and to realize how hard it might be to create a just world? Or to understand how destructive selfish, human greed and lecherous behavior can be to a people who will best thrive in a caring, shared community? Even as editorial cartoons strive to imagine a “just” society where the values of equality and freedom prevail for all persons, so the biblical myths such as this Jonah story prophetically challenge us to “think out of the box” when it comes to judgmental behavior vs. mercy and forgiveness, God’s desire for the attributes of the Kingdom of God, which is trying so hard to break into our human existence.
In the Jonah text today, God sees that even with Jonah’s less-than-enthusiastic preaching of the prophetic “warning” to the people of Ninevah, these people DID “turn from their evil ways,” and God decides to honor God’s promise of forgiveness and reconciliation toward them. Jonah, who had hated the people of Ninevah for probably some of the very same reasons we “hate” people today who are of differing nations, faith, ethnic groups, or politics, or because we don’t “approve” of their behavior, was not at all happy that God was actually going to redeem them. Jonah is so torqued that he pretty much admits that he “ran” from the initial assignment of preaching the word of repentance to Ninevah, mostly because he “knew” God WAS a God who was willing to forgive and redeem. This is an important admission, as so many of Yahweh’s adherents today won’t admit that it is this characteristic of God—especially as demonstrated in Jesus Christ—that angers them. How many times have you heard someone say, “If I were God…” before pronouncing a word of judgment upon someone they believe is “evil.” (I confess that I, too—the preacher—has felt this way about some of the shenanigans and goings on in the political realm, today, and I’m still not bending much toward God’s “way” of forgiving and praying for a redeeming balm upon those perpetrating it.) So, how does God reach Jonah…and US?
Interestingly, this text contains a “parable” within the myth! We have this story of a bush that grows up and provides shade and comfort to Jonah, but when God “punishes” the bush by sending the worm, Jonah loses his mind. In this text, Jonah is akin to the “elder son” in the Prodigal Son story, angered by the Father’s forgiveness and reconciliation with the younger, “undeserving” son. When Jonah shows more compassion for a measly bush, while hoping for Ninevah to “get what’s coming to them,” God calls him on it. God writes his own little “editorial cartoon” to spring on the stubborn, selfish Jonah. And we should not forget that the larger corpus of the Jonah story includes that mythical “whale ride” to “nudge” him to comply with God’s call! Who, in his right mind, would be the victim of such an adventure, only to turn and reject such a clever and fantastic example of “divine intervention”? Jonah does. We can, and often do. Is there a whale ride in OUR future? MY future? I guess I had better clean up my act. How about you?
When we call these wonderful stories “myths,” we are not at ALL degrading neither their value, nor their truth. Likewise, masters of the editorial cartoon use that one panel as a kind of “myth bearer” to jar us into seeing a truth we have been missing, or taking a glance into a clearer mirror to see ourselves as we truly are. Sometimes the “cartoon” is a well-turned and pregnant phrase. Think of Benjamin Franklin telling the signers of the Declaration of Independence, “We must hang together, or we will most assuredly hang separately!” Or Nathan, after telling his own “editorial cartoon” story to King David about his sin with Bathsheba, and his unjust “murder” of her husband, Uriah, ending with that climactic line, “YOU are the man!” So often in the Bible, and in the history of our faith, “less is more.”
If you are one of those folk who like to read the Bible from Genesis to maps once a year, how about trying this one as a new tact in your reading: rather than assuming that everything you read is “fact,” pretend that it is there to teach you something about yourself, humanity, the creation, and God. Focus on the “gotcha” of the narrative, rather than reading it like it is an historical account. Imagine the whole Bible as a giant parable—an “editorial cartoon” in one panel, meant to make you think, to ponder, and to act upon the insights you receive. You might find it more transformational than professing a belief in the “infallibility” or “authority” of scripture. Just go for its truth, instead. You get the picture. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment