Pentecost 17A 2026

THE REV. E. WAYNE ROLLINS

​ Poor Jonah. Nothing seems to go his way. He’s given a job to do, but doesn’t want it and tries to run away by catching the next boat out of town. His running puts the lives of others in danger, so he’s thrown overboard, only to be swallowed by a big fish. Then, before he figures out how to fung shui the alimentary canal, his presence provides proof that prophets are prone to causing indigestion in many species. He is, you might say, the Rodney Dangerfield of prophets. 

Today’s first lesson is the end of the story, so it needs a bit of explanation. Jonah lived at about the same time as Amos, Micah, Hosea, and the first prophet named Isaiah. He’s from the northern kingdom of Israel, which is under siege by the Assyrian army. Anyone know the capital of Assyria? Ding ding ding. Nineveh. 

The last thing Jonah wants to see is the sparing of Nineveh from God’s wrath. He admits that God is a forgiving being, and that if he preaches repentance to them, they might just take him at his word and do it. Jonah wants to see vengeance, not redemption. But no, that’s not what happened. The closest Jonah gets to vengeance is by becoming what could have been the retaliation of millions of future sushi dinners. 

Of course, there’s more to the story, including the fact that it’s all a metaphor to reteach Israel itself the possibility of forgiveness and redemption even while they’re under siege. It’s also a story of God’s sense of humor. My Old Testament professor in seminary pointed out that the last words of today’s lesson might just be the last time God is quoted as speaking directly to a human being up until the time of Jesus. If you didn’t notice, the very last words are sarcasm. Go figure. 

These few weeks we’re hearing Jesus’ teaching not only of the availability of forgiveness, but of the very real requirement of our being forgiving even as we are forgiven. I keep listening for a change of inflection when we repeat the words “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” I haven’t heard much change yet. 

“Forgive us OUR sins AS we forgive those who sin against US.” That’s what we’re praying for. Be careful. It might just get answered. 
Jonah is a personification of Israel itself, and, by extension, a personification of us when we choose vengeance over forgiveness. It’s the same lesson Paul tries to remind the church at Philippi when he says to live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. It may be true that while anger is appropriate when it reveals injustice, forgiveness is the only thing that allows us to stay in relationship. It is, as an advisor once said, “the only thing that allows us to stop trying to live a better yesterday.” 

When we forgive, we remain in some type of relationship with those we forgive. It takes effort, a willingness, and desire to remain in a relationship. Consider that as the reason why God offers forgiveness to all—even the Ninevites among us. It is God’s willingness, God’s desire to remain in a faithful relationship with God’s people, God’s children. The cross of Jesus shows the extreme length to which God will go to do that by submitting God made flesh to torture and death in order to redeem both death and all those subject to it. 

That lesson is at the heart of Paul’s teaching, the very core of the Gospels, and a hard lesson for Jonah to learn. Maybe once Jonah figured out that his whole calling and strange journey was as much about teaching him who God is as it was about being God’s messenger, he can mourn the loss of a bush simply because the bush died and not because he had to sit all alone in his sunny pity party. 
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Maybe we can learn that one, too.