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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 17, 1992)
Page 8...The Portland Observer.. June 17,1992 Portland Observer RELIGION Charles Luebbert Joins Human Resource Strategies Insight on the Word: Jonah on the Rebound. Lessons ° n Acceptance BY MICHAEL LINDSEY Dean of North Portland Bible College The Bible text fo r our Sunday School classes this Sunday w ill be Jonah 3:1- 5 ; 3:10— 4:4,10,11. 1 suggest we ju st read and meditate on a ll o f Jonah 3 and 4, and get the whole impact o f the message o f the Scripture. This week we study “ the rest o f the story” o f Jonah, fo llo w in g his rescue from the b elly o f the great fish (1:17; 2:10). Perhaps the greater miracle hap pened when Jonah d id obey the com mand o f the Lord, and went out to preach against Nineveh. W h e re and w ha t was the city o f Nineveh? Nineveh was one o f the great est cities o f the ancient Near East, lying on the T ig ris R iver in the land o f Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). It was one o f the m ajor accomplishments o f N im rod, the great Cushite (H am itic) prince o f the early years fo llo w in g the Flood (Gen 11:8-12). B y the tim e o f Jonah, the city o f Nineveh had become independentof Babylon and was laying die foundation fo r an awesome m ilita ry state. The Assyrian E m pire’ s heyday was s till over a hundred years ahead, but Nineveh was already a m agnificent symbol o f the power o f humanity to create its own destiny. Then w hy d id n 't Jonah ju s t go and preach against it as he was to ld, the fir s t tim e? Racial prejudice. T hat’ s the simplest answer. But it was more than that, I think. Israel, in spite o f a ll its failures, was s till the people o f Yahweh (the Lord). He had rescued them from slavery in Egypt and brought them into the promised land. The people o f Israel and Judah thought they were superior because o f their relationship to the Cre ator God. Even the true prophets o f Israel, like Jonah, suffered from this mistaken sense o f pride. God had set apart the nation o f Israel fo r a purpose. As He told their ancestor Abraham, “ 1 w ill make you into a great nation and I w ill bless you. . . and all peoples on earth w ill be blessed through you” (Gen 12:2-3). It wasn’ t enough that Israel grow into a great kingdom under the rule o f the L o rd ’ s Anointed King (D avid, and someday Christ Jesus), but that they also share the blessing o f knowing the Creator to all peoples, everywhere on the earth. I think Jonah knew that, but he didn’ t want to share the blessing w ith others, outside Israel. He foolishly tried to outrun the Lord, and ironically he ended up sharing the blessing o f the knowledge o f God w ith those pagan sailors, and they worshipped the true God. So, given a second chance, he decided he had better “ just do it,” and preach against the city o f Nineveh. W h y d id the L o rd w a n t H is p ro p h e t to w a rn the people o f Nineveh? That’ s the kind o f God He is. He is a “ gracious God, and m erciful, slow to anger, and o f great kindness, and repentest thee o f the e v il” (Jonah 4:2). D on’ t let anyone tell you that the God o f the O ld Testament was purely a w rathful God o f a small tribal comm u nity in Palestine. He is a holy God, and ready to judge those who break His righteous commands. But He is a God o f great love as w ell, and wants to give all people adequate opportunity to turn from their e vil ways, and obey Him and worship Him . In this sense God is even ready to “ repent” o f doing “ e v il” to people— changing His mind about ex ecuting the judgm ent He announced through His prophets. So w hat happened? Did the people o f N ineveh listen? Jonah went to Nineveh and preachedall around it, that God was going to destroy the city in 40 days. (Notice that the peopleof Nineveh never referred to God as “ the Lord.” They knew Him only by Jonah’ s preach ing, and His place as their Creator.) T h e y lis te n e d and they re sponded— like their lives depended on it! Perhaps they had heard about the wondrous storm and the L o rd ’ s amaz ing rescue o f Jonah w ith the great fish. In any case, the whole city, from the king to the people on the street, adm it ted their e vil and believed God. They showed this by fasting (going w ithout food as a sign o f h u m ility) and putting on sackcloth (like burlap bag material). God saw their works, and their hearts, and changed his mind about the de struction. Is n ’ t there any record o f this among the Assyrians? We haven’ t found any record yet. But that’ s not too surprising, given the piecemeal nature o f much archeological work. We do know that this change was not perma nent; in later days the Assyrians