Stephen
Terry, Director
The Restless Prophet
Commentary
for the September 18, 2021, Sabbath School Lesson
"If you had known what these words mean,
'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent." Matthew
12:7, NIV
When I was baptized in the
1960s, it was largely a matter of these are the rules, if you agree to follow
them you are in. This happened after a series of studies showing how everyone
else was wrong and my denomination was the one that got everything right. I
think this is the position of most denominations and religions. If it were not,
what would be the point of emphasizing any distinctiveness to attract members?
While each enjoys the racial and cultural trappings of where their denomination
arose, usually the most important distinction between them is dogma and the rules
that sprout from it. While those rules can be compassionately assertive, they can
also be selfishly defensive. We can aggressively confront the ills of this
world with healing, comfort, and hope, or we can use the rules as a barrier to
keep others at a distance lest we find ourselves contaminated with their shortfalls
on orthodoxy. Each will primarily be attractive to those who share that
perspective and will seek fellowship with the church.
Raised in a family where rules
were often more important than truth and challenges to those arbitrary rules
were not acceptable. I grew to see rules as a defense against emotional or
physical pain that might result from disobedience. As a result, I found myself drawn
to organizations that offered a pre-packaged set of rules that also could not
be questioned. This led me into the military for over six years. It also
brought me into my current denomination. Having been in the denomination for
over fifty years, I have seen those rules grow to a list of twenty-eight. I
have also seen that list become more detailed as the denomination tries to end
any wiggle room over dogma. One of the latest is focused on making the Creation
Story a literal six-day event as we define a day to be in the present.
When I joined the denomination,
I did as many new converts do. I looked to outperform older members by being
better at keeping the rules than one might expect from someone new. I expected this
would grant me acceptance and respect from the church leaders. It did not. Instead,
some felt I was only interested in earning brownie points with God and that my
obedience was primarily based in selfishness. This became clearer as I also did
something else new converts do. I began to focus on others, not in a compassionate
way, but to compare them to the list of rules I had agreed to obey. I questioned
their commitment when I saw discrepancies and even went so afar as to ask if
they were really converted. I reflected the image of God as someone who is
eagerly awaiting a rules infraction so he can have an excuse to cut sheep from
the fold and exclude them. I am sorry to say that even when I later became a
pastor, I had too much of this in my thinking, even though I had begun to
discover the grace and compassion that had been missing in my earlier life and
in my introduction to the denomination.
I believe Jonah the prophet,
had a similar experience to mine. He had a religion that excluded those who did
not follow the rules as he understood them. God tried to get him to move beyond
that, from exclusion to outreach. Jonah refused and fled from the opportunity
God was providing him. He wanted nothing to do with an outreach to the wicked
Ninevites. Though he should have known better, he tried to flee from God by
sailing to a foreign shore. The fact that God was deeply moved about the fate
of the Ninevites, a foreign people, should have revealed that his presence and
compassion spanned the globe and did not end at the borders of Israel. While
Jonah was fleeing, a storm arose at sea, and the religious views of many people
at the time were that any natural obstacle must be caused by the gods. Appeasing
those gods was therefore necessary to survive the calamity. Ultimately, Jonah
was tossed overboard as the necessary sacrifice. But God's character is love
and compassion. Rather than allow Jonah to drown in the storm, he was rescued by
a fish. Jonah cried out to God from the fish and promised to go to Nineveh as
requested. God heard his cry, and he was then placed ashore by the fish.
Ever since this story was written,
Bible scholars have debated the literalness of the account. They have questioned
what kind of fish it could have been or how could a person survive that long
inside a fish. But literalists often miss the point of the biblical narrative.
There are some strong clues that this story was to be taken metaphorically. For
instance, Jonah's three days in the fish can be seen as a typical reference to
Christ's antitypical three days in the tomb. His deliverance to the shore alive
well may prefigure the resurrection. But if it is to be taken metaphorically,
what is the point thus far? Some might feel that it is to emphasize the necessity
of faithfulness to God's calling. While that may certainly be derived from the
tale, there is a deeper truth. That truth is that God is merciful and
compassionate. He wanted to save the Ninevites from their self-destructive
path, and he wanted to save Jonah from his mistaken theology. However, although
he managed to obtain Jonah's agreement to go to Nineveh, Jonah still saw God as
a thundering rules enforcer that would surely punish the Ninevites for their
transgressions.
To that end, Jonah began
preaching thundering judgment against Nineveh. Ironically, the Ninevites
understood God's character better than Jonah. They knew that God could be
merciful and chose to show repentance rather than rebellion. Jonah didn't care.
Instead, he set himself up outside the city to watch and perhaps gloat over its
destruction. Despite this, God continued to give him lessons in compassion. To
shelter him from the heat, God provided a plant for shade. But when the plant
withered, Jonah cursed the situation not recognizing the blessing he had been
given. He felt death would be better than living without the grace God had
provided through the plant. He especially felt so upon discovering that God had
spared the Ninevites in response to their repentance. But despite his
experiences and God's efforts to teach him, the story never says that Jonah
repented of his mischaracterization of God. Metaphorically, a case may even be made
that Jonah's theology of a God more eager to punish than to save led him only
to despair and to crave a hopeless death.
There is probably no better characterization
of God than the life of Jesus. He easily could have come and died and
slam-dunked salvation for everyone without all the other things he did, but
instead he healed the sick and gave hope to the despairing wherever he went.[i]
One can imagine entire villages where there was no more sickness or disability.
If time spent were an indicator, Jesus spent three days with his death and
resurrection, but he spent well over three years modeling the character of
compassion. Therefore, it is hard to see how compassion can be uncoupled from salvation
in those who would follow his leading. But sadly, that is too often the case.
There are still many Jonah's who are more interested in proclaiming doom and
destruction rather than mercy and compassion. Some have already taken their
seats to wait for the horror and destruction of the apocalypse preceding the
Parousia. If God was reluctant to destroy a city of one hundred and twenty
thousand, how much more compassion would he hold for over seven billion globally?
Sadly, when we consider the
state of those who profess to follow God today, we find an entirely different character.
Some even go as far as to declare that they would willingly put to death those
of differing political opinions should disagreements devolve into civil war. Humanity
has done this so often in the name of greed, a lust for power, or even in the
name of the church, it is not hard to believe that some would indeed
characterize God so and cut a bloody path through those who dissent. But God continues
to appeal to us to see his true nature as he did with Jonah. He is not willing
that any should perish.[ii] I
have recognized my own failings in compassion and how far I am from where I
need to be. I pray continually that God will help me to be a more compassionate
person. I fear heaven is more about compassion than rules, and if I don't get it
figured out here, I will not be happy there. May God grant each of us the
ability to understand the lessons he gives us and to develop a nature that will
be fit for heaven.