Jonah: Missionary Gone Fishy or What?

The story of Jonah was one of my childhood favorites. When still young enough to be read a bedtime story, my answer to Mother’s question, “So what do you want to read tonight?” was more times than not answered by an enthusiastic, “Jonah!” (My second favorite was “Daniel and the Lion’s Den”.  Any surprise I like action movies?)

Jonah is one of those stories most people have heard of even if they don’t know very much about the Bible. We’ve heard the story primarily from the belly of the whale perspective. We seem to camp out on that part about the whale swallowing Jonah. Never mind that the Bible doesn’t call it a “whale” but a big fish.

Those who do get past three days and three nights in the belly of the whale…uh, fish part usually understand the story to go something like this:

God wants all the heathen to be saved. God calls Jonah to foreign missions and he doesn’t want to go. After being slammed by a storm, thrown overboard by those pagan sailors, Jonah ends up three days and three nights in the belly of a whale/fish whatever. Surprise! Jonah now is willing to go to Nineveh. He goes but he is not happy about it. More surprise…Nineveh repents even down to the animals. Jonah is still not happy with it. Jonah throws a fit under a vine. God is not happy with Jonah. Worm eats vine. Jonah’s not happy. God’s not happy. Nobody is happy. Except we assume the pagan sailors who made it to shore, a big fish recovering from digestive problems and the King of Nineveh, the people and their pets are all happy.

Moral of the story: When God calls you to foreign missions you should go.

Application:  Don’t you want to go?

The story of Jonah is not about Christian world missions. It can and should be applied to our mission work. But just to make Jonah into a recruitment poster for missionaries is to miss the point of the story.

You may have noticed I keep referring to “the story” of Jonah. I do believe there was a historical prophet named Jonah who went to Nineveh (By the way, Nineveh is on the outskirts of a town you have heard about lately in the news…Mosul.) And I personally believe Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days. But to argue with those who don’t swallow the part about the great fish (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun) is for both of us to miss the message of Jonah.

The book of Jonah is a tightly knit, carefully woven story. It’s only forty-seven verses in the English bible in length. However, every word and phrase is carefully crafted to deliver a message.

God always wants us to hear His message. He wanted Jonah to hear what He was saying. God wanted Nineveh to get His message. And I believe God wants us to hear His message too.

For the next few blogs we will explore the story of Jonah. There is a message we need to hear about God, ourselves and the people God puts into our lives. Good stuff from a “Matthew Connection” point of view.

Besides…it is one of my favorite stories. 

Try It...You Might Like It!

Try It...You Might Like It!

Here is a simple way to initiate praying for other people who you have never met before. Yes, praying for other people. Prayer is powerful and the more we pray for other people the more we will see Jesus move in our lives and the lives of others.

Taking the iniative to pray for people is the best way I have found to make space for God to use me in touching the lives of people.

And yes, I did say praying for people you have never met before. Depending on your background and personality type-- you are either checking in or checking out about now. If you are like most people I know, the idea of praying for people you don't know and have never met before is not your idea of a good time. 

But you will be amazed how easy it is and how comfortable it is when people are approached honestly, clearly and with genuine compassion. Let me outline one way I have found to be able to pray for people I have never met before.

You go out to eat. It is your practice to quietly bow your head and offer a short prayer of thanks before the meal. Here's what I discovered. After my server comes to my table, greets me, asks what I want to drink and then ultimately takes my order, this is what I say. I quietly speak the server's name and say,

"I (we) usually pray quietly before our meal. Is there something for you or someone you know that I could pray for when I (we) pray?"

You are sharing you usually pray before a meal as a normal practice. You let them know you're praying quietly so you're not going to go weird on them. You're just asking how you can include your sever in your prayer.

You're not asking to pray with them. You just asking them if they have something or someone you can pray for when you do pray.

Some of the responses I have heard from servers are:
"Thank you for asking."
"No one has ever asked me that before."
"That's the nicest thing I ever had a customer ask me."

I would say over 90% give me a specific prayer request. The requests range from someone in their family who is sick or a concern about a child. Some ask for prayer about upcoming job interviews. Some are students and have financial needs. Many ask for prayer for their children. I have even prayed for baby sitting needs so a parent can work without worrying about their child being safe.

More than once I have seen server's eyes tear up and share something that had just happened that day. Like a parent just diagnosed with a disease or gone to the hospital. And more than one mom asked me to pray for their teenage child.

