“When God Defies Our Faith” (Jonah 3:1-10)

I imagine everyone knows the story about Jonah being swallowed by a great big fish or whale . . . learned that way back in Sunday school.  But, there is a whole lot more to the Jonah story, and, as Paul Harvey used to say, “Now for the rest of the story.”

The story begins with God telling Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach to people because they needed a change of heart.  Jonah tells God, “No!”   Jonah has his reasons for telling God “no”.  His primary reason being that the people of Nineveh are Assyrians . . . dreaded and despised enemies of Israel.  Jonah pretty much hates the Assyrians.  Yet, God insists that Jonah go and preach to the Assyrians to change their hearts or be wiped out.

Not wanting to do this, Jonah runs away . . . runs to the nearest boat heading as far away from God as he can get.  Jonah doesn’t understand that you can run, but you can never get away from God.  Soon the boat encounters a violent storm . . . so violent that the sailors begin to fear that the boat will sink and they will all die.  They begin to throw cargo overboard in hopes of keeping the boat afloat . . . then they begin throwing over everything not nailed down.  Nothing stops the storm.  Realizing what is happening, Jonah tells the scared sailors to throw him overboard . . . and, they do.  The storms stops.

While floating in the sea, Jonah is gobbled up by a great fish.  He would sit inside of that fish for three days and three nights.  Now, being inside of a fish provides a person a whole lot of time to do some thinking . . . to do some praying.  That’s what Jonah did . . . he thought and prayed . . . thought and prayed about his situation.  Finally he came to the conclusion that he had to do what God was asking him to do.  And, God heard his prayers.  As the writer of the story tells us . . . “And the Lord commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” 


Reluctantly, Jonah did as he was asked to do.  He went to Nineveh to preach to the Assyrians to have a change a heart.  Now Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire . . . a huge city.  It takes three days to walk across the city.  In order for all the people of Nineveh to hear the message, Jonah would have to spend three days traversing the city.  Now, remember, I said Jonah was reluctant to do this task of delivering God’s ultimatum . . . the Assyrians would have 40 days, and if they did not change their hearts, God was going to wipe them out.  Thus it was that Jonah’s heart really wasn’t into the message he had to share, nor was he into its urgency.  He just figured half the effort was better than no effort . . . besides, if they won’t change their hearts, God would wipe them out. 

Jonah walks one day’s journey into the city, does a little half-hearted preaching, and calls it quits.  He figures he lived up to his end of the deal with God . . . and, that there was no way for the people to have a change of heart . . . God would wipe them out.  Jonah figures it is a win/win deal.

Surprisingly, the people have a change of heart.  Then God has a change of heart towards the people, and decides not to destroy the city.  God spares every last one of the people.  This really, really . . . I mean, really . . . angers Jonah.  Ticks him off.  Ticks him off so much that he lets God know his real feelings: “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still home?  That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish.  I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”

Jonah is so angry with God for not wiping out the hated Assyrians . . . of doing what he wanted God to do . . . that he ends his prayer by telling God to take away his life because it was better than this.  He tells God: “O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”  Jonah wanted no part of this . . . he wanted the Assyrians dead.

I think Jonah had a problem with his faith.  I think that he truly thought that God would wipe out the people of Nineveh . . . after all, Jonah didn’t put a whole lot of effort into sharing God’s message with the people.  As far as Jonah was concerned, these people were not his people . . . they were not Jewish . . . they worshipped another god . . . they were a different race . . . they were enemies.  They were not God’s people as were the Jews.  As far as Jonah was concerned they were pretty worthless . . . that the world, and the Jews, would be better off without them.  God was on his side.  That is what he truly believed.

Well, that is where Jonah was wrong . . . and, where we are often wrong.  We are all the same people.  There is only one human family . . . one family created under God . . . period.  Whether it be the sailors on the boat, the Ninevites, or even Jonah . . . they are all God’s creation . . . God’s people.  It does not matter a person’s color or race, religion, education, wealth or lack of wealth, politics . . . they are all a part of God’s family.  Nothing can change that fact.

As the children of God we are each loved and cherished by the God who created us.  We are desired and wanted.  We are embraced by a God of love and grace . . . a God who constantly has a change a heart toward us despite our--at times--errant belief that we are the only children of God.  God wants us all.  The love and grace of God is bigger and more encompassing than we will ever understand . . . and, it is much bigger than our own faith.

God defies our faith.

We are living in divisive times . . . times in which there is a lot of disagreements and hostility.  Divisive times in our world . . . in our nation . . . wherever we live.  We hear it in our prayer requests each Sunday morning . . . prayers calling us to come together in peace, love, and understanding as one people.  And, this divisiveness scares us . . . more than a few times I have heard the statement that the “world is going to hell in a handbasket.”  Despite our prayers, nothing changes.

