Pentecost 18A 2005
Jonah 3:10-4:11
Psalm
145:1-8
Philippians 1:21-31
Matthew 20:1-16
Ya’
gotta’ love Jonah.
Poor slob.
He reminds me of…me? Here is his
story, stuck in
the midst of the glorious prophets,
Isaiah, Hosea, Malachi…faithful followers of God, speaker of the truth. And then there is Jonah….it’s
as if we get a Monty Python version of a prophet.
For Jonah is everything a prophet is not. Jonah is disobedient, reluctant, and
whiny. He is sent to
So it’s on to
So there is not fire and brimstone, no great calamity. The city remains with it’s
people intact.
And how does Jonah react?
Does he rejoice? Is he a little
proud that someone listened to him speak the word of God? Does he party with the redeemed folks of Ninevah?
Nope. Jonah does
what anyone raised with a strong concept of what is fair and what isn’t would
do. He becomes angry. He whines.
He stomps off and pouts.
After all,
he was ready for a good show…the reign of destruction. What is God doing? Changing God’s mind? Being merciful? It isn’t fair. God’s mercy. Hmmph.
Jonah stomps off and makes a booth, a
simple shelter to sit by and mope.
Maybe the city will be destroyed after all! How can God change God’s mind…it wouldn’t
be fair…
So God grows a bush to give Jonah more shade and Jonah was
happy about that. Ahhh…God
does care about me.
But then God made a worm attack the bush, the sun and wind were both hot, and Jonah just wanted to die.
And that was when God made the big point: “You are so concerned about the bush, you didn’t make it
grow, it came and went. Yet you don’t want me to be concerned about
the city of
I am God. And my
justice is not about fairness. It is
about mercy.
If you want something to whine about, try being in today’s parable. One of the first workers,
of course. Showing up on time, working hard all
day. Getting your
wages at the end of the day. You
deserve every dime for you worked the whole10 hour shift.
But wait,
what is this? That slob
over there came to work just an hour ago, and they got paid the same
amount. That isn’t fair. They should could paid just an hour’s worth, not the same of
you. God (whiney.)! I’m going to stop off and sit under my bush
until you make it fair!!!
But the landowner reserves the right to pay everyone the
same. The landowner can do what he chooses
with what belongs to him. So the last
will be first, and the first will be last.
Are you envious because God is generous?
This is the kingdom of heaven….not the
It isn’t about who we think deserves the most, the best, the rewards.
It is about God caring for all people, whether they come late or early, whether they are the prophets or the
listeners, whether they are good or
evil.
We are so accustomed to the concept of just rewards, fairness, a days wages for a days work. We were raised on “pull yourself up by your
bootstraps.” You’ll get what is coming
to you. And she’s climbing a stairway to
heaven.
We think in terms of hierarchy, whose on first, on top, ahead of the game.
Fairness means we get what we deserve. Only when what we deserve
is good.
We so often picture our life, careers, future as that stairway to
heaven. Up we go. We are
making progress now….we are getting closer to financial security, popularity, the top of the ladder…
But in the kingdom of heaven there is no stairway. For God is with us now, close to us, next to us,
within us…
And meeting out more than blessings than
even we deserve. Making us jealous
with his care for the poor, the weak, the sinful…
Causing us to grumble when that new person
gets more attention than we do. Causing
us to mope when we think God isn’t acting “fairly”. Causing us to stomp off when others receive great
mercy and forgiveness.
Forgetting that life is often unfair in
our favor. We too are recipients
of God’s love and mercy. We too have
been blessed beyond what we deserve.
For sometimes we come late and still receive forgiveness. Sometimes we turn away, and are still invited back. Sometimes we just forget about God, yet God never
forgets about us.
For God loves Jonah too.
The reluctant prophet. God loves him and eggs him on and makes him
listen and gives him second and third chances. Surely God loves us too. Reluctant prophets that we
are. Even as
we grumble and complain and sometimes whine…God is still in love with us.
Yet God is still God, still generous and merciful, with a justice that goes beyond fairness. With a generosity that makes us
nervous. With a compassion that makes us
shake our heads with disbelief.
And wonder what kind of God, what kind of kingdom this is…
Ya’ gotta’
love this God. Even when we don’t
understand….even when we think fairness should be more important than justice….even
when God changes God’s mind.
For God can take the reluctant Jonah and save a city….God
can make the one who came last feel as valuable as the one who came first. God can take us reluctant, complaining folk
and patiently teach us compassion.
It is a relief to know that God can take bungling, complaining people
and use us to share love and justice and
hope with the world.
Ya’ gotta’
love this God that loves us so much that the kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of
compassion….and love….and generousity…and second
chances…
Amen.