1/11/2009

Sunday school: Proverbs 29:19 Bringing about behavior change.

Scripture reading: #631

Vespers at 5 p.m.: We continue our dialogue on Spirituality with "Satan: the 'Devourer' - a 'Roaring Lion.'"

Wednesday at 7 p.m.: A discussion of how the Apostles' individual perspectives of Jesus flavored their individual ministries and writings. (page 119>)

Reluctant but anointed (Jonah)

Jonah 1.1-17

1. The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2. "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." 3. But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

4. Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.

6. The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish." 7. Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.

8. So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" 9. He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."

10. This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.) 11. The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"

12. "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you." 13. Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14. Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased."

15. Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16. At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him. 17. But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

(Jonah: 789-749 B.C.?) The story of Jonah is only controversial if one doesn't want to learn the lessons it presents.

People who get hung up over whether or not the Bible is to be taken as a literal, historical record risk missing out on very important lessons depicted in its stories.

The Book of Jonah presents no problems for me. I'm not out looking for an ancient or modern fish capable of swallowing a man. I'm not concerned with whether or not anyone believes that a person could survive for three days in the stomach of a fish. I'm not even concerned about the dynamics of when and by whom the story was written.

I find tremendous moral imperatives in this story. Among them are these:

1) God is more concerned with the well-being of those whom I consider national enemies than He is with my discomfort over my enemies comfort

2) God uses people who have huge flaws to accomplish His 'perfect will'

3) God is patient, but persistent

4) Who God considers to be His children is quite different from the insistence of nationalistic voices past and present

Jonah was reluctant. He was in turmoil over the possibility that the mortal enemies of his people might repent and receive favor from God - his God! He was reluctant. He was rebellious. He was disobedient. But, most of all, he was called and anointed to accomplish a task. Ultimately he obeyed. There is a difference between duty and zeal!

The rest is the story of legends. Parenthetically, Nineveh was a city of historical record. It ultimately was destroyed, but not within the generation of those who repented after hearing Jonah's message of God's redemptive plan. (map) “At this time the total area of Nineveh comprised about 1,800 acres, and fifteen great gates penetrated its walls. An elaborate system of eighteen canals brought water from the hills to Nineveh, and several sections of a magnificently constructed aqueduct (have been) discovered (...) The enclosed area had more than 100,000 inhabitants (maybe closer to 150,000), about twice as many as Babylon at the time, placing it among the largest settlements worldwide.” (Nineveh was laid out with) streets and squares and built within it the famous "palace without a rival", the plan of which has been mostly recovered and has overall dimensions of about 1,650 ft × 794 ft. It comprised at least 80 rooms, many of which were lined with sculpture. A large number of cuneiform tablets were found in the palace (more than 22,000). The solid foundation was made out of limestone blocks and mud bricks; it was 72 ft tall. In total, the foundation is made of roughly 3,505,308 cu yd of brick (approximately 160 million bricks). The walls on top, made out of mud brick, were an additional 66 ft tall. Some of the principal doorways were flanked by colossal stone door figures weighing up to 30,000 kg; they included many winged lions or bulls with a mans head. These were transported 30 miles from quarries at Balatai and they had to be lifted up 65 feet once they arrived at the site presumably by a ramp. There are also 9,880 feet (3,011 m) of stone panels carved in bas-relief, that include pictorial records documenting every construction step including carving the statues and transporting them on a barge. One picture shows 44 men towing a colossal statue. The carving shows 3 men directing the operation while standing on the Colossus. Once the statues arrived at their destination the final carving was done. Most of the statues weigh between 20,000 and 60,000 pounds. [taken largely from Wikipedia – online encyclopedia]

The repentance and Godliness of previous generations has no direct bearing on God's relationship to me. Nor does the ungodliness of previous generations have anything to do with how God will deal with the repentance of those we choose to call our enemies.

Unlike us and our nations, God is NOT a respecter of 'persons.'

2 Peter 3:9. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (New International Version)