By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
January 21, 2024
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Jonah 3:1–5 (ESV)
1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
Last Sunday we spent worship cuddled under a warm blanket drinking a hot beverage. Well at least that is how I picture it in my mind. Most of us probably spent the time complaining about the temperature, and wondering why on earth we live in a place that gets so cold. We wonder, we complain, we judge, we do a lot of things. Many of these things we so often do, we do not even consider beyond the moment. It is just who we are, it is our nature we might say. But have we ever considered if those things we label human nature or just a cultural norm are things we are encouraged to change?
Last Sunday, if you happened to have logged into to YouTube and watched the meeting for worship we posted, we discussed the calling of Samuel. I presented some background history that lead to Samuel being in that place at that time. Israel at the time of Samuel was not exactly paradise. At the closing of the book of Judges, Israel was so bad that Sodom might be considered tame. The corruption was so bad that Eli, the priest’s, own sons were using their position for personal gain. This gain was financial, but they were also abusing their position for more lustful endeavors. Abuse is common within any organization. Wherever people gather together for any reason: for work, entertainment, worship, education pretty much any gathering for any reason. Wherever people gather, there will be those within organizations that will use their position for nefarious reasons. They may even justify that abuse and codify it into the rules and laws that these organizations accept as their governance.
We accept this. We label it as human nature, or we say that it is just how our culture operates. It is accepted, even defended while many know full that there is abuse within the system. I do not dwell on this often, but there are moments where I do think about it. I love the organizations I am part of. Of course, I do if I did not think that I would not be part of the organization. And I am a member of various organizations: from Cub Scouts, church, and other. I am a citizen of a nation. That is and organization. I have chosen to live in a certain place within this nation, a state, a city, a neighborhood. Each are an organization. They are organizations that operate within the confines on another organization, but they are different. Kansas is different from Missouri, even though they are neighboring states. Belton is different than Kansas City. Olathe, Overland Park, Independence and KCK are all different even though they are positioned within a similar geographic region. We do not think about the differences, it is simply the way things are. We do not think about it until we go somewhere else.
I grew up in Kansas and now live in Missouri. For the most part there are not many differences. But there are a few things that just annoy me. Things that I do not understand and at times I think are downright criminal. Like why do I need to go get a car inspection before I can get my car tag? Or why do I have to go to one place to pay the taxes on a car and another place to get the tag? Or why do car dealers not include sales tax in the sale of a vehicle in Missouri and I have to pay that later? There are reasons for those differences, and the people that wrote the laws that govern those rules could probably list them off and justify them in my mind, but they are different from Kansas. Since I know two different methods of handling these similar tasks, it annoys me. That being said I am not saying that Kansas is better than Missouri. I know people that have moved into Kansas from Missouri, and they are just as annoyed as I am at the little seemingly insignificant differences. And there are those that have never realized that there was any other way of doing things.
We often just accept as normal the things that go on around us. It is human nature, it is our culture. I have a great deal of respect for my nation. I think it is the greatest nation ever formed by men and I would not want to live anywhere else. And I am certain that many of us would agree. But how many of us have been somewhere else? How many of us have experienced real life outside this nation? I say real life because going on a trip to Cancun does not give you a real taste of what is like to live in Mexico.
You might not think much about it. To many of us, we might even consider the Constitution to almost sacred, but it is not. A nation, our nation, is an organization, some of our ancestors might have assisted in forming the organization, but like most organizations there are some things within it that are suspect. For most of my life I did not question it or even take notice because it is a good organization. But there are places where it is completely wrong. Luckily, we have a process where we can amend this document to correct past mistakes, but the reality that those things were in existence at one point in time has lasting effects within our culture.
You might not understand where I am going with this. You might even think that I am being political. I begin in this way because cultures can change. There was a point in our nation’s history where certain people were not allowed to vote, they were excluded from the greater participation in the governing of our nation. At one point only property owners could participate in government. It is easy to make justifications for this because landowners are the ones that have the most at stake if the organization is not run properly, but there is a problem. I do not own land. According to that way of thinking, I have nothing at risk, so I have nothing to say. My voice and my thoughts are of no value to the organization even though, the document forming our organization says “We the People.” Well to be honest, the constitution did not specifically say I could not vote without property, it says that the states determine who can and cannot vote. But there were debates within the various states that argued that concern, so it was not until the third president of this organization that all states allowed people like me, non landowners to vote.
