Other Side of the Big Fish Story
Abridge Worship Provided By: Rev. Jacob Shaw
(Please note that this is not a verbatim account of our Sunday morning worship, but rather a condensed version for those at home to study and enjoy, Blessings)
Opening Prayer: Our Mighty God, we humble ourselves before you in prayer, knowing that you have no limit, no boundary to which you are not already beyond. We seek pardon when we neglect to appreciate the magnitude of your might, wisdom, and love. As we reflect today, we ask that your guidance illuminate our hearts and minds. Amen.
Scripture Readings:
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time:“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
Mark 1:14-20
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.
When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
We give thanks to God for the Scriptures and ask God to have these words inspire our hearts and minds.
Reflection:
Today we have received God’s word through the Book of Jonah, and the Gospel of Mark. Now most of us should have a general understanding of Mark, but most of us will only know Jonah for its unique plot twist, Jonah being swallowed by a big fish.
So, let’s start with a review of Jonah, and then we will dive into the Gospel message.
It should first be known that the book of Jonah is unlike the other prophetic books in the Bible. Jonah is unique as it does not collect the sayings of the prophet in a format of a collection of wisdom or insight, instead, this book is a simple narrative telling the story of how one prophet responded to God’s call, beginning with arrogance and disobedience, and ending with humility and servanthood.
There is an opportunity here to pause and remind ourselves that the prophets of old were humans, just like us, and the disciples who followed Christ were humans like us too. So, to know that Jonah’s response in this book shows a prophet having reservations about God’s call reminds us that God uses broken and imperfect people to do great things. Even the prophets had flaws.
But from Jonah’s imperfection, God gifts us with a perfect story to help us learn.
This story is often humorous, as the best stories always are, as it moves from one episode to the next, while still holding a serious and profound theme. This theme is that God’s all-encompassing love extends to all the world’s people and must be shared, even with nations whom history has shown to be one’s mortal enemies. This is a considerable and ever-relevant idea, here presented in parable style, confronting those Israelites who taught that God has no interest or love for the people of other nations, especially enemies.
God is calling Jonah to be a prophetic voice, calling people who are lowered by Israelites as enemies or others, to repent and know God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness.
Jonah, however, does not feel that these enemies of Israel are worthy of God’s concern, and thus avoids going to the Capital of Ninevah where God calls him. Instead, Jonah boards a ship and heads to sea in the opposite direction. Here Jonah hopes to go beyond God’s reach, and by doing so, ironically, he trusts in God’s mercy for his transgressions, a mercy he does not wish to extent to others.
While on the sea a violent storm rages, and the captain of the vessel finds out about Jonah’s disobedience to God. So, hoping to remove God’s wrath from the vessel, Jonah is thrown into the sea by the sailors.
The storm does stop, but at this moment, Jonah is swallowed by a big fish and preserved alive in its belly for three days and nights.
Another pause, can you imagine being swallowed by a big fish? How utterly terrifying it would have been. Being eaten is a primal fear, and in addition, it would be dark, smelly, hard to move, and hard to breathe, it gives my skin the willies just thinking about it. It would be as hell!
At this moment Jonah finds himself deeply alienated from God; Jonah is in forced humility and desperation, and as a result, prays “out of the belly of hell”.
The fish spits Jonah out, and Jonah proceeds to Ninevah, where he delivers his warning from God to the people. And the people respond, shockingly to Jonah, they respond, and in this moment, God teaches Jonah (and all of us), the meaning of mercy and love, which for God has no limits.
An amazing book, and that piece about being swallowed by the fish that makes this book known to us, is often overlooked due to its theatrical and humorous depiction, but it is a very important representation of what hell is.
Hell is not a common topic within UCC walls anymore, but let’s take it seriously for a second. Here hell is depicted by this story as being separated from God. Without God, there is no light only the darkness, without God there is no family or community you are alone, without God there is no freedom; you are captive and swallowed, and without God, you are imprisoned in that which longs to slowly dissolve you.
If God is the source of all-Being, then rejection and separation from God equals all things that seek to erode all-Being from its unity with the Source.
Jonah experiences the nature of hell, this separation from God, and it changes him. Jonah experienced something so horrible that he no longer wished it upon his enemies. Jonah now understands that God wants no one to have to fall into an eternity of that sort of separation. So, Jonah is now humbled, his enemies are no longer people to be rejected, but people who need to be rescued.
So let’s jump to the Gospels.
When Jesus comes out and tells people to repent and believe the Good News, he is echoing stories like the one here in Jonah, where God loves people and wants them to remove the things in life that cause separation between us and God. Biblically the things that separate us from God are sin, transgression, and iniquity. And when Jesus says we are going fishing for men, it very well might be referring to Jonah here, we are going to go into this world and start pulling people out of the chaotic waters, we are going to start liberating people out of the belly of the beast, we are going to do the ministry of God and sinner reconciled.
And Jesus and God and the Spirit were so serious about this ministry of liberation from hell, that God gave his only Son, to take the wages of sin. Jesus took on the wages of our sin, descended into the hells of our rejection against God, and after three days, rose with a new life for all, not just those in the nation of Israel, but for people of all nations.
We as Christians, have something like Jonah, through Christ, like Jonah, we sit on the other side of the belly of the beast, we have been freed by God’s love and mercy and grace, it is time for us, like Jonah, to get up, to go into the city, and proclaim the good news of God love.
Homework:
Ask yourself: Have I ever denied someone Christ because I saw them as “other” or “enemy”?
This at first might feel easy but think of all the people you tend to classify as opposition to you. It could be a neighbor you dislike, a disgruntled family member, a villain in your story or history, or even someone with a different political view or world view, have you ever been less of a disciple to Jesus when they are around?
If so, ask, if Jesus is willing to suffer and die, and descend into rejection and hell so you could experience the magnitude of God’s love and mercy, why should you deny someone else the same grace from your heart?
Closing Prayer:
God of Grace and Goodness, You do not send us into the world to make disciples on a whim. You do this because Jesus is the best way to know You, as Jesus is Your expression of love and Your greatest revelation unto humanity. Remind us that if we do not embrace our neighbor with the love of Christ, ultimately, we reject the neighbor with that is antithetical to Christ. Help us guide our minds, hearts, and souls with the grace You so freely give. Amen.
Meme of the Week
Copyright © 2015 HarperCollins Christian Publishing.
Thank you for joining us this week. If you have any thoughts, feelings, or prayers, feel free to leave them in the comment section below. Please be respectful of others’ post and make room for all those joining us.
God Bless!
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