In The Season Of Our Hatred

Jonah 3-4

The late Fred Rogers, known to his TV audiences as “Mister Rogers” was an ordained Presbyterian minister.  He was very close to his New Testament Greek professor, Dr. William Orr, and would visit him in the nursing home each Sunday.  Before one of his Sunday visits, Fred had been to a church service where Martin Luther’s famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress,” was sung.  The hymn ended with a verse which says, “The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him, his rage we can endure. For lo, his doom is sure, one little word shall fell him.”  Fred was wondering about that verse, so he asked Dr. Orr, an expert on New Testament Greek, what that word might be. Dr. Orr said, “There is only one thing that evil cannot stand, and that is forgiveness.”  That one little word is, “forgive.”

The story we will hear today is a very familiar one.  The story of Jonah was a favorite of mine when I was in Sunday school.  But in those days, I never heard how the story ends. I thought that after Jonah was swallowed by a whale (actually, it was a big fish), and was vomited on shore, everyone lived happily ever after.

Not so.  The story of Jonah packs a punch at the end.  Today, I will read the last two chapters of that story.  Chapters that don’t get much play in Sunday school. Listen, with me to the end of the Jonah story in Jonah 3-4.

Recently, Pope Francis waded into the debate over freedom of expression.  After the killings in France, the Pope said that killing in the name of religion is an “aberration.”  But he also added, “those who deride other faiths can expect to provoke a strong…even violent…response.  The pontiff denounced the attack by two militant Muslims on Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical publication that has long derided Islam.  

But he also had some stern words for Charlie Hebdo.  Expect a strong response. Your words of satire can hurt, and they might lead to violence.  The Pope’s words echoed remarks made by critics who claimed that Hebdo, “stepped over the line in its raunchy and mordant depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.”

So, what does all of this have to do with Jonah?  Many Biblical scholars have described the story of Jonah as a warning to Hebrews who, during the exile, had developed a spirit of bitterness toward other lands.  They saw those other lands as their enemies.

The story of Jonah begins with God asking Jonah to go to Ninevah, “that great city,” and tell them to repent from their evil ways.  Ninevah was the image of evil incarnate to the Hebrew nation in those days. It was the flourishing capital of Assyria, the nation that exiled the northern kingdom.  Home of the evil King Sennacherib. The book of Nahum is devoted to prophetic denunciations against Nineveh. The king of Ninevah bragged about filling his city with the corpses of Hebrews.  Of Judah, the king said, “I shut up King Hezekiah in Jerusalem like a caged bird. I plundered his cities and cut him off from his land.”

The audience of the story of Jonah were the people who had been part of those plundered cities.  They had suffered horribly and mightily because of Assyria and Ninevah. Yet, we find God asking Jonah to go to that evil place and ask the people to repent.  Jonah didn’t go. He turned tail and ran the opposite direction. His fleeing led to a shipwreck and to his being swallowed by a big fish.

About that time, the audience hearing this story would probably be applauding.  good, they might say. The Hebrews who told and heard this story would agree with Jonah’s assessment of that evil place called Ninevah.

But God wasn’t done with Jonah yet.  In chapter 3, we find God asking Jonah a second time, “Go to Ninevah, that great city.”  Tell the people to repent.” This time Jonah went. He preached a five-word sermon that didn’t even mention God, and all the people and cattle repented.  Jonah was furious.

In chapter 4, we find Jonah sulking on a hill overlooking Ninevah.  Jonah confesses to God why he was reluctant to go to Ninevah in the first place.  He says, “I knew were a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.”  In other words, Jonah KNEW that God would be gracious to Ninevah, and forgive those evil people. Jonah could not tolerate that.  The story ends with his sitting on that hill, fuming and fretting. We don’t know if he was ever able to forgive the evil city of Ninevah.

There is much in the book of Jonah that suggests it was a fable, and a funny one at that.  There are references to a life-saving fish, poorly prayed psalms in the belly of the fish, repentant cattle, and heathen sailors worshipping the God of Abraham.  Jonah had an outrageous assignment. The response of Ninevah was an outlandish response. But the book of Jonah has a very serious point to make. 

And what might that serious point be?  Beware of your hatred, prejudices and fears. The French hatred for the Muslims?  How different is that hatred from Jonah’s hatred of Ninevah? Our hatred of terrorists, at home or abroad?  How different is that hatred from Jonah’s hatred of Ninevah?

If we think the Book of Jonah is hopelessly idealistic, impractical and simply does not apply to our present situation, then what do we make of Jesus’ command to love our enemies? Jesus told a people to love their enemies who were in circumstances worse than ours today.  A people whose country was occupied by the foreign armies of the Roman Empire. A people who had their backs against the wall, a people who had no army, a people who were being taxed into poverty, a people who were crucified then left on the crosses to putrefy for days as examples (thousands of them) when they resisted! Jesus told those people to love their enemies.  Would he not say the same thing to us today? How can we deal with the story of Jonah and with Jesus’ impossible commandment to love our enemies?

We know from history and Scripture that the fruit of hatred is violence.  In the story of Cain and Abel, before Cain rises up to kill his brother Abel, God said to Cain, “Do you do well to be angry?  Sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.” As evil began to surround Jonah on the hill overlooking Ninevah, God said to him, “do you do well to be angry?”  Was Jonah ever able to heed those words? Did he forgive Ninevah, his enemy? We don’t know. Perhaps the story leaves that question hanging because the Biblical writer wants each one of us to answer that question, with our lives.

From the story of Jonah we learn that there is a price we pay when we nurture our anger and hate.  We may find its evil surrounding us and its poison infecting us. What is the one little word that will fell the evil, anger and hatred we find, so often, in our lives? The “one little word” that can save us from the consequences of hate is the word, “forgive.”  Jesus forgave us. Because Jesus has forgiven us, we can begin to forgive others. Even our enemies. We can lift our heads to Christ and feel his grace and forgiveness at pours down. We can learn to utter that one little word. We can say, even to our enemies, “I forgive you.”  

Today I share words of encouragement for our journey of forgiveness, words shared with me by a fellow-traveler on the way: “Let me draw you to the great forgiveness, not as one above who stoops to save you.  Not as one who stands aside with counsel. But as one who says, ‘I, too was poisoned with the flowers that sting, but now, arisen, I am struggling up the path beside you. Rise and let us face these heights together.”  Amen.