were s till worshipping the old idols and the same heavenly bodies as before. And I doubt later historians o f Nineveh would want to recall the powerful works o f an Israelite God. So maybe there’ s no other record to be found. S houldn’ t Jonah have felt some sense o f accom plishm ent? I would think so— look at all the people who had turned from idols to serve the true and liv in g God. This was even better than the “ revival” on the ship! But instead, Jonah got depressed, angry, and fit to die. He really wanted to see the sinners gel their due! And now instead, the Lord was showing mercy on them, and they were going to live through it. Notice that Jonah had a wonderful opportunity here to teach the people o f Nineveh about the Lord, while they were receptive. He could have really been a blessing to them, and they in term could have spread the good news o f the Lord to other people. That really was God’ s plan, you know. (See Joshua 2:8-12; Isaiah 49:1-7 and many other Old Testament texts.) So w ha t was left fo r Jonah to do? He went out on the east side o f the city, probably on a mountainside overlook ing the city. And there he made him self a little shelter, and sat down to see what the Lord would do. What a waste o f time! B ut the Lord patiently taught Jonah a lesson about human self-centered behavior, and about prejudice. He “ pre pared” a “ gourd,” (4:6) a fast-growing vine, which grew up overnight and pro vided Jonah w ith much better shade than he’d had before. This vine was foreign to him , but it treated him good, so Jonah was “ exceedingly glad” fo r it. But the next day, God “ prepared” a worm to eat the roots o f the vine, so it dried up. He also “ prepared” a strong cast wind, which added to Jonah’ s m is ery. By midday the man was ready to die (again). And the Lord was able to speak to Jonah in the style o f a parable. You see, by Jonah’s standards, that vine in the desert was wonderful and valuable. But by G od’s eternal values, that vine was only a passing thing; in the desert heal it probably would have only lasted a few weeks at best. Yet by Jonah’s standards, the people o f Nineveh had no real value, and he s till hoped (I believe) that the Lord would destroy them. By G od’s value system, every person has immeasurable w orth, and there were 120,000 people in that c ity! M orally speaking, they were as ignorant as babies; shouldn’t God have cared about them, and their des tiny? And even by Jonah’s standards, weren’ t the cattle w orth something? (4:11) This is subtle humor from the Lord: when a person is prej ud iced against any group o f people, he/shc w ill always, in some ways, treat them like animals— not as intelligent, not as dignified, not as lovable, as one’s own group. D id Jonah ever come around to G od’ s p o in t o f view? I really think he did. A fte r a ll, he’ s the most lik e ly au thor o f this little book, and I don’ t think he could have so clearly pointed out his own faults, i f he hadn’ t come to admit them. The real question for us is this: are we ever g u ilty o f treating people like things, or valuing things higher than people? Nearly all o f us know first-hand the sting o f prejudice, and yet i t ’ s very easy fo r us to mistreat those around us. No wonder so many people come to our church meetings, and revivals, looking fo r hope and salvation— and so many go away w ith heavy hearts, feeling re jected and used. L e t’ s all resolve today, to live lives o f love and acceptance o f our fe llo w human beings, and to share the jo y o f Jesus C hrist w ith every one, everywhere. Charles Luebbert, form er V ice President o f Personnel fo r Freightliner corporation in Portland, Oregon, has recently been named an Associate w ith H um an Resource S trategies, In c. Luebbert specializes in assisting com panies w ith long-term personnel plan ning, placement o f women and m in o ri ties in mid-to-upper-level management positions and providing confidential internal employee audits to ensure that a company is in compliance w ith State or Federal equal opportunity legisla tion. Human Resource Strategies, Inc. is a Vancouver, Washington business consulting company providing Human Resource support to organizations in the Pacific Northwest. Time Through the years w e’ ve had good times as w ell as bad. Through time we’ ve had a chance to grow together like a mother and daughter should. From the tim e I was little g irl I wanted to be just like you, courageous, strong, and all around beautiful woman. Sometimes I think what a lucky black g irl i am to have a mom ju st like you. Tim e, what is time? Is it the memo ries we share? Is it the old saying tim e flies when your having fun? 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