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April 29, 2009 at 07:48 PM
Read: Jonah's prayer in Jonah 1:17-2:10.
Jonah's kinda peeved - he's been sent to prophesy against Nineveh, but he doesn't want to go. So, in an act of flagrant disobedience to God, he runs the opposite way. Turns his back on God, his mission, his calling and heads for Spain.
God - less than chuffed with Jonah - sends a storm to halt him in his tracks.
It works.
The sailors wake Jonah up, only to be scandalised as they find out that he's running away from God. (But they still do everything they possibly can to save him). Eventually they follow his advice and throw him overboard, whereupon he gets swallowed by a huge fish which he inhabits for the next 3 days before heading out (in the words of the Veggie tales) like a human comet [Guys - you might not want to rhyme with comet...!].
And in the belly of the fish, Jonah seems to come to his senses - and repents. (He's still a self-centred, grumpy, racist bigot - but he's making progress).
What does God use to do it?
Three things - Wrath, Mercy and Pagans.
Comments
March 13, 2009 at 09:29 PM · Posted under Oh really?
I really don't know what to make of this.
.
It's not even April 1st.
How about one day, a bible publisher tries coming up with a "Wild About Jesus" bible? A bible that highlights stuff about Jesus throughout the bible - like stuff in the OT that is fulfilled by Jesus, or that prefigures him. A bible that puts the hero centre stage? Like a combination of "Christ in all the Scriptures" and a bible?
Or maybe, in a world that has rejected him, that just wouldn't sell so well...? <Sigh>
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February 23, 2009 at 07:20 PM
And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour your father and mother.’”
And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
Jesus, looking at him with sadness, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!
For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”
But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” (Luke 18:18-27)
He's clearly perfect church material: he's rich, eminently respectable and sincere in his pursuit of righteousness. Who wouldn't want this guy? (That's a rhetorical question: the answer is pretty much everyone, Jesus included.)
What makes the deal go bad? What is the one thing that he lacks? A first glance might seem that material poverty is a pre-requisite: the instruction to "sell all that you have" would seem to suggest that.
But it's not that.
In order to understand what's going on here, I think we need to look at the example of Abraham in Genesis 22:2 "Take your son, your only son, whom you love ... and offer him as a burnt offering." It's a pinnacle at which Abraham's faith in God is most clearly seen: he is convinced that God will honour his promise: that he will give him an heir; make him the father of many nations; bless the world through his offspring and Abraham is therefore willing to obey and offer his only son (Hebrews 11:17-19).
He is convinced that his future is safer in God's hands than his own. He has finally reached the point in his life where he trusts God's strength and faithfulness more than his own.
It seems that the ruler who met Jesus hadn't got this kind of faith. We don't know exactly what it is he loved about being rich - whether it's the prestige in amongst his peers, or the comfort that he can afford to enjoy, or the feeling of safety that such wealth brings. But it's clear that he feels that he needs his wealth more than he needs God.
Or, to put it another way, he doesn't trust God with his wealth.
The problem is not that absence of poverty: it's the absence of faith.
What does this mean for the church's mission in the world?
- We must remember that God is in the business of salvation, not insurance. Making a "decision for Christ" has no necessary correlation with actually trusting him.
- We must regularly idol check our lives - is there something we are trusting more than God?
- We must be careful to describe biblical faith not just in standard kitsch clichés, but with stories and examples that accurately portray how hard it is. Because faith may be simple, but it certainly isn't easy.
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