JONAH: THE SURVIVOR SERIES

“THE GOD OF THE SECOND CHANCE”

By Dr. Eric C. Stumpf, Senior Pastor

St. Paul’s Ev. Lutheran Church – Munster, IN

17 March 2010

+ Jonah Lenten Series + Jonah 3:1-4

             Let us pray:  Heavenly Father, how wondrous is Your grace.  You called Jonah again to do your will.  Your grace is lavished on your people with Your rich forgiveness through Your son Jesus.  May the Holy Spirit open our hearts to know the richness of Your grace in our life.  Amen.

            “Hello, this is Andrew Lawson.  I am unable to take your call right now, but please leave your name, number, and a short message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. (beep).”  You’ve just heard a standard message most have on their answering machine.  The point of having an answering machine is to make sure you don’t miss your calls.  But some people use it to screen their calls, avoid certain callers, to sift out those calls you want to answer and those you want to avoid.

            “Hello, this is Jonah the prophet.  I am unable to take your call right now, please do not leave your name, number or message, because I won’t be getting back to you. (beep).”  But God keeps calling.

Second Chance

            Jonah is the only prophet God called the second time.  Remember, God called him to go to Ninevah and tell them to repent.  But Jonah took the first ship going in the opposite direction.  God stopped him with a terrible storm and Jonah was toss overboard by the frightened sailors.  As Jonah sank into the deep water, God out of his grace saved his wayward prophet.  A great fish swallowed him and Jonah called on the name of the Lord.  The Lord did not run away from Jonah, but delivered him, causing the great fish to vomit him onto the shore.  Now our text picks up the account, God calls him a second time.

            God’s grace is rich in second chances.  Remember Peter?  Jesus told Peter that he would deny knowing him.  So Peter was warned.  Jesus said before the rooster crows twice you will deny me three times.  Jesus gave Peter every clue to warn him.  But Peter ended up denying Jesus.  When Jesus rose from the dead Peter was understandably concerned about meeting Jesus, but Jesus gave him a second chance.  Peter later wrote in 1 Peter 5:10, And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ…will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. Sunday our guest speaker, Seminarian David Whan, preached on the Prodigal Son.  There is another example of a second chance.  Though completely undeserving, just ask the older brother, the Father’s love for his son gave him a second chance.

            God calls pastors to proclaim His Word.  It may be well received as the gracious words of life should be or it may not be well received or favored because it exposes sin, pronounces judgment, and calls for repentance in order for God’s grace to bring healing.  Yet, God gives us second chances, not only to Jonah, but to you and me.  Up to now Jonah did it his way.  The Ninevites were evil, they should not get a second chance, God should send fire down from heaven.  Jonah did not want to preach to them because they just might repent and be spared.  Jonah obeys the second call and his undeserved salvation;  but he doesn’t want to extend a second chance to the Ninevites.

To Nineveh

            Jonah is both saint and sinner, like us.  He is saint, not because he is good, but because of God’s grace he is set aside, as imperfect as he is, to do God’s purposes.  We are saints because of the redeeming power of Christ in forgiving our sins.  Jonah is a sinner as well, because he continues to begrudge forgiveness if Nineveh repents.  Sadly Jonah is still not repentant.  He gladly accepts salvation for himself, but does not want Nineveh to be saved.  He would rather go and give his thank offering to God in Jerusalem than to travel to Nineveh and preach God’s Word (2:10a).  But now called a second time Jonah will go, not because his heart is changed to Nineveh, but because he sees how futile it is to run away from God.  He’s not happy about it.  Of course, there may be a bright side for Jonah, the Ninevites might not repent at all!

            So Jonah goes, but he will do the mission.  Now if in your heart you want your mission to be a success, you would think you would do your very best in presenting the message.  Instead does his very worst.  Jonah’s sermon has to go down, as far as human judgment is concerned, to be the worst presentation on record.  The sermon is 5 words long.  Jonah doesn’t even offer the way of salvation for Nineveh, i.e., they should repent.  Yet, unlike the world view of success, it is not how the message was delivered by Jonah, but the message itself, God’s Holy Word, as brief as it was, that brought change.  God brought about the whole of creation with “Let there be light,” four words in English, three in Hebrew.  The greatest sermon in my opinion was delivered on Easter Sunday by the angel who said, “He has risen,” three words in English, one word in Greek.  God sent His Son to be the Word, and in that Word our sins are forgiven, our life is saved, our eternity is with God.  It is the same word that will turn the blood thirsty Assyrians to repentance in sackcloth and ashes.

What Does This Mean for Me?

            God’s grace pursues us.  Even in our sins and because of our sins God wants us back with him through repentance and forgiveness.  The world may think its unfair, we are not worthy of a second chance.  Satan will agree and whisper we are not worthy.  Even our own thoughts might conclude the same.  But God forgives and reclaims us. 

            God’s mercy and grace also empowers us to forgive others.  Peter who got the second chance asked, “How many times must I forgive my brother?  Seven times?”  Peter was being very generous here compared to the Pharisees.  Jesus’ reply was not seven times, but seventy times seven.  Did Jesus mean literally 490 times or a number not easily kept track of?  If it was left to our own power, it would be impossible, but with God’s grace He supplies us with the same generous forgiveness.

            Jonah, saint and sinner, was given a second call, a second chance.  God did this because of his grace, not because Jonah was such a nice person.  God treats us in the same gracious way.  We are saints and sinners too, given another opportunity to repent, be forgiven and healed through our Savior.  Amen.

SDG