A Half-Hearted Prophet

The Gates of Nineveh

Scripture

 Jonah 3

3 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, ² “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” ³ So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. ⁴ Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” ⁵ And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

⁶ When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷ Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. ⁸ Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. ⁹ Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.”

¹⁰ When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.  (NRSV)

Devotion

 Welcome to part 3 of our 4-part series on Jonah.  AT the end of Chapter 2, Jonah (who was in the belly of a fish) repented of running from God's commands and thanked God for saving him as he committed to doing what he was called to do.  Now it's time for our erstwhile prophet to put his money where his mouth is.  Given Jonah's track record so far, it should come as no surprise that his efforts to proclaim God's message to Nineveh are pretty subpar.

The capital of the Assyrian Empire, Nineveh was (for a time) the largest city in the Ancient Near East.  The city was so large, in fact, that the narrator says it took three days to walk from one side to the other.  Prophets who wanted to share an important message with such a huge populace had a few options.  They could try to catch the attention of an important ruler who could issue a proclamation.  They could go to an important gathering place like a temple and start preaching/teaching there.  At the very least, they could go to multiple public places in hopes of spreading the word.   Wherever they chose to share God's word, prophets who forecast destruction were expected to provide some details on what people needed to do in order to turn things around and avert God's anger.

Jonah, though goes about things rather differently.  He doesn't seek out anyone important.  He doesn't go to a major gathering place.  He certainly doesn't provide any details about why the city would be destroyed or how to avoid the coming calamity.  He simply walks through the city for about a day and yells "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."   Then, having the bare minimum it takes to follow God's command, he leaves the Ninevites to do what they will with this information.

Jonah's actions make it clear that he has no real interest in sharing God's word with the people of Nineveh. He may be willing to show up and do what what God says he has to do, but his heart is obviously not in it.   As Jonah exits the city, it seems like his miserable attempt at prophecy is doomed to failure.  

The twist in the story is that through God's grace, Jonah's lackluster efforts, catch the attention of the entire city.  As the word spreads, the  people believe his words and repent of their sinful ways.  The narrator says that everyone from the lowest servant to the king himself shwo their repentance by covering themselves in sackcloth and ashes and instituting a city-wide fast.  The king decrees that even the animals are to take part in this ritual repentance.  While imagining a cow decked in torn cloths and covered in ash is rather humorous, it shows just how seriously the Ninevites take Jonah's words.  Jonah may have done the bare minimum, but the Ninevites are all in.  When God sees that they have committed to changing their ways, God spares Nineveh from destruction.

How many times have we been like Jonah and just tried to get away with doing the bare minimum of what God wants from us?  For most people--myself included--it happens more often then we would like to admit.  We follow certain commandments...but only grudgingly.  We show up to the volunteer event we couldn't say no to...but count down the minutes until we can leave.  We give to the mission fund or the person in need of help... but only enough to alleviate our own guilt.  We may do what we "have to do," but our heart wasn't in it.  If only we had put more of ourselves into it, we could have done so much more.

The Good News is that God knows our sinful natures and works behind the scenes to make our often lackluster efforts enough.  The hour we spent slowly packing meals for the homeless still feeds people...and it may inspire others to go all-in on a certain feeding ministry.  We may feel like we are just going through the motions of comforting someone in distress, but God can make our presence enough to help calm their personal storm. Day after day, God takes the little that we give and uses it to create something greater than we imagined.  

The fact that God will make what we do enough does not give us permission to slack off when it comes to fulfilling God's commands.  If anything, it should inspire us to do our best...because if God was able to turn Jonah's lackluster performance as a prophet into something powerful enough to save the biggest city in his known world, just imagine God could have done with Jonah's wholehearted efforts.  Similarly,  when we see how God is able to turn even our paltry efforts into major blessings, it should make us reflect upon what the Almighty would have done if we had given it our all.  

Let us praise God for not only making what we do enough but also challenging us grow more and do better until we are finally willing to put our full selves into following God's call.  We may be Jonahs for now, but we can become the Ninevites who decided to give God their all.  And with our merciful God to show us the way, we can trust that we can turn our lives around. 

Prayer

 God, thank you for blessing even our poor attempts to follow your will.  We are sorry for the times we only follow your commands because we feel like we have to do so.  We ask you to help us become wholehearted doers of your will so that all the world may come to know your mercy.  Amen.