Rev. Nick Cheek
Genesis 12:1-10 and Jonah 1:1-3
A wise person once said… “you can’t run away from your troubles… there ain’t no place that far away.” Jonah was a runner – Indeed, a very bold one. God gives him a command and has the guts to say no. That’s usually not what a prophet does. This immediately makes Jonah’s story fundamentally different from the other prophets. Jonah… is unique. Throughout the bible, the prophet’s job is to deliver God’s message clearly and confidently, even when they didn’t want to. Amos did it, Isaiah, Joel, Micah, Nehum, Zechariah, Jeremiah, they all did their job as asked. But here we have Jonah. A reluctant prophet. I think that’s why we like to hear about Jonah. We love his story… as children, we loved hearing about the big fish… and now we are drawn to the story as adults because Jonah… is real… he is complicated … he doesn’t follow suit – which, in some ways, makes him more interesting than the others. Most prophets are known not only for their obedience but also for their words. Their books are collections of sermons, warnings, and prophesies delivered on behalf of God. Instead, Jonah is not primarily a record of what Jonah says, but rather a story about what Jonah does… a story about how he responds to God. It is a story about wrestling with God’s call… about his resistance, his inner turmoil… and even his emotions.¹
In our scripture this morning , instead of going by land as God asks, Jonah gets a ticket for a boat ride. Instead of going to Nineveh (which is over here), Jonah makes a beeline for Tarshish, a place that is geographically in the exact opposite direction of Nineveh. He goes to Tarshish, a land that is that it is outside of Israel, or for Jonah at that time, outside of his homeland. Perhaps Jonah assumed that if he could just make it far enough away from his Holy Land, God’s presence wouldn’t be able to find him. But all Jonah… ends up accomplishing with his behavior is initiating a giant game of hide-and-seek of God. Jonah is a runner. The first question we want to ask when reading his reaction is… Why? What did Jonah run… why did he flee so desperately? The answer we’ve been trained to give… over years and years of hearing and rehearing the story of Jonah is that he ran because he was a disobedient prophet. He ran because he was a sinner, unable to respond to God’s call. He ran because he was lazy… or selfish… or unwilling to listen.
He ran because he wasn’t as faithful as all the rest. We’re not supposed to be like Jonah, we’re supposed to listen to God’s call and follow after…with no questions asked.
When we slow down and pay attention, Jonah’s reaction begins to feel less like a tale about a reluctant prophet and more like a window into the complexity of the human experience. Following God’s call has never been as neat or straightforward as we sometimes make it out to be. Scripture itself gives us story after story of people who hesitate, question, resist, and struggle along the way.
The first words God speaks to Jonah are “Rise” and “Go.” Two words Jonah has read before. He knows from the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, what those two words can do to a person’s life. Abraham and Sarah heard those words too… And they immediately pack up and leave their hometown, the place they loved, the place they knew, and travel to a foreign land. Upon arriving in that foreign land, the first challenge they experience is a famine. Rise, Go…
Moses heard those words by the burning bush. What followed was a command from God to confront one of the most powerful men on earth at the time. He was called to stand in front of Pharaoh and say, “Pharaoh, let my people go.” Jesus does the same with the disciples while they are fishing… “Come, follow me.” And they leave their nets, their livelihood, their life as they know it, and follow.
As with most call stories in this Bible, whenever the word of the Lord says get up and go, a difficult challenge usually comes with it. When Jonah heard those words, what followed was a command to leave his home and travel to Nineveh – a foreign land, a pagan land, filled with people he did not know, people he did not understand… people who were very different from him. Jonah, had no desire to do so.
Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann reminds us that the prophetic and faithful life is never about easy obedience. Rather, it is about being drawn into a relationship with God that often involves tension, disruption, deep faith, and at times, internal conflict.
In his work, Brueggemann suggests that the prophets are not idealized figures of certainty, but people who are “caught up in the dangerous, demanding, and unsettling work of God.”
When you see it that way, Jonah’s response begins to make sense. Perhaps Jonah didn’t run simply because he was disobedient. Maybe he ran from the call in front of him because it felt overwhelming. Maybe he ran because he was afraid. Maybe he ran because it challenged his assumptions, his identity, his sense of safety. Maybe he ran because, deep down, he wasn’t sure he had what it takes. And if that’s true… then Jonah’s story starts to feel a little more like our stories. Jonah starts to sound like someone we can relate to… someone who’s wrestled with his faith… just like you and me.
