Second Chances

This week we continued our talk about calling. God's call is often unexpected in our life. It may involve paths we didn't even realize were there. And as a close friend once told me, "if the call of God is easy, if it is to something you have always wanted, or involves money or status, you might want to listen harder". So to talk about this week's story of calling I brought a life jacket.

The Book of Jonah is only 4 chapters. You can hardly call it a book. It is more like a parable, or fable, because like those such large truths live within such a small story. Jonah was a man who was called by God to go to Nineveh and preach that the city would be destroyed if they did not repent their evil ways. And instead of accepting his call as prophet, Jonah runs away. He flees. He tries to escape God, first on a ship, and then by jumping into the ocean in a sacrifice we must assume he thinks will end his life. Jonah chooses death over God. Luckily for Jonah, God chose him. God gave him a second chance. God threw him a life jacket. A smelly, stinky life jacket in the form of a belly of a great fish, but it saved him nonetheless. Jonah was stubborn. He lived in that belly for three days and nights, before finally he surrenders and turns to God. And the fish spits him out on the land.

So the word of God comes to Jonah a second time, calling him to go to Nineveh. And this time he answers the call. He preaches of the city's destruction. He calls upon them to repent. And then...surprise, surprise...they do. From the king down the people surrender to God's will and change their ways, and ask for forgiveness. God sees their response and gives them a second chance. And at this Jonah is incensed. He throws a temper tantrum, sulking outside the city walls. He is embarrassed that what he preached did not come true. He is angry that God threw them a life jacket. He doesn't like being their whale.

The four short chapters of Jonah make us think about calling and mercy, about surrender and pride, and they don't end with an answer, but with a question. What is the nature of God?