Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 20, 2026
Jonah 3:10-4:11

Now, you know how church services work. We read from the Old Testament, we have a psalm, we read from the New Testament, we read from the Gospel. Don’t ever let a Baptist tell you that Episcopalians don’t read the Bible.

Except, except for that little book of Jonah. Out of our three year cycle of readings, we only get Jonah twice. Today we heard the very end of it. So today we’re going to walk through Jonah. It’s an amazing book – there’s heartache, there’s satire. A guy gets swallowed by a fish. I mean, come on. And it’s only four chapters long, you could read it this afternoon over lunch if you want. So here we go. Here’s the condensed Jimmy Abbott version of the book of Jonah.

There’s a man named Jonah. And God calls to Jonah, and tells Jonah that Jonah is supposed to go to Nineveh, and tell the people of Nineveh that they are all sinners. This is tricky – Jonah is a Jew, but the people of Nineveh are not. Not exactly a great job description, going to a foreign city and telling everyone that they are wicked in the eyes of God.

So, perhaps reasonably, Jonah decides to run from God. To run from this mission. He hops on a ship, setting sail in the complete opposition direction of Nineveh. But God knows. So God sends a storm, the ship is about to sink, the sailors figure that someone on the ship is to blame. Jonah fesses up, admitting that the storm is his fault because he is running away from God. And the sailors chuck Jonah overboard. 

But he doesn’t drown. No, the Lord God provides a fish to swallow up Jonah, and for three days and three nights Jonah was in the belly of the fish. Jonah then prays, and what a prayer, I hope you go back and read it. Any time you are feeling down, or depressed, or like there are no good options ahead in your life – go say the prayer of Jonah.

Then, in one of the funnier scenes in the Bible, the fish takes Jonah to the shores of Nineveh and spews him up on the beach. In the ancient Hebrew, the word is actually vomit – the fish “vomited” Jonah upon the dry land of Nineveh. Gross.

I suppose at this point, Jonah decides he better get on with it and tell the people of Nineveh that they are sinners. So he does. Imagine that – a foreigner walking into a strange city and telling everyone that they are wicked in the eyes of God. Hey, we love a good tourist in Galveston, as long as they spend some money here. But we wouldn’t take too kindly if some foreigner showed up and said that our city is going to be burned to the ground because of our sins. And yet, that’s exactly what Jonah does