Very few have said, "no". Some have smiled and said "No, I'm good" or "Can't think of a thing." My response is to smile and say "that's great, thank you". Those are the server's I love to pray for because I know it is God's timing for me to have them as my server. Here's how I pray for them:

"Jesus, please reveal yourself to (server's name). Show yourself to them and show them how much you love them. And do it in a way they will know it's because of this prayer." It will be fun to find out in heaven what happened as a result of these kinds of prayers.

Here's a response I have heard more than once. "Well, I'm not very religious". I just smile and say, "Neither am I but I do like to talk to God sometimes." Most people laugh and give me a prayer request.

Why am I suggesting this idea to you? Because the more we can share with others in a way that is genuine and natural, the more opportunities we will have to see Jesus move in amazing ways.

Isn't that what Matthew did? He took a normal situation and allowed Jesus the opportunity to step in and reveal Himself. Matthew had a few friends over to his house for dinner to meet Jesus. There were even some Pharasees that made it into the house. And Jesus took the opportunity to reveal that He was coming for the sick and hurting, and not for the "religious" who thought they didn't need Him.

Try this the next time you go out to eat. Now I don't do this everytime. Sometimes it just doesn't "feel right" and I don't do it. Sometimes...well, I just forget to do it. But when I do-- I am always amazed how Jesus uses those situations and surprises both the server and me.

Try it. You might like it.

"Disreputable Characters"

Matthew had an interesting set of friends according to Matthew 9:10 MSG. “Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his (Jesus’) close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them.” Where did these characters come from? Sounds like they were Matthew’s friends. Later the Pharisees criticized Jesus for setting such a bad example for spending time with such “crooks and riffraff”.

Let me ask a question: if Jesus came to your house or mine, what disreputable characters would he meet there? (I know some right now might respond, “Well, it depends on how many family members were there” but that’s a topic for another time.)

Look at this question from at least two different angles.

One is that we don’t have “disreputable characters” as friends. This is probably true if we have been followers of Jesus for a long time or come from a family of long time Jesus followers. Our friends tend to be nice, cool, respectable, spiritual—you name it. As followers of Jesus, we have made it a priority to not have disreputable characters as friends. You know, our friends tend to reflect to others who we are.

Unfortunately, it is all too often true what I remember a friend saying,

“Non-believers have two problems. One, they either don’t know a Christian or …two, they do know a Christian.”

They don’t know a Christian therefore they can’t hear nor see the good news lived out.  Or they do know a Christian who has such a condemning or negative attitude that these kind of Christians drive people away from Jesus.

If we really don’t have contact with people who are not Jesus followers, we need to find some…on purpose. Not as a “project” so we can set our witness sights on them and “get them” for Jesus. Besides, most people smell out this kind of hypocrisy a mile away. But because we are missing something vital in our relationship with Jesus when we don’t have others to introduce to him.

If you find yourself isolated from people who do not follow Jesus you might ask yourself:

·       “Why am I not serving someone who is not a follower of Jesus to the point that we become friends?”

·       “How did I get so isolated from people who need to hear and see Jesus from me?”

·       “When did I become so isolated that I would have to build some relationships with non- Jesus followers on purpose?”

Granted there are times when dysfunctional people need to be removed from our lives.  Abusers, manipulators, users, etc. But I think we’re seeing something different in Matthew’s case. He had “disreputable characters” as friends because he himself was a disreputable character. A tax collector for the Romans was not on the Jewish list of most favorites. The crowd he ran around with was made up of the outcasts of Jewish society. 

The amazing thing was he had just become a follower of Jesus and was evidently eager for his friends to meet Jesus.  And the truly great thing for us-- Jesus was eager to meet them.

One other angle to look on this disreputable character thing, how hard is it to think of ourselves as a “disreputable character”? I’m finding the times I get closer to Jesus are also the times when I’m more aware of just how much that I am accepted by sheer grace. It’s those times I am confronted with how very disreputable I am without the grace and love of Jesus I find Jesus getting closer to me.

And that self-awareness of how much I am a “disreputable character” helps me extend love and mercy to others. About the time I am ready to write someone off…I am reminded about Jesus being excited to have dinner with me. Me! Not that I’m into that “I’m just a poor sinner and no-good” kind of thing. But I know what good there is in me is not why Jesus loves me.  He loves me with complete awareness of who I am without him. And he loves me…a disreputable character.

So, how many disreputable characters would Jesus find in your house if he came to dinner…there would be at least one.