Jonah: Unexpected Success
Today we continue our sermon series on the book of Jonah. Last time we spoke of the great evil and violence of Nineveh, Jonah’s desire to thus flee far away from having to go and be a prophet there, and the resulting storm that caused Jonah to be thrown overboard and swallowed up by a whale. And now Jonah has been spit up by the whale onto dry land. And Jonah is given a second chance. The word of God comes to Jonah calling him to go to Nineveh a second time, and this time he obeys. But my hunch is that he is still a little halfhearted about this mission to which he has been called. Because look at what message Jonah goes to proclaim to them: he says, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” As far as I can tell Jonah is doing the bare minimum that he can do to still plausibly claim to God that he’s fulfilling his prophetic role in this city. Because I’ve never preached a sermon so short in my life. If I were Jonah I’d be going in...