I am preaching the book of Jonah for my midweek services in Lent. Ash Wednesday's reading will be the final portion of the book, as indicated in the subject line, and the subsequent services will take up Jonah from the beginning. Sermon for Ash Wednesday A SILK PURSE FROM A SOW’S EAR Theme: The image of Christ in Jonah is nearly unrecognizable when Jonah refuses the office he has been given by God—yet Christ does not run away. Some men simply are not good fathers. They either abuse their children or neglect them. Even men who are good fathers—men who are truly dads in the best sense of the word—even these men have acted or reacted toward their children in regretful ways. Sometimes fatherly rebuke is harsher than it needs to be. Sometimes the punishment is greater than the crime. Sometimes dad is just too tired or preoccupied or selfish to pay attention to what his poor child is trying to say. When we fathers fail as fathers, we misrepresent God the heavenly Father to our children. When we fail, we make it hard for our children to see why they might want a heavenly Father. The image of the Father becomes obscured and hidden—sometimes His image turns unrecognizable—when we fathers refuse or fall short of the office and responsibility we have been given. This guilt does not belong to fathers alone. Husbands (Ephesians 5:25), mothers (Isaiah 49:15), older brothers (Romans 8:29), and even little children (Luke 2:51): God gives to each person an office and a place. When you refuse the office you have been given—when you fail in the office you have been given—you cloud and obscure the image of God that He portrays to your family and to the world by means of your office. Jonah has been there and Jonah has done that. What really is the difference between a prophet who fails to be prophetic and a father who fails to be fatherly, a mother who fails to be motherly, or a brother who fails to be brotherly? What guilt has Jonah incurred that you and I have not? That is what makes the book of Jonah a good read for the season of Lent. · First, Jonah might make it easier to see why each of us would dare to fail and why we would tolerate failing so miserably in the offices we have been given. Jonah fails in his office for the same reason you and I fail in our offices. Jonah boils down to lack of love, to self-centeredness, to wanting only the best while others get the worst. For example, Jonah gets totally ticked off when he loses the shade and comfort he received from a silly little plant, yet he seems entirely unmoved at the thought of an entire city being destroyed. By comparison, if I had a green plant for every time I got too irritated when one of my sons inconvenienced me, we would be living in a jungle. Why does Jonah exist, except for Nineveh? For that matter, why do I exist, except for my neighbor—most especially my sons and my wife and my congregation? Jonah’s anger over a wilted plant is as much about my sin as it is about Jonah’s sin. Perhaps you will see your sin rooted there, too. · The real joy and benefit of Jonah, however, is not what Jonah shows me about me. The real benefit is how this fighting, kicking, runaway prophet declares the work of my Lord Jesus Christ for your and for me. Jesus points us to “the sign of the prophet Jonah.” Then Jesus goes on to explain, “Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” But this is only the first and best point of comparison between Jesus and Jonah. As we proceed our way through Lent, reading the book of Jonah, you will see many ways in which God presses Jonah into the image of His Son. You will hear again and again how the image and light of Christ shines through Jonah, even while Jonah protests and flees the task and responsibility he has been given. · This is good news for you. “Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the Word of the LORD… and the people of Nineveh believed God.” Jonah will prove to be a great blessing for fathers who never fail to fail. Nineveh is saved by means of Jonah’s prophecy. Nineveh is saved, despite the fact that Jonah is not a very good prophet. If God can make such a beautiful silk purse from a sow’s ear like Jonah, who knows what miracles He has done and will continue to do through us? Jonah allows us to believe that our children have a chance of remaining Christian and might continue to love their heavenly Father, even when we earthly fathers cast such a poor image of Him. Jonah allows us to believe that husbands and mothers and brothers and even small children still somehow convey the image of Christ and His salvation, despite their unwillingness and in the face of their sin. Jonah displays the Christ who forgives you all your sins and all your failures and who shall not fail you even when all others do. Your Christ shall not fail you and He shall not fail those around you, whom He is given to you. ___________________________________________________________________ 'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author (as long as no charge is made for the work and it is not made part of a compilation), as well as for quoting or use in a congregational setting _with_or_without_attribution_. Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list. Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster. Subscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected] Unsubscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected] Archive? <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/> For more information on this or other lists offered by Confess And Teach For Unity, you can contact the CAT 41 list administrator at: Rev. Fr. Eric J. Stefanski <MoM [at] lists (dot) cat41 <dot> org>