What changed? Somehow, the people with power within the organization recognized something was not right. People that did not own land were affected by the laws our nation made, and they should be able to participate. There was a point in time where colonists were not given a voice in government even though they were forced to abide by the laws made by others. This made some people furious because they fought a war to rectify that problem. Landowners and non-land owners fought side by side in that war, and they were saying just because you do not own land your voice did not matter. We realized that there was something wrong, and we changed. Those changes are ongoing and should continue to improve.
Often organizations use exclusive tactics and at other times it can be inclusive. This goes back to the book of Judges. The main theme in that book is that there was no king in the land and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. This can be positive or negative. I personally see it as positive. The people were only subject to their God, their family, and their tribe. Those were the people that you were around every day. Those were the people that would help in your time of need and the people you would help during a crisis. Even after Israel had a king they retained this idea to some degree. That way of living only works if you truly live by the law, “Love God with all that you have and all that you are, and love your neighbor as yourself.” That was essentially the very law God wanted his people to live under. Take care of each other.
Why do I say all of this? I say this because God called Jonah to go to Nineveh. It is one thing to encourage change within our nation, but to go to another nation to encourage change is something different.
“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.’” This is how the story opens. God, the God of Israel. Yahweh the one who calls Israel his own portion of all the people upon the earth. God is concerned about the people of Nineveh. Why does he even care? And why does he call it “That great city?”
When we look at this, it is important to see beyond the surface. We need to look through all scripture to gain a greater understanding, and then we need to look deeper still. We know that, according to scripture, at one point in history all people were one people. We all have a common origin with Adam and Eve. Their children Cain, Abel, and Seth went into the world outside Eden and began to populate the earth. Well Abel did not participate in the population much as Cain hit him with a rock.
Seth remained with his father, Adam, while Cain fled from the presence of God and settled in the land of Nod. Cain fled, and he built a city. I encourage you to go online and listen to the Bible Project’s study regarding cities in scripture, because it is amazing. Cain built this city in honor of his own son, but the underlying reason he built the city was because he was afraid. He was afraid that people would attack him, enact vengeance upon him, and take what he saw as his. Out of this city various people emerged. People that played pipes and lyres, people that forged instruments of bronze and iron, people who made tents and had livestock. And people that said, “If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.” Cain started civilization.
But notice the attitude that emerges from civilization. They increase. They expand. They make great things of beauty and value, and they also promote war. That is Lamech’s rant. It is saber-rattling. In his fear of people coming after him for his own misdeeds he wishes to insight greater fear. It is as if the evening news is written on the pages of scripture.
As the story continues, we are told that, “man began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.” For a long time I did not think anything of this, and wondered why this angered God to the point he would limit the life span of humanity because of it. Then I realized that humanity had not been referred to as sons of God before. And later in the same segment of the story it speaks of Nephilim, or giants. Throughout the known civilization in that age, the nations would refer to their leaders as both giants and sons of the gods. Their legends would speak about how these gods fathered children. Children like Hercules, Gilgamesh, and all the characters in the Percy Jackson series currently on Disney plus.
These sons of Elohim angered God, and he chose to rid the world of the resulting offspring. But who were these people? And why did they seek the relationship with the Elohim in that manner? Other spiritual writings from early Judaism calls these beings the Watchers, because that was their duty. They were supposed to watch over creation. They were to observe and report, but they lusted for the daughters of men they began to take a more active role, giving them knowledge of metal working, music, herbalism, and war. When we look at the larger picture we can begin to see something emerge. The descents of Cain formed cities, and these cities developed arts and trades that became the foundation of civilization. They began to use these things in their quest for power and domination. This quest began to alleviate the fear of others, but the fear began to consume them. They sought after greater knowledge to give them an edge over other cities, and at times this knowledge was found in inhumane places. They began to forget who their neighbors where, they were others, they were outsiders, no longer brothers and sister created in the image of God. Instead of sharing what they had, they began to exclude. Disaster was the result.
