Tarshish and Nineveh

Sermon for Sunday, January 21, 2024 || Epiphany 3B || Jonah 3:1-5, 10

In last week’s sermon, we talked about discerning God’s overarching call in our lives, about looking within ourselves for the Holy Spirit’s flame illuminating what brings us most fully alive. Today’s sermon is an extension of last week’s, but today, instead of talking about God’s overarching call, we’re going to talk about God’s movement through our daily walks. We’re going to talk about God inviting us and shaping us into the truest versions of ourselves. And to enter this discussion we’re going to start with the prophet Jonah.

Now, in the whole three year cycle of the lectionary, we hear a bit of Jonah’s story exactly one time* – today. So here’s a quick overview of his story before we get into the nitty gritty. (And by the way, you could read the whole book of Jonah over breakfast. It’s really short.) The book begins with the word of the Lord coming to Jonah and telling him to go to the city of Nineveh and cry out against its people’s wicked ways.

After hearing this call, does Jonah go to Nineveh? No! Jonah goes down to the shore and boards a ship bound for Tarshish. Okay, a little geography lesson. Jonah starts in Israel. Nineveh is in modern-day Iraq. Tarshish is in…Spain. So, the exact opposite direction and, you know, fifteen hundred miles farther away, all the way across the Mediterranean Sea.

The ship sets out going west, but a huge storm springs up with winds so strong and waves so high that the sailors expect the boat to break into pieces. “Whose god did we anger to be in such dire straits?” they ask. Jonah has a pretty good idea. He raises his hand and offers to throw himself into the sea to save the others. To their credit, the sailors do try to return to land before they toss Jonah overboard. But their attempts fail, and Jonah goes in the drink.

But God’s not done with Jonah yet. A great fish comes upon him and swallows him up. (The text doesn’t actually say “whale” by the way. The Hebrew is more like: “fish that God made for this specific purpose.”) In the belly of the fish for three days, Jonah prays to God about his predicament and realizes that God is still with him, even here amidst the gastric juices. The fish spits Jonah up on dry land back where he started.

And that’s where today’s reading picks up. God’s word comes to Jonah again with the same message as before. “Go to Nineveh and proclaim the city’s imminent destruction.” This time, Jonah goes to Nineveh. And in the most successful application of prophecy in the entire Bible, the people of Nineveh listen to Jonah’s warning and change their ways. Their king himself even sits in sackcloth and ashes.

But Jonah didn’t come all this way NOT to see God’s wrath come down on Nineveh. Jonah settles himself on a hill overlooking the city and waits for fire and brimstone. Of course, the destruction never comes because the Ninevites heeded the prophetic message. Jonah complains to God, and God schools him in God’s desire that people flourish by observing God’s ways.

That’s pretty much the whole story, though I did skip a bit about Jonah grumbling when his shade tree gets eaten by a worm.

Okay, let’s go back to the beginning. God’s word comes to Jonah. This is a pretty weak translation of the Hebrew. A better way to render this is: “God’s word happens to Jonah.” God’s call is an event in Jonah’s life. And it’s the same for us. God moves through our lives. God’s presence happens to us every day. And every once in a great while, we are aware enough to notice that presence happening in real time.

Each day, God’s presence happens to us, like wind blowing through the trees, like breath filling our lungs. God moves through our lives, beckoning us to walk the way of justice, peace, and love, to walk along “God’s good road.”**

Sometimes we follow: we make choices that lead to the flourishing of all life, we embrace humility and compassion and generosity, we feel at home in ourselves because our decisions resonate with who God yearns for us to be. This is the way to Nineveh.

Sometimes we don’t follow: we make selfish choices that feel good in the moment but lead to long term suffering, we isolate through pride and apathy and hoarding, we feel alien in ourselves because our decisions are out of tune with who God yearns for us to be. This is the way to Tarshish.

Take a moment to conjure up these two feelings in your body. The way to Tarshish dissipates us, unravels us like a sweater snagged on a nail. We feel frayed at the edges, disjointed, out of sync. We look in the mirror and don’t recognize ourselves. We are traveling the exact opposite direction – 1,500 miles across the sea – from where God’s movement is supposed to be leading us.

But the good news is this: if we’re traveling down the wrong road, turning around automatically makes it the right road. We turn around, and the sun that was beating on our backs now warms our faces. The way to Nineveh energizes us, stitches us up, nourishes us. We feel whole and settled, even if the path ahead is a little bit risky and scary. We look in the mirror and exhale a cleansing breath and say, “Yes, God, this is who you have made me to be.”

I’ve been on the road to Tarshish many times. I’m sure you have too. I go to Tarshish when my privileged position allows me to ignore the broken systems of the world because I am insulated from their worst effects. I go to Tarshish when I take everything upon myself instead of inviting others to partner with me. I go to Tarshish when I ignore the signals my body is sending me to slow down and pace myself.

But even on the way to Tarshish, God is still present, still calling us to turn around. God finds Jonah when he is literally under water being digested. God finds us no matter where we are on the road. And God calls us again and again to our own Ninevehs, to the places God yearns for us to go for our own healing and the healing of the world.

This week, I invite you to pray with God using the imagery of Tarshish and Nineveh.*** Listen to your body, to your breath. How is God’s word happening to you even now? How is God calling you to live in this world? God’s presence is happening all around us and within us and through us. I pray for the grace to follow where God’s movement leads.

* There is one other instance of the book of Jonah is the lectionary, but it’s in Track 2 during Year A, and we use Track 1 at St. Mark’s.

** This is the wonderful First Nations Version rendering of the “Kingdom of God.”

*** I first heard the dichotomy between Tarshish and Nineveh many years ago in a sermon by the Rev. Frank Wade, my mentor’s mentor and probably the best preacher I’ve ever heard live.

Banner image: “Jonah and the Whale” by James Lesesne Wells (Click here for full image.)

Season 6, Episode 9
“What We Cherish in Books”

The Podcast for Nerdy Christians, where faith meets fandom. In the final episode of Season 6, we’re talking about the elements of writing that make us love certain stories.