The human race continues to be stubborn in holding onto it various understandings that one race is better than another . . . that one country is better than another . . . that one person is better than another.  In that stubbornness we forget . . . we forget what our own scriptures tell us.  That we were all created in the image of God . . . that we are all the children of God . . . that we are family.  And, the scriptures tell us that it is God’s desire that the family be restored.

That is God’s will . . . and, who are we to go against God’s will?

A change of heart is needed.  This problem is not new to our generation or time . . . it has been around since the start of humanity.  As the human race, and certainly as a people of faith--as the followers of Jesus Christ, we must change our hearts of separation and division to reflect the heart of God.  God’s heart is open to all of God’s children . . . wide open to all people. 

We must remember that it is not our way, but God’s way that matters.  Jonah could never fully embrace this openness of God’s love and grace, even after God tried to explain it to him.  Jonah remained angry and defiant in thinking that God went against his faith.  But it was Jonah who defied God and God’s will.  Despite it all, God’s desire and will was fulfilled.

We are God’s people . . . each and every one of us created in God’s image.  Together we are the family of God . . . period.  Amen.

“In the Middle of the Night” (I Samuel 3:1-20)

We have all heard the phrase, “If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.”  So it is with faith.  If having faith was easy . . . everybody would have it; but, alas, everybody doesn’t have it.  Faith is difficult, and even those who number themselves among the faithful find it difficult at times.  And, if we are going to be honest with ourselves, we would admit that we have struggled with faith and God’s call upon our own lives.

Author, psychologist, and Episcopalian priest, John A. Sanford, wrote a book many years ago called Dreams: God’s Forgotten Language.  In this book he argues that God--the living God, still speaks to us in a day and age that many have proclaimed that God has become silent.  And, he argues that the means in which God talks to us is in an ancient way . . . in a way that we have forgotten.  God speaks in dreams.  The problem, states Sanford, is that we have forgotten this language of God.

In the Old Testament, God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 15:1, where the writer tells us: “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be great.’”   In Genesis 20:1-7, Abimelech, the king of Gerar, who took Abraham’s wife Sarah into his harem because Abraham had told him she was his sister . . . he was warned in a dream from God not to touch Sarah because she was Abraham’s wife.  In Genesis 28:10-17, we learn of Jacob’s dream of a ladder reaching to heaven on which angels ascended and descended . . . then later, in the middle of the night, his wrestling match with God.  And, then there was Joseph . . . one of the most famous dreamers.  God spoke to Solomon through dreams . . . and, also Daniel. 

There is much evidence that God spoke through dreams in the Old Testament, and the New Testament has its fair share of examples of God speaking through dreams.  A few weeks ago we heard about the old priest, Zacharias, who would have a son in his old age . . . that son being John the Baptist.  God spoke to Joseph telling him to marry Mary . . . to flee to Egypt, and to return from Egypt.  Pilate’s wife sends word to her husband to free Jesus because of a dream she had had.  Ananias is convinced by God in a dream to go to Paul--the persecutor of Christians, and to take care of him.  Peter has a vision . . . a dream . . . while he is praying  about eating clean and unclean animals, that heaven is open to all.  Paul, too, had dreams.

In the scriptures there is much evidence that God speaks in the language of dreams, says Sanford . . . and, yet we have forgotten this.  God is still speaking . . . still speaking to us in dreams.  The issue is one of waking up to this fact . . . of becoming conscious of this act . . . of listening and following.  We just have to listen.

Which brings us to another story of God speaking in the middle of the night.  In this story, God speaks to Samuel--a young boy who is under the care of an old priest by the name of Eli.  Samuel serves as a kind of apprentice to Eli.  It is during one night, after everyone has gone to bed, that Samuel is awaken by a voice talking to him . . . he assumes that it is the old priest, Eli, calling for him.  So he goes to Eli, awakens him, saying, “Here I am; you called me.”  Eli sends the boy back to bed.

Two more times this happens . . . a voice calls out for Samuel . . . Samuel runs to Eli and wakes him, only to be told to go back to bed before Eli realizes who it is that is calling Samuel.  At that point Eli tells the boy that if it happens again, he is to stay there and say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”  And, Samuel does as he is told.

Sure enough, a fourth time, the voice calls out Samuel’s name.  Instead of running to Eli, Samuel stays put and says, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”  At that point, God speaks . . . God tells Samuel of the impending judgment upon Eli and his sons for the sins they have committed.  The next morning the old priest wanted to know what God had told Samuel, but Samuel was afraid to tell him of God’s condemnation upon the house of Eli.  But, Eli insisted . . . and Samuel laid it all out.  And, so it came to be.  As Samuel grew, God took care of him . . . and, the writer of this story tells us: “The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground.  And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord.”

