Our children have grown up, started their own lives, and even created their own families complete with kids . . . so, it has been a long time since Dana, and I have had to do a whole bunch of parenting. So long that we forgot all about the stubbornness that children can display. But we have been reminded—almost daily—the difficulties of dealing with obstinate children thanks to a new puppy we got about six weeks ago. Birdie has been an eye-opening reminder of how difficult parenting can be especially when you want the children—human or furry—to do something they don’t want to do. That little three-month old ball of fur has reminded us!
Though she is not human she shows a lot of human characteristics and reactions whenever we want her to do something she rather not do. We get the infamous “eye roll”. I never thought I would have a pet that could actually roll his or her eyes, but Birdie gives me that look all the time when I want her to do something. She whines. She also runs away . . . especially when I want her to come in the house. She just takes off in the other direction and then plays this game of “catch me if you can”. She literally digs in her heels and pulls back. She half-heartedly goes through the motions of following instructions . . . she drops the stick, takes a step, and then goes back and pick it up heading in the opposite direction.
Ah, the joys of parenting whether it is a human or furry child!
Kind of sounds like the story we are dealing with this morning . . . the story of Jonah. Jonah sure did not want to do what God wanted him to do. God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh and proclaim that they had forty days to change their ways and repent or else . . . or else they would face the dire consequences. Jonah wasn’t interested in the task . . . he did not care for the Ninevites as they had long been enemies of his own people. As far as Jonah was concerned, let God punish them . . . wipe them out as far as he was concerned. Nor, did he want to take on the task. It was a lot of work and Jonah wasn’t interested in doing the work.
Jonah rolled his eyes.
Jonah whined.
Jonah said, “No!”
Jonah dug in his heels . . . refused to be moved to action.
Jonah ran off. He ran off to what was thought to be the end of the world to escape God’s hen-pecking on taking the mission. In fact, the end of the world was not far enough to run, so Jonah hopped on a boat to get even farther away.
Well, as the story shows, you can run from God, but you can’t hide. We all know the story . . . Jonah runs . . . there is a big storm that gets Jonah thrown overboard . . . a big sea creature gobbles him up . . . he gets regurgitated onto a shore after reluctantly agreeing to do the job. At Nineveh he goes half-heartedly into the city to do the job. He basically goes half-way into the city sharing the message, then turns around and heads out. As far as Jonah was concerned it was better than nothing . . . he did what he was asked to do even though it wasn’t much of an effort. He did not really care whether the Ninevites got the point or not, as I said earlier, he’d rather they be wiped out.
Imagine his surprise when the people listened. A fast was proclaimed. Sackcloth was worn. Everyone changed their ways. And the storyteller tells us: “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.” Jonah was floored . . . couldn’t believe the results of his half-hearted actions.
Our puppy, Birdie, is a smart dog. She is learning quick that no matter how much she rolls her eyes, whines, digs in her heals, or tries to run the other way . . . she is still going to end up doing what we want her to do. She is still going to drop the stick . . . still come into the house. It is getting easier to get her to do what we ask . . . now, if we could only get her to quit rolling her eyes.
Like Jonah we are not always quick to the draw in wanting to do what God wants us to do. We are not always fast to answer the call of God upon our lives. We display all the behavior of avoidance we can to keep from doing God’s will. We have all rolled our eyes at God and God’s demands upon our lives. We have all whined. We have dug our heels in . . . even to the point of kicking and screaming . . . to not do what God wants us to do. We have tried running away, but God always seems to find us. God is patient and will not be denied . . . ask Jonah.
No one appreciates when people only go through the motions to get something done. No teacher appreciates a student who only goes through the motions to complete the assignment and get the grade. No coach likes for his or her team to go through the motions while playing the game. And, no parent wants his or her child to go through the motions while living life. They all want effort . . . honest, heart-felt effort . . . to get the job done. Such effort shows a buy-in . . . a commitment . . . a willingness to learn and grow . . . a desire to please. Going through the motions displays none of that and displays an underlying issue.
Sometimes we go through the motions because we really do not want to do what we are being asked . . . it might be too hard, it might seem ridiculous, or we just don’t care. We go through the motions to get people off our backs and hope that it is good enough for them to leave us alone. That was Jonah’s hope.
Sometimes we go through the motions because we don’t trust . . . we don’t trust the one making the request, we don’t trust the purpose of the request, or we don’t trust ourselves. Whatever the case, trust can sometimes play a major role in us not wanting to whole-heartedly do something we have been asked to do; thus, we go through the motions. Again, hope by going through the motions we can get them off our backs and leave us alone. As they say, something is better than nothing.
And, sometimes we go through the motions because we just don’t respect the source of the request or what the request represents. It is difficult to do things that we do not believe in . . . difficult when we don’t like the person or people who ask us. Again, we go through the motions in the hope it is enough for them to leave us alone.
Jonah did not want to do what God asked him to do. How often do we act like Jonah when God comes knocking on our door to ask something of us? How often do we go through the motions when it comes to our faith? How often have we just gone through the motions to just get God off our backs?
The ironic thing about this story is deciding who the story is about . . . is it about God’s desire to save the people of Nineveh or is it about Jonah and his need to change his attitude? Though Jonah goes through the motions and there is success, he is angry at the results despite it fulfilling God’s will. Jonah does not care for God’s will . . . he doesn’t get it. God is for all people . . . all of God’s children, those in and those out . . . God is for all even one’s enemies. When God’s will is fulfilled, Jonah is not happy that the people were not wiped out despite his half-effort.
In the end, Jonah still does not get it despite the lessons God teaches him. We do not know what happened to Jonah other than he did not get God’s will or accept God’s will. Yet those of us listening to this story should get the point . . . sometimes the task that is being asked of us is not the goal. Maybe the goal is the attitude in which we execute the goal that is important. In that case, going through the motions (despite evidence of success) is not good enough. God does not want us to live our faith going through the motions. God wants us completely . . . body, mind, and soul.
In the end, Jonah shows us that when it comes to faith, we cannot just go thorough the motions . . . attitude counts too. Attitude guides action. Imagine what would have been accomplished if Jonah had cared . . . imagine what we could accomplish. Amen.
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