Sermon: Sun 25 Jan - 'Task avoidance?'

What is it to be called by God?

How do we respond?
And what is the Good News?

Readings:

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

Mark 1:14-20

SERMON: 'Task avoidance?'

Let’s pray:

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer, 

Amen.

Task avoidance:

You know what it’s like -

you’ve a job that needs done.

So...  you think about it for a wee while.

You might go make a cup of tea,

go and do something else.

The task, however, still needs done.

You nod to yourself,

psych yourself up,

and decide that really, you do just need

to nip out to the shop.

You come back,

task still not done.

You’re feeling a wee bit guilty now,

as you think of this task.

So, to comfort yourself,

you make another cup of tea.

The task, however, is still there,

still hanging over you,

still needing to be done.

Eventually, having faffed about

for half the morning,

you finally, finally   do    the     task.

And, having finished the job,

you try not to think about the fact that actually, 

doing the task took a lot less time than you spent trying to avoid the task.

Or perhaps that’s just me?

Some people will go to great lengths when it comes to task avoidance.

I suspect, however, not quite to the same extent as Jonah.

Jonah’s task avoidance was quite

spectacularly extreme -

when called upon by God to do a task,           

he decides to go on a cruise to a destination roughly 2 500 miles 

in the opposite direction to where God calls him to go.

And, hilariously, given he’s a prophet,

he’s kind of hoping that the God who sees all,

the God who knows all things,

won’t notice.

Jonah really doesn’t come across very well in this story.

He’s pouty and petulant:

a prophet who, when God calls,

basically does the equivalent of throwing all of his toys out of the pram.

He does not want this task.

He won’t do this task -

in fact, he’d be quite happy if the Ninevites were actually all destroyed by God.

His hatred of the Ninevites -

and of the greater Assyrian Empire that they represent -

his hatred, coupled with his disobedience, could, in fact, cost them their lives.

And he’s fine with that.

So, instead of heading 500 miles east into what we now know as Iraq

he jumps on a boat heading west to what was then seen as pretty much

the uttermost ends of the earth...

And, for those fans of the old TV programme ‘Chewin the Fat’,

in my head, I can almost hear him saying:
‘gonnae no do that, God’

We know the overall story, having spent a little time thinking about it earlier in the service.  And our Old Testament reading puts us at that point in the story where our friend Jonah has been spat out onto a beach, by the strange, large fish that had swallowed him whole.

Having initially been called by God to go to Ninevah, and, having run away,

God calls Jonah once more:

‘So, Jonah... Ninevah?’

Realising that the game is up, 

and that God has indeed noticed what he’s been doing -

or not doing -

Jonah finally heads east to Ninevah and is confronted with what seems to be

an enormous city:
a city so huge that it takes 3 days to get across.

Jonah nevertheless, utters his prophetic words:
‘doomed, you’re all doomed, I tell you.’

It’s not exactly great news -

and there’s neither comfort,

nor a crumb of hope in anything that Jonah says to the apparently doomed Ninevites.

But the Ninevites - the allegedly proud, foreign, idolatrous, horrible Ninevites -

do something quite extraordinary:

they hear what Jonah says

they believe what Jonah says -

they listen to this odd man wandering about their city...

and they are so alarmed that they make a response.

They turn to God and humble themselves before him:

every    single    one of them,

from the King, right through to the humblest inhabitant.

And, as a demonstration of their sincerity,

they don sackcloth, and call upon God’s mercy.

And, to Jonah’s utter disgust,

God spares them,

just as Jonah knew God would;

which is why he was avoiding the task in the first place.

In the story, the Ninevites, having heard bad news, discover good news:

that God is merciful,

that God’s mercy is wide,

and extends even to them.

That they, just like the Israelites, are beloved and called by name.

That the roof won’t fall in should they happen to visit his house.

A fact that Jonah, God’s prophet, and one of the children of Israel,

really can’t get to grips with -

he doesn’t want to share God’s blessing,

he doesn’t want to share God’s good news of love with those he considers enemies -

heck, he doesn’t even want to talk to them.

His is a reluctant response to God’s call.

In our gospel passage, however, we find a very different response.

John the Baptist has just been arrested.

Jesus, despite this, preaches in public.

Travelling to the Galilee, he preaches good news:

turn to God,

believe the good news -

the good news of God’s love for all,

the good news of liberation,

the good news of the breaking in of God’s kingdom of heaven upon earth,

the good news of restoration,

of abundant life.

There on the seashore,

Simon and Andrew are casting their nets.

Jesus walks by.

What is it about Jesus that catches their attention?

What is it about him, that intrigues them enough to leave their families,

their homes,

their livelihoods

in response to his words:

‘Come, follow me and I’ll make you fishers of people.’

No side trips to foreign climes here -

the gospel notes:

‘at once, they left their nets and followed him’

They followed him, even though they had no idea where they might be going,

or what the future might hold.

And shortly thereafter, James and John, sons of Zebedee, also respond to the call -

a call that will be the adventure of a lifetime;

a call that will teach them much about the wideness of God’s love.

And still God calls.

Each one of us is called by God,

each one of us is beloved,

and each one of us is tasked to share the good news - in action and in word -

of God’s all-embracing love

wherever we are and to whoever we’re with...

and even to those, who, like Jonah, we’d rather not even talk to.

For the good news, as those of you who were here last week might recall, 

is news that breaks down barriers of hostility.

It is about reconciliation -

of healing the hurts of broken relationships -

with family, with friend, with neighbour.

It is the gospel of peace in a world of restless disquiet.

It is the good news of comfort,

of hope,

of loving-kindness.

It is news that is as relevant today as it was in Jonah’s day:

news that cuts to the heart of those who would build their own private empires

upon the backs of the less powerful.

News that affirms,

encourages, and celebrates the ones who are normally either invisible,

or bullied, or belittled.

The good news that we are loved for who we are no matter what.

The good news that we are tasked to share.

What’s our response to that task?

Let’s pray:

Creator God,
thank you for a faith that is
more of an adventure than a declaration,
more of a journey than an arrival,
more of a question than an answer.
May we live within the dynamism of belief
that takes us and shares with us
experiences yet unknown,
that opens our eyes to what is yet to be,
that stirs our souls with longing and intent
Thank you for a faith that is
open to renewal, willing to journey,
that dares to believe

that not all things stay the same
and that you, O God, are in the changing.

Amen.