JONAH: THE RELUCTANT PROPHET OUR STORY TOO? BRIAN PURFIELD JONAH - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

JONAH: THE RELUCTANT PROPHET OUR STORY TOO? BRIAN PURFIELD

JONAH AN UNUSUAL TEACHER

 The Prophets

 Major  Minor

 The Book of Jonah

 Not about what Jonah says  About the identity of the prophet

YEAR OF MERCY 2015-2016

“Here I think of the story of Jonah, a really interesting figure, especially for these times of great change & uncertainty…. Go & read the book

• f Jonah! It is short, but it is a very

instructive parable, especially for those of us in the Church.” Pope Francis, The Church of Mercy

JONAH  Opinionated  Temperamental  Argues with God  Wants to be proved right  Worried about his persona

THE MERCY OF GOD

“When faced with the gravity of sin, God responds with the fullness

• f

mercy. Mercy will always be greater than any sin, & no one can place limits on the love of God who is ever ready to forgive.” Misericordiae Vultus (The Face of Mercy) #3

THE CALL OF JONAH Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son

• f Amittai, saying, ‘Go at once to Nineveh,

that great city, & cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.’ (Jonah 1:1)

THE CALL OF JONAH Jonah’s life is interrupted  The Word of God

 Not an invitation  A command!

GATH-HEPHER

JONAH & JESUS For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation

• f

Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here! (Matthew 12:40-41)

NINEVEH

NINEVEH

 721 BC Northern Kingdom

• f Israel destroyed

 Assyria – height of power 8th – 7th cent. BC  King Ashurbanipal (668- 631 BC)  612 BC Nineveh destroyed

THE FALL OF NINEVEH I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt, and make you a spectacle. Then all who see you will shrink from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated; who will bemoan her?’ Where shall I seek comforters for you? (Nahum 3:6-7)

JONAH’S RESPONSE But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence

• f

the Lord. (Jonah 1:3a)

JONAH’S STRUGGLE

What Jonah is Called What Jonah does to do To be a prophet Identity becomes a desperate

• f the Lord

runaway to go East by land Direction he heads west by sea to Nineveh to Tarshish dominated by the Outlook dominated by his own word of God fear

JONAH RUNS!

He went down to Joppa & found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid his fare & went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. (Jonah 1:3b)

WHY DOES JONAH RUN? “Is not this what I said while I was still in my

• wn country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at

the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God & merciful, “slow to anger, & abounding in steadfast love & ready to relent from punishing” (Jonah 4:2).

THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL “The Church must be a place of mercy freely given, where everyone can feel welcomed, loved, forgiven & encouraged to live the good life of the Gospel” (EG 114).

THE TRUE PROPHET You may say to yourself, ‘How can we recognize a word that the LORD has not spoken?’ If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the LORD has not spoken. (Deut 18:21-22)

ISAIAH

“Go, & loose the sackcloth from your loins & take your sandals off your feet”, & he had done so, walking naked & barefoot. Then the Lord said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked & barefoot for three years as a sign & a portent against Egypt & Ethiopia, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as captives & the Ethiopians as exiles, both the young & the old, naked & barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, to the shame

• f Egypt.”

(Is 20:2-4)

JEREMIAH

This word came to Jeremiah from the

• LORD. Thus the LORD said to me: Make

yourself a yoke of straps and bars, and put them on your neck…. Now I have given all these lands into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him even the wild animals of the field to serve him. All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his

• wn land comes; then many nations and

great kings shall make him their slave. (Jer 27:1-2, 6-7)

EZEKIEL

The word of the LORD came to me…. prepare for yourself an exile’s baggage, and go into exile by day in their sight; you shall go like an exile from your place to another place in their sight. Perhaps they will understand, though they are a rebellious

• house. You shall bring out your baggage by day in

their sight, as baggage for exile; and you shall go

• ut yourself at evening in their sight, as those do

who go into exile. Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry the baggage through it. In their sight you shall lift the baggage on your shoulder, and carry it out in the dark; you shall cover your face, so that you may not see the land; for I have made you a sign for the house of Israel. I did just as I was commanded. (Ezekiel 12:1, 3-7)

PSALM 139:7-10

O where can I go from your spirit

• r where can I flee from your face?

If I climb the heavens, you are there; if I lie in the grave, you are there. If I take the wings of the dawn and dwell at the sea’s furthest end, even there your hand would lead me, your right hand would hold me fast. (Ps 139:7-10; Grail translation)