Repentance: “an opportunity for healing”

 Jonah 3:1-5, 10

The book of Jonah is 2 pages long. It’s one of the shortest stories in the Old Testament. Mostly the story is known as “Jonah and the whale”, but actually while the whale makes the story more interesting and engaging for small kids, it is only mentioned 3 times in the whole story. Yet what do we remember? (the whale)  What do we argue about? (whether its possible for a whale or a big fish to swallow a person and for the person to live for 3 days) And what’s the POINT of the story? (who knows? We just think it’s a fun thing to debate about the whale… so most of us don’t read any further!) Anyway, the Old Testament is a waste of time, right? I mean who needs a bunch of outdated stories about how people experienced God? They can’t have ANY relevance for today!! RIGHT?

Um.  Wrong. Just because the story is old does NOT make it irrelevant. It teaches us lots about the God whom we follow, the God made known in the flesh and blood of Jesus.

Let’s try to piece this story together then:

God calls Jonah to go to a huge city (120,000) called Ninevah. Ninevah was part of the Assyrian Empire (ironically in present day Iraq).  The city was filled with “wickedness” and Jonah, a prophet, was sent by God to warn the city and invite its repentance. The Old Testament prophets constantly proclaim one message: “do justice, care for the weak, the powerless, the poor, the outcast, the foreigner”. The true strength of a person or a nation depends on their ability to care for its weakest members.

Jonah hears God's call, turns and runs the other way. He hops a boat to go far away. But when he runs, life gets pretty rocky… things turn from bad to worse. He’s on a boat, a storm comes up, the sailors know something is up. He tells them that he believes that it is God pursuing him. “throw me overboard” he says and the storm will die.  The sailors try everything to save him and them but finally they toss him overboard. Jonah… like us… does not want to go challenging anyone to repent. Scary business. Suggests conflict. Better to run away and deny it than to face it. There are lots of reasons why we run.

Then Jonah enters a awesome, carvernous tunnel. Call it a whale, call it a big fish, call it “the belly of hell” (as Jonah later calls it), call it a psychological experience, the point is: Jonah runs from the call, finds himself lacking and is forced to wrestle with his faith in that situation. Suffice to say, Jonah repents of his decision to run and offers himself to God.

How determined we are to pretend that a wrong didn’t happen. How quick we are to refuse to confront those who cause us any hurt. Even and perhaps especially in our most intimate relationships we fail to be honest about how we feel. We too run. And we too find ourselves rumbling around in a cold dark enclosed cavity… much like a whale’s belly. A place from which it feels as if there is no escape.

The message is the same: Go to Nineveh and tell them to repent. This time there’s no running. Jonah does as he is told. He warns the big city of Nineveh. If they continue with their evil ways the city will be overthrown by its enemies. And next thing you know, the whole city listens and repents! EVERYONE turns from their evil ways. Even the leaders. They go into national mourning. Their hearts change. Their patterns change. And God rejoices and declares that the city will be spared. 

The word “repent” as used here has several levels of meaning:

1.           it means to “turn around” and to

2.           “be comforted or healed or eased” 
    

Often the Christian Church has preached a doctrine of “unconditional forgiveness”. Heard by men,women and children in abusive home situations the church has sometimes quite unwittingly encouraged those who are abused to put themselves at further risk by “forgiving” when true repentance has not happened. True repentance requires a changing of path. It often requires us to open ourselves to transformation and healing. Repentance helps not only the abused, but also the abuser. It is an opening of self to a new reality. It allows a genuine “turning around”. It offers a truly hopeful new way of being.

A person who abuses generally does not WANT to abuse. It is a behaviour that is often in reaction to their own powerlessness, and it brutalizes the abused and the abuser in different ways. Those who abuse have almost always been abused themselves. Abusers often say they’re sorry with such heartfelt sincerity. They promise tearfully never to let it happen again. But then it does. It escalates. True repentance is not simply about saying that we are sorry. It is about changing. And about believing that with God's help and community professional supports, we have the ability to change and be healed. The person who is abused is at risk.  The best way of inviting repentance in this situation is to decide: “NO MORE” and to leave to find a safe place to  regain a sense of self and strength. That is enough to invite repentance.

Jonah is mad. Hopping mad!! Can’t you imagine him jumping up and down in anger and saying: “I KNEW it! I just KNEW it! Now I’m humiliated! Some prophet I am. The only big job I ever got and now my credibility is SHOT!! I tell them they’re gonna die. And WHAT happens? God turns back and forgives them!! 

 Jonah goes out of the city and sits sulking in the scorching sun… watching to see what will become of the great city. God causes a bean plant to grow over his head to shade him. But the next day a worm eats the plant and it dies. Jonah just wants to curl up and die. He is SOOOOO angry.

God then comes and talks with Jonah. You’re mad about this plant’s death? “Of Course” says Jonah (who feels really hard done by). You did nothing to cause this bush to grow. It grew in a night and died in a night. But should I not be concerned about Nineveh? A city of 120,000 people who do not know my ways? 

In this concluding statement we hear the unconditional LOVE of God for all people in all places. It’s not that God isn’t angered by our abusive, greedy, hurtful behaviours. But hey, I get mad at my kids sometimes too… I still love them unconditionally. But I get mad at them. And they at me. Repentance is an invitation to “right relationship” with God and with one another. This story of the “turning around” of a whole city of people leaves us with three things:

1.      God's love for us and ALL people is unconditional.

2.      forgiveness cannot happen before there is a turning around: repentance opens the way for healing and reconciliation

3.      repentance is a good thing for all of us: it offers healing for all parties

God is always willing to forgive, but God's forgiveness (unlike God's love) is NOT unconditional. God does not FORCE us to change. We always have a choice. There IS a condition to forgiveness. That condition is repentance. When we trust in God's healing enough to walk with one another in genuine caring, then we too can be open to God's healing found in genuine repentance and forgiveness.

Who knows what God will do with us next!

 

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