Have you ever been there, Church? Have you ever encountered a challenge or hardship, a season along your journey that stopped you in your tracks or made you want to freeze and go the other way? Those are Jonah moments. Moments when the path in front of us feels too uncertain, too demanding, or too far outside our comfort to make sense to us. Moments when a part of us wants to step forward… while another part of us wants to go the other way. They are moments that force us to ask those deep personal questions – questions we don’t want anyone else to know about. Questions like, “Am I good enough? Will I make it? Do I have what it takes? Am I cut out for this? Can others see how frightened I am? Will it work out, or will I fail? We’ve all felt this way before… Maybe it was when you were on the verge of a major life-change, a move from the place you grew up to a new and unfamiliar town, perhaps it was before your wedding day and the butterflies in your stomach turned into nails of anxiety, maybe it was just after receiving a promotion at work and your excitement and pride turned into uncertainty about your ability to achieve. Maybe your Jonah moment came in the form of loss. The loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, the loss of health… and you thought to yourself, can I do this? Do I have the strength and resolve to make it through? Because I’m scared… If I’m honest… I don’t know… If I’m honest… I just want to curl up in a ball and refuse to face it… I want to flee… from these feelings, from the pressure, from the trial I’m in the middle of… and run… the… other… way. Those thoughts and those feelings are normal… they’re human, they’re real.
As I was writing this sermon this week, I couldn’t help but think that in many ways, Trinity is in the middle of a Jonah moment. We are in a season of transition. We are taking a deeper look at our past, paying attention to who we are right now, and beginning to imagine what faithful steps forward might look like toward a wonderful future. And that kind of work… it takes faith.
Friends, there is real excitement here. There is renewed energy… deeper fellowship…There is vision. And there is also the real possibility of a continued legacy… of how this church, this place, this community might continue to serve Christ’s mission in new and meaningful ways long into the future. You’ve heard about the Way Forward over the years and more so recently. The Way Forward is not just a project; in many ways, it is an invitation. An invitation to dream a little. To consider how what we have been given might be used for something larger than ourselves. It invites us to look at our campus —not just as property, but as a resource for mission. A place where families can find stability, where neighbors can belong, and where this church can participate in something tangible and meaningful for the wider Charlotte community.
It invites us to envision a more equipped and renewed Weekday School, where children are nurtured and cared for each day. It invites us to imagine an expanded and well-resourced Phillips Academy, where young people are learning, growing, and being prepared for what lies ahead.
It also calls us to renewal… strengthening our church facilities and preparing them for the future. To continue investing in children, youth, and families. To support education, deepen relationships, and expand our sense of mission in ways that are faithful and relevant to all of God’s children; those who live here, worship here, and even walk their dogs here.
And at the same time, if we’re honest… it can feel like a lot… Amen. It can feel like a lot. It can feel like a significant change… it is. And for some of us… It might even feel like we’re losing something even as we gain so much. If you feel that way… You’re being honest… and you’re probably not alone. I encourage you, as we continue cottage meetings, to participate, engage, listen, and ask questions, because this work is for all of us, Trinity.
In many ways, we are all in the same boat. And like Jonah, we find ourselves responding in different ways to what’s in front of us. Sometimes we lean in, sometimes we pull back. Sometimes we feel ready to move forward, and sometimes we feel like making a beeline in the opposite direction. And all of that is okay. Our call in this season is less about having it all figured out, and more about staying connected… to each other… more about remaining in community even when the road is rocky, more about showing up, staying, and trusting that God is at work among us.
Jonah didn’t think he was the right guy for the job… and so… he ran. Sometimes we all do. We run from trials, we run from our shortcomings, and at times, when things get really hard, we even run from God. But here’s the good news for Jonah and for us. This story… It’s not so much about Jonah’s feelings of inadequacy or fear of failure; it’s more about the goodness and mercy of God.
Author, Debie Thomas, “The real miracle of Jonah is not the fish, but the persistence of God’s mercy, a mercy that refuses to let Jonah go. Jonah may run… just as we may run… but God does not. God keeps showing up… again and again… until grace has the final word.”
Through the weeks ahead, as we dig into this book, what we will find is that you, me, and Jonah serve a faithful God. We serve a God who pursues us, even when we hide… a God who believes in us, even when we don’t believe in ourselves… a God who loves us, even when we walk in the opposite direction of where he is leading…
Thanks be to our steadfast God… for there is no distance we can create Church, no darkness we can run into, where God’s grace cannot reach us… and draw us back home.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen