Old Mac User Thoughts

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Sunday, May 20, 2012 11:29pm

News and Such

On My Book Shelf

Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus — Spangler & Taverberg
The Misunderstood Jew
— Amy-Jill Levine
More than Conquerors
— William Hendriksen
Where Is God When It Hurts
— Philip Yancy
The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot
— Herbert Krosney
The Gospel of Judas
— Kasser, Meyer, and Wurst
A New Kind of Christian
— Brian McLaren
The Parables of Jesus
— Joachim Jeremias
God Was Here and I was Out to Lunch — James Moore
The Way for all Seasons
— William Tuck
The Romance of the Word
— Robert Capon
A Philosopher's Way
— Elton Trueblood
Some Folks Feel the Rain Others Just Get wet — James Moore
Night
— Elie Wiesel
To See a World in a Grain of Sand — Caesar Johnson
Who Moved My Cheese?
— Spencer Johnson, MD
The Language of God
— Francis Collins
Fingerprints of God
— Barbara Hagerty
Only A Theory
— Kenneth Miller
Founding Brothers
— Joseph Ellis
Six Thousand Years of Bread
— H. E. Jacob
1421 The Year China Discovered America — Gavin Menzies
Cold Friday
— Whittaker Chambers
Die Broke
— Pollan & Levine
One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko — Mike Royko
The Constitution of the United States — James Mussatti
April 1865
— Jay Wink
Children of Alcoholism
— Seixas & Youcha
Why New Orleans Matters
— Tom Piazza
Connections
— James Burke
The Civil War
— Ward, Burns & Burns
The Great Inventions
— Ralph Stein
All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
— Robert Fulghum
Cheap — the High Cost of Discount Culture
— Ellen Shell
Indian Givers
— Jack Weatherford

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"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."
Albert Schweitzer

"Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end."
Author Unknown

"A bell is no bell
'til you ring it,
A song is no song
'til you sing it,
And love in your heart
Wasnít put there to stay –
Love isn't love
'Til you give it away."
Oscar Hammerstein
Sound of Music

"Love has no desire but to fulfill itself. To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving. "
Kahlil Gibran

"Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence."
Eric Fromm

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved - loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves."
Victor Hugo

Back to My Thoughts Index

JONAH

The Dark Night Of The Soul

Read Jonah 1:1–3

Suppose you're a preacher living in lower Manhattan and you receive a message that you recognize as being from the Lord. The message instructs you to go to Afghanistan and preach to Osama bin Laden and Al–Qaeda and tell them that because of their wickedness God is going to punish them unless they repent. Not only is what happened on 9/11 indelibly etched into your mind, several members of your congregation lost their lives that day. How would you respond?

This is the predicament in which Jonah finds himself. He remembers how brutally the Assyrians have treated his people. Go and preach to them — no way.

Jonah has always been a perplexing book to teach — at least for me. At some point during the class someone invariably raises the question of whether or not Jonah and the big fish were historical. Jonah, yes, without a doubt, because he is mentioned in 2nd Kings 14:25. His being swallowed by the big fish and remaining there for three days — well, that's a bit much to swallow, isn't it? No pun intended. I think some people delibrately argue about whether or not Jonah's experience was real so they never have to confront the essential message of Jonah.

While researching for this message I found something very interesting about the book of Jonah. It is read during the afternoon service on the most Sacred day of the Jewish calendar: Yom Kippur. Also known as the Day of Atonement. Of all the books of the OT why would the Jews read this one on the Holiest of their days? Why do they pick this seemingly insignificant little book of some 47 or 48 verses to read on the most special of their holy days? How do the Jewish Rabbis and commentators interpret Jonah?

They all agree that Jonah was an historical figure as I previously mentioned. Most treated the book of Jonah, however, as either an allegory or as a parable. None, that I could find, treated it as an actual historical event. Most of them treated Jonah as representing the stiffed–necked, unrepentant nation of Israel who had failed to carry out God's call to evangelize the nations around them. Some scholars, both Jewish and Christian, see Jonah as a great satire. Every thing in Jonah is huge: The storm, the fish, the city of Nineveh, the plant that shades Jonah, the greatest repentance of all time, and finally Jonah's monumental arrogance.