God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, that great city. Israel was not immune from the exclusionary mindset. They, too, were driven by fear of others. Its only human. It was their culture. They were the people of God, God himself chose them to be his portion as he divided the people among the sons of God after the third fall of Babel. They were chosen. But were they chosen to exclude? No, they were to become the light to enlighten all the nations. Jonah hated Nineveh, they were evil and corrupt. He had no desire to help this people, so he ran from God. He attempted to go as far away from Nineveh as he could possibly get, but God was there.
Disaster was the result for Jonah’s running. He was caught in a storm greater than any experienced before. He knew it was of God’s doing, so he told his companions to toss him over the side of the ship. Jonah would rather end his own life before he brought a message of hope to the people he saw as his enemy. But God did not allow him to die. God sent a great fish, a whale, or some other sea creature to swallow Jonah. For three days Jonah lived within that chaos, and after a prayer, he was vomited onto the land once again.
Jonah went through a lot, but God’s calling did not change. Before Jonah had a chance to get his land legs under him again, the word of the Lord comes again to him a second time. “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” Jonah was given a second chance. He was given this second chance even after willful rebellion against his God.
He goes into the city. We are told that it would take three days to walk through the city, but Jonah stops after a day. And he calls out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
This is the extent of Jonah’s message. Eight words in English, six in the original language. Six words and the entire city believed God. The people were not given any additional knowledge. This strange foreigner comes into their city, and he yells, “you have forty days before your end.” Forty days. This number is often used in scripture, and it is usually associated with a trial followed by something great. I was curious about this number because forty days is important to Christian traditions as well. Jesus was in the wilderness of temptation for forty days, and to honor that time, Lent is a period of forty days leading up to Holy Week. During lent many faith traditions are encouraged to fast. Just as the people of Nineveh fasted. But again why forty?
I looked into this in relation to behavior and found that breaking a bad habit requires approximately eighteen to two hundred and fifty days according to Medical News Today. Other habit breaking websites say eighteen to sixty days. The range depends on how engrained the bad habit is. But when you look at the positive side of things. It can take eighteen to around twenty-one days to create a habit.
The message that God gave Jonah was to encourage the people to change their ways. And he gave them forty days, this is enough time for them to create a new habit different from what they were doing before. They did not know that this message came from Yahweh, Jonah did not tell them that, but they knew that the destruction they faced was coming from the spiritual realm.
They heard the message, and immediately called for a fast and to put on sackcloth. From the lowest servant to the most dignified noble within the royal courts. They did this even before their king made a royal proclamation to make it a law.
We are then told that when God saw what they did how they turned from their evil way, he relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them. God changed his mind we might say. Or in these modern times, they averted disaster because they changed their behavior.
I have faced disastrous moments. I have had reports from my doctor saying that I should change my diet because I was beginning to show signs of high cholesterol. I have even participated in a Lenten fast where I gave up drinking Dr. Pepper for forty days. To change is hard, but occasionally we need to fast. We need to abstain from things for a period of time so that we can see just how much of a grip various substances and activities have on us. We need to become aware and be mindful of how our actions affect our own well-being and those around us. That is why God gave them forty days. He gave them the opportunity to make the change if they desired.
But what about Jonah? Well, Jonah was upset. He wanted God to overthrow this great city. He had experienced a second chance himself, he had sat in the belly of chaos and was redeemed, yet he was hesitant to move beyond minimal effort. God may have relented his anger toward Nineveh, but eventually they returned to their evil ways. Eventually they were used by God to bring judgment upon Northern Kingdom. Which ironically was the geographic are Jonah was from. They returned because Jonah did not provide any additional knowledge.
God showed Jonah that he did not exclude, yet Jonah did. God showed Jonah that he was a God of grace and mercy, yet Jonah did not reciprocate that grace. God showed, but Jonah could not be bothered to share what he knew. Who are we? Are we like the people of Cain, hiding in our cities, in fear. Rattling our sabers trying to drive away anyone different from ourselves? Are we seeking knowledge to give us an edge at the expense of others? Or do we resemble God?
Jesus told the pharisees who demanded signs that the only sign they would receive was the sign of Jonah. On the surface we see this as Jesus being buried and rising on the third day, but could it be more than that? Could the sign be the irony of exclusion and mercilessness coming back to bite us? We live in a culture much like Nineveh. We know that much of what occurs could cause disaster, but what are we doing to help?
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By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
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By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
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