God spoke to Samuel . . . in a dream.  Most of us think of dreams as something that happens to us as we sleep.  So it was for Samuel . . . God spoke to him in the middle of the night . . . told him of the fall of the house of Eli . . . something that Samuel feared telling his mentor.  The fear held him back, and it was only with the prodding and assurance of Eli, that Samuel finally told him what God had said.

The writer tells us that it was fear that held Samuel back.  Author Paulo Coelho, writes: “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”  And, so it is with faith.  Because we fear that we will fail God or even ourselves we never strive to heed the call of God in our lives . . . to step out to where God is calling us to go . . . to live as God wants us to live.  So, because of this fear, we hold back . . . and, we struggle . . . we struggle mightily . . . we enter into what the saints and mystics of the faith call the dark night of the soul.

In the gospel hymns we are told that the “darkest hour is just before the dawn” . . . a reference to the struggle of faith . . . of moving through the darkness to discover and embrace the light.  Think of Jacob and his dreams . . . the heavenly ladder as he struggled with his running away from what he had wrongly done to his brother . . . his wrestling with God.  Jacob was struggling.  Think of Joseph and the struggles he was dealing with when God came to him in a dream and told him to marry Mary.  These were dark nights of the soul . . . and, they came in the night.

So, God speaks to us in dreams . . . dreams that happen in the middle of the night.  It is in the night that we struggle.  Are we listening?

It was in 1993 that singer, Billy Joel, probably said it best in his song River of Dreams.  Joel wrote:

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
From the mountains of faith
To a river so deep

I must be looking for something
Something sacred I lost
But the river is wide
And it's too hard to cross

And even though I know the river is wide
I walk down every evening and I stand on the shore
And try to cross to the opposite side
So I can finally find out what I've been looking for

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the valley of fear
To a river so deep

And I've been searching for something
Taken out of my soul
Something I would never lose
Something somebody stole

I don't know why I go walking at night
But now I'm tired and I don't want to walk anymore
I hope it doesn't take the rest of my life
Until I find what it is that I've been looking for

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the jungle of doubt
To a river so deep

I know I'm searching for something
Something so undefined
That it can only be seen
By the eyes of the blind

In the middle of the night

I'm not sure about a life after this
God knows I've never been a spiritual man
Baptized by the fire, I wade into the river
That runs to the promised land

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the desert of truth
To the river so deep

We all end in the ocean
We all start in the streams
We're all carried along
By the river of dreams

In the middle of the night

God speaks to us . . . speaks to us in the middle of the night . . . speaks to us in the language of dreams.  Shows us the possibilities . . . the hopes . . . the struggles . . . the love, and the grace.  Speaks to us of desire . . . intimate desire to reconnect . . . to make whole and holy once again.  Whispers upon our heartstrings . . . pushes our souls.  God calls to us . . . calls to us to come . . . to come into the bottomless pit of love and grace.  Isn’t that what we are all looking for?

And, yet, we struggle . . . we struggle in the middle of the night . . . struggle that we just might fail.  We experience the dark night of the soul.  It is that fear that keeps us from realizing the dream . . . of answering God’s call.  Being faithful is never easy.

But, take heart.  Take heart for we can defeat that fear and succeed in hearing and realizing God’s voice in our lives.  Take heart for we have been given an example through a small boy.  In the story of Samuel we are shown how we are to respond.  We are to respond with our presence . . . Samuel proclaimed, “Here I am.”  We are to listen . . . Samuel responded to God: “Speak, for your servant is listening.”  And, then we are to live the call placed upon us by God . . . to live it no matter how fearful we might be.  In doing so, just like for Samuel, God will not abandon us . . . even in the middle of the night.  Amen.

“Larry, Curly, and Moe” (Matthew 2:1-12)

True confession . . . I really, really suck at foreign languages.  I tried Spanish for awhile, and the teacher told me to try French.  The French teacher cried.  I slipped through college without having to take a foreign language.  In seminary I shied away Greek and Hebrew.  As a person who butchers the English language, I really, really am terrible at at foreign languages.  I guess if one must know, I am an equal opportunity masher of any and all languages . . . especially when it comes to pronouncing names . . . in particular biblical names.

I take the ploy that I saw in a cartoon once.  A little girl was getting ready to read a passage to her Sunday school teacher and class.  As she was about to read she prefaced her reading by saying: “The names have been changed to protect the innocent . . . me!”

