Stepping out of the shade – together
The Third Sunday after the Epiphany, 2021
Jonah 3:1-5, 10 • Mark 1:14-20
These last four years we have walked together. We have walked together through dark desolate valleys, angry wastelands, and lonely mountain tops. We have been living as Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman writes: a ‘never ending shade”.
We have kept looking for the light, for the hope; and in the midst of the pain, the exhaustion, and despite the destructive energies roiling our country, we have found ourselves here: living into a ‘new dawn’ and opportunity for healing and reconciliation.
No one has said or is saying that this healing and reconciliation is going to be easy. It’s a ‘hill we climb,’ not a flat easy plain. And while the angry shadows, the pain, and the injustices continue to surround us, perhaps we will be able to face them with a new awareness and a new commitment to work on our divisions.
This hill is what each one of us is being called to climb. And we will need courage. And we will need, as a country, to internalize and live into everything we have learnt.
How perfectly timed are our scripture choices for this Sunday. Stories about God’s endless mercy and grace, and commitment to work with us when we are far from perfect. And stories about God’s reaching out to each one us, inviting us into the story of redemption and salvation.
Think about Jonah. You might find yourself asking whether Jonah was a real person? Maybe yes, maybe no. There is some evidence that he was. The translation of the word ‘whale’ is questioned for sure, the better translation being ‘big fish’. It is however is a powerful story of God’s mercy and love towards humankind, despite our limitations. And that I find very encouraging and hope filled.
The story goes that Jonah, an 8th century BCE Hebrew prophet is called on by God to go the city of Ninevah to urge them to repent and change their sinful ways. As you know, Jonah says, ‘No way’, and catches a ride on a ship going in the opposite direction. There’s the storm, resulting in the sailors tossing him into the wild sea. The whale scoops him up and deposits him on dry land. God asks again, and this time Jonah goes to Ninevah and spends three days walking through the city, proclaiming: “Forty more days and Ninevah will be overthrown”. Then he takes himself off to a overlooking hillside to see and enjoy the carnage that is surely to come.
The surprise of this story, far more important than the whale episode, is that the people of Ninevah believe Jonah. They fast. They cover themselves in sack cloths and ashes. Everyone, great and small ‘turned from their evil ways, and God relented and did not bring on the destruction that God had threatened.’
What perhaps is less surprising is that Jonah was really angry. Jonah was disappointed in God. He wanted the Ninevites to suffer, to have the full fury of God brought down on their heads. And that didn’t happen. He complains to God who tries to explain. And the story ends.
But I want to know what happens to Jonah. Does he continue being a prophet? Has he been changed? Has he learnt anymore about the God he prophesizes about? Maybe: we humans are an obstinate bunch.
Last Sunday, our lectionary shared with us the story of God calling the boy Samuel as he sleeps by the Ark of the Covenant. And Samuel’s reply when he eventually realizes who is calling his name, “Here I am, Lord.”
And today, we have another story about people being called: Jesus is passing along the Sea of Galilee and calls the fishermen Simon, Andrew, James and John to follow him. ‘Immediately they left their nets and followed him.’
What was it about these two pairs of brothers that makes Jesus stop and invite them? He is after all only going to choose a total of twelve to be in the intimate group that will travel with him for the three years of ministry. Was it their strength? Their ability to work with each other? That they were of the people, feeding the people? Probably yes, and probably more.
And of course there has to be the question, why did they say yes so immediately? What did they know about this man calling them? We can never know.
What we do know is that like Jonah, and like us, these twelve disciples were not perfect. They jostled, fell on their faces, argued, got it wrong, and yet God continued to work with and through them. With God’s help they were able to accomplish great things for the kingdom of God that still sustain and encourage us today.
With a new day arriving in Washington in this light filled season of Epiphany, let us call on God, as the Prayers of the People say: to ‘Shine on God’s Church, God’s world, God’s people, our hearts, the afflicted, and the departed so that we may be emboldened in a dark world to ‘speak truthfully, and to act with the courage of love’. As the final words of Amanda Gorman’s inauguration poem inspire us:
“When day comes, we step out of the shade
Aflame and unafraid.
The new dawn blooms as we free it,
For there is always light.
If only we’re brave enough to see it,
If only we’re brave enough to be it.”