A New Faith – January 28, 2018

Blaise Pascal, the 17th century French mathematician and philosopher, described two kinds of people that have the ability to know God. He wrote this:

“Two kinds of persons know [God]: those who have a humble heart, and who love lowliness, whatever kind of intellect they may have, high or low; and those who have sufficient understanding to see the truth, whatever opposition they may have to it.”

1. Those who love lowliness: the simple, the accepting, those of us who don’t investigate any further. Who hear stories and the instructions of Christ to love God and love our neighbors and that’s all they need! Those are the marching orders – and off they go to live their Christian lives!

2. And Those who have sufficient understanding to see the truth:  those who study and obsess, those of us who are never satisfied and must investigate and search and learn and decipher… those of us who delve into the scriptures and tradition and experience and reason. And our study leads us to the truth – says Pascal – and from there we live our lives of Faith.

In our scripture today we see two very different reactions to the call of God. One from the disciples upon hearing the Call of Jesus, and one upon hearing the instructions of God. Let’s take a look at those reactions and determine what we can learn from them:

Jonah 1: 1-3 and Jonah 3:1-10

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, 2‘Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.’ 3But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

Now we skip a bit of the story here… do you remember what happens? He ends up on a boat and the seas roar… and the others on the boats begin praying to their gods and the storm doesn’t stop. So they insist Jonah pray to his God.. and when they find out that he is running away from the instructions of his God, they throw him into the sea… where he is swallowed by a big fish. And in the belly of the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord for deliverance and the fish vomited him up!

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2‘Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.’ 3So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.

God’s instruction “to go to Nineveh, the great city” is not an easy task – Jonah had good reason to run away – Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, and Assyria was the enemy of Israel and Judah. Assyria was a brutal occupying force that destroyed Israel and held Judah captive for a hundred years! So, Jonah is called by God to go into enemy territory and to announce God’s judgment. (1) And he finally does, but rather lamely:

Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. 4Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, ‘Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’ 5And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

Jonah’s story is one that shows the human (and flawed) reaction to God – God asks him to do something really difficult – for the good of the kingdom, for the good of the people, for the good of the world, and Jonah runs away! It’s too much for him. He doesn’t want that kind of responsibility; he doesn’t want ANY part of it! Instead of heading northeast to Nineveh, he sails west, and even when God sends a storm to disrupt their journey, he is all too willing to be cast overboard and drown rather than follow God’s call. (2)

The contrast between Jonah’s response to God’s call and the disciples’ response in John 1:43-51 is striking. Listen to the way their action is described:

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’  16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. 17And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ 18And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

They dropped everything, their work, their relationships, their father, their livelihoods and immediately followed.

So using Pascal’s definitions which story demonstrates which “type of person”. To review, he said,

“Two kinds of persons know [God]: those who have a humble heart, and who love lowliness, whatever kind of intellect they may have, high or low; and those who have sufficient understanding to see the truth, whatever opposition they may have to it.”

In my opinion, the disciples demonstrate those “who love lowliness, those who have a humble heart…” They have a simple faith – a faith that responses to God by saying “Wow. Okay. Yes, this is important, I must drop everything and follow.” And Jonah represents the other way to know God, as Pascal explains,  “those who have sufficient understanding to see the truth, whatever opposition they may have to it.”

Jonah shows his reluctance, his opposition to understanding the truth using Pascal’s terminology. Jonah sees the truth of God, hears the voice of God, and runs the other way. But he is not finished – or maybe God is not finished with him!  He encounters people with other belief-structures on the boat, witnesses their prayers to their own gods, and THEY believe in the power of Jonah’s God, perhaps more than Jonah does himself. Maybe Jonah needed the time with other faiths to see the truth of his own; maybe Jonah needed some time in the belly of the fish to think and ponder and pray to understand what God was asking of him. Maybe Jonah needed to run away in order for him to understand that God will not give up on him.

We each have our own response to God’s call. We each have our own Christian life to discover. But today I encourage you to find it! Do not settle for a life of quiet desperation and a life unlived! Sing the song of God’s love! Sing the song of God’s relentless search for us! Sing the song of God’s persistent call! Sing the song of a faithful life! Today and forever. Amen.

  1. Howard Wallace, http://hwallace.unitingchurch.org.au/WebOTcomments/EpiphanyB/Epiphany3.html

2.    Wallace.