I am notorious for killing names, especially biblical names.  Which puts me in a bind as a pastor as we enter into the season of Epiphany.  I always get asked what the names were of the three wise men who show up in the Christmas story.  My pat answer, jokingly said, has always been, “Larry, Curly, and Moe!”

The Three Stooges.

Which,  in a way, makes sense.  There are tons of cartoons making fun of the three wise men.  There are lots of jokes.  Probably one of the most popular asks the question about what would have happened if it had been three “wise women” instead of three “wise men”?  Of course the answer is:
They would have asked directions, arrived on time, help deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and brought practical gifts like diapers, formula, and baby powder--not frankincense, gold, and myrrh.   So, maybe Larry, Curly, and Moe is not so far-fetched.


The actual names of the three wise men, according to tradition, are Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar.  They were from Arabia, Persia, and India.  They were Gentiles . . . non-Jews . . . who came to worship the baby, the “king of the Jews”.  At least that is what they told King Herod when they inquired about the whereabouts of this child.

This inquiry caught Herod off-guard . . . or as our scripture reading tells us . . . “he was disturbed”.  Truth of the matter is, Herod was more than concerned as he was the king of the Jews, and the news of this child announced a challenge to his power.  So, after consulting with his chief priests and teachers, he sends the three wise men to go and find the child in the town of Bethlehem.  Feigning curiosity and a desire to also pay homage to the child, he tells them to: “Go and make a careful search for the child.  As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”   Of course Herod has no intentions of worshipping the child . . . no, the child is a threat . . . he plans on killing the child. 

And, so, off they go.  They follow a star that leads them to the place where the child is.  They bow down in worship to the child . . . they fawn over the child . . . and, they present those wonderful gifts--gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Not the most practical gifts, but symbolic, nonetheless--a topic for another sermon at another time.  Then they hightail it out of there going home by a different route to avoid Herod.  Which rounds out the Christmas story as we know it.

And, yet, the three wise men, actually kick off the third season of the church’s liturgical year . . . the season of Epiphany.  The wise men arrive on the twelfth day day of Christmas--January 6th.  Epiphany means “a manifestation of a divine or supernatural being” . . . and, in the eyes of the western church, it is the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.  In other words, the gift of the Messiah--the gift of Christ--is revealed not only to the Jews, but also to the rest of the world.  The intention of this epiphany is that the scope of God’s work goes beyond a specific group to encompass all of God’s children in the world.  It is a gift to everyone.

Now, we need to understand that Epiphany occurs on one day--January 6th, then we enter into the season which follows that holy revelation.  This season we typically call Epiphany and it will last until Ash Wednesday when we kick off the season of Lent.  The church, or the followers of Jesus, has only one focus during this season . . . to share the Good News of Jesus to all corners of the world.

The Christmas story tells us . . . no, shows us . . . that this gift from God was meant for all people . . . for all of God’s children.  They are all there in the story . . . from the poorest to the richest . . . from the least educated to wisest . . . they are all there.  The gift was meant for everyone.  And, we, as the followers of Jesus are meant to embrace that gift and go forth to share it in the world in which we live.

When we stop to consider all of this, it is pretty awesome.  It is pretty awesome that God throws wide and opens the door for anyone and everyone to come into relationship with God . . . that God not only throws open the door, but desires it with all that God is.  And, we are the receptacles of this divine gift and action, challenged to go and share it with others.  That is pretty awesome!

But, it comes with a warning.  Not everyone is going to get as excited as we do . . . not everyone is going to be receptive to the message or gift.  No, there will be those who feel threatened by it all.  In our story that warning comes in the form of King Herod . . . King Herod who saw the child as a threat to his power . . . King Herod whose only desire is to kill the kid, remove the threat, and keep his power.  Our story tells us this . . . and, if we were to read a little further beyond where we ended this morning, we would see that.

Herod, when realizing he had been duped, issues a decree . . . he orders that all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years and under be killed.  Joseph is told by an angel to get out of Dodge . . . to hightail it to Egypt . . . because Herod is intent in finding the child and killing him.

There is a somber undertone to the story . . . a warning to us all; and, yet, it is still an awesome story.  God, through Jesus, has come into the world to re-establish what was once broken . . . to reconnect with what once was lost . . . to rebuild the family . . . the Kingdom of God.  That desire is expressed in the gift of Christmas, revealed to all in the gift of Epiphany.  We as the followers of Jesus have been called to share that Good News of Jesus with all throughout the world.  God is with us! It is up to us to share the gift.  No matter what we call the three wise men, through them the gift has come to all the world.  May we go forth like Larry, Curly, and Moe to share the Good News . . . to share the gift.  Amen