I have long considered Jonah as a parable much as the same way I consider the parables of Jesus. But some Christians contend nothing is said to indicate that it's a parable to which I point out that not all of Jesus' parables are identified as such either. For example the parable of Lazarus and the rich man in Hades recorded in Luke 16:19–31 is not identified as such. Jesus' parables are just that — parables, not history, and I don't think anyone doubts the truth of his parables and that they are scriptural on the grounds that they are parables and not historical events. I also consider the message of Jonah as a precursor to the coming of Christ and his message of repentance and forgiveness.

So. How do we interpret the Book of Jonah as Christians? How are we to identify with Jonah? Do we look at it the same way as the Jews do? That Jonah stands for unrepentant Israel? Many do. But I think in the final analysis each person who studies Jonah is going to find their own message. Anyone who really looks at this book with more than just a cursory reading is going to identify with Jonah in some way. If nothing else we learn from Jonah's mistakes. Some of you know that Jonah is my favorite book of the Bible. This morning I would like to share why it is my favorite and how I identify with Jonah.

Read Jonah 1:17, 2:7–10

And here's where I identify with Jonah. Jonah I know your angst — I have felt your despair — I have been in that pit.

This is going to be somewhat bittersweet for me, it recalls some very painful memories, but has a very positive outcome. I hope I cause none of you any pain this morning. I may cry a bit, but hope you'll bear with me. I promise not to pull a John Boehner. This retelling may also be a bit cathartic for me.

Some of you know that I suffered a very serious brain disease many years ago. The particular brain disease I had is more commonly known as deep clinical depression. What none of you know is what I went through the first few days after I became aware I had this disease. While the symptoms had been manifesting themselves for several years, they did not become acute until mid June 1976. I came to realize something terribly wrong was going on and I had no idea how to cope with it. Prayer hadn't helped, talking with my pastor and a clinical psychologist hadn't helped, nothing had helped. It got so bad that one evening I asked Dot to take me to the emergency room as I was in the midst of what I was later to learn was a severe anxiety attack.

Later when they had put me in a room and into bed it started — crying. And I could not stop. All night I cried and I didn't–know–why. I was not like Jonah. I did not want to die. I was just terrified I was going to. One of the nurses told me the next morning that I had sobbed (her word) for over six hours.

Memories of what happened during my stay in the hospital have grown pretty dim except for one. This involved another patient, the wife of a local pastor of a another small Baptist Church here in Richmond. She was suffering the same brain disorder as I. We compared our stories and discovered we had essentially the same experiences. Her church treated her and her husband as though they had committed an unpardonable sin.

According to them depression didn't happen to "good" Christians unless they had committed some sin for which they hadn't repented. Or they were leading some kind of immoral life style. Or they weren't praying hard enough. Or they weren't praying the right thing — and on and on it went. I found out later that her and her husband had to leave their church. A really sad commentary on the state of some churches which persists even to this day.

Contrasted to her is the way I was treated by this church. Many of you have heard this part of the my story, probably more times than you have cared to, but I think it bears repeating for those who have not heard it. After having been in the hospital approximately 4 weeks I was discharged and I returned to Westhunt. Your acceptance of me when I returned was one of the most rewarding moments of my life. I returned to teaching the adult class and was received with open arms.

The stark contrast between how I was treated and how that pastor's wife was treated still shocks me even today. You embraced my family and me unconditionally. You showed me the love and compassion that helped me to heal. God worked through you to literally save my life. I hate to think where my family and I would be today without what you did and still do for us.

So, what have I accomplished by sharing my story with you. As we return to Jonah's plight I hope I can point out how much we all are like Jonah and what we can do when we find ourselves in his shoes — or fish as the case may be.

Read Jonah 3:1–10

Jonah has been spat right back where he started. And isn't that exactly how we feel sometimes. We've come full circle and we realize what we have done has accomplished exactly nothing. Please understand that God had Jonah deposited back on shore not because he repented, but to teach him a lesson. You can not run from God. There is no where you can hide from him. So finally Jonah relents, note well I did not say repents for that is the one thing Jonah does not do, but he does do what God instructs — he goes to Nineveh and proclaims God's message, albeit halfheartedly. And miracles of miracles, all the people repent. From the very lowest to the very highest — they all repent. It's the greatest story of repentance ever told. Not even Jesus could accomplish that, and he had a much smaller audience. Because of their repentance, God did what he promised, showed compassion on the Ninevites and forgive them.

Now what? Everyone goes home and lives happily ever after, right? Not Quite. Poor Jonah is still in a major funk. As paul Harvey would say, "Here's the rest of the story."

Read Jonah 4:1–10

Jonah's problem is that he, like some Christians, is more interested in justice and punishment than in forgiveness and mercy. He thinks he is better than the sea captain, better than the sailors, and he certainly is far superior to the hated Ninevites! They need to be punished! There is to be no forgiveness! Why does he sit up camp outside the city walls? He's waiting for the destruction he hopes will come.

But God says to Jonah (my paraphrase), "You are more concerned for a plant which you didn't even tend or help grow. Shouldn't I have concern, shouldn't I have compassion, shouldn't I have love for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a half million people including one hundred and twenty thousand children — and also their livestock?"

So, what lessons do we learn from Jonah? What are its essential messages?

First. We can not run from god. God inspires us by promising that he will never leave us or forsake us, but I think implicit in the statement is another promise which we may find a bit troubling — he will never leave us alone. No matter where we may go, no matter the depth of our despair, he will find us. For you see he is already been there in the form of his Son. He is always reaching out, always calling, always instructing, always compassionate, always loving. He reached out to me, he reaches out to you.

Second. We remember and identify with Jonah because we are Jonah. The word of the Lord comes to each of us saying, "Love your neighbor," "Love your enemy," "Forgive them," "Go and tell," "Leave home," "Go home," "Touch them," "Teach them," "Comfort them," and we run in the opposite direction.

Third. In the words of one writer, "Jonah is the the [exact opposite] of who we might imagine a "holy" prophet [or preacher] to be. Even his name has an element of satire. He is called "Jonah, son of Ammitai." "Jonah" means "dove" and "Ammitai" means faithfulness. Here is the peaceful dove, the child of faithfulness. Instead of flying high, he descends — first into the hold of the ship, then the [depth of the] sea, then the belly of the whale. Instead of remaining faithful, he disobeys and complains. The pagan sailors and the foreign king of the evil city turn their hearts to God with more grace and gratitude than Jonah ever does."

Forth. Again in the words of the same writer, "The God of Jonah doesn't care about national boundaries, economic status, or religious identity. God's compassion extends not only to his chosen people, the Israelites, but also to the Israelites' enemies, the Ninevites. The God of Jonah is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and quick to relent, abounding in chesed — steadfast love."

If I could add one line to the book of Jonah it would it would be this: "As you go through life conduct yourself according to the attributes of mercy, compassion and forgiveness!"

So why is Jonah my favorite book of the Bible? I identify with Jonah more than any other character of the Bible. I've been in Jonah's shoes. I've been in "the dark night of the soul." There may be "greater" books of the Old Testament, but there are none more compassionate. God's great love, compassion and forgiveness for all people is the final and enduring message of Jonah.

May we close with the prayer Jonah never said. It's a prayer written by Rabbi Naomi Levy:

"God, I have been running and hiding and I am weary. Help me to face the truth that I can no longer deny. Remind me that ignoring my pain will never make it disappear. Give me the courage to confront what I have so feared, the strength to endure what I cannot escape. Be with me. Guide me. Never forsake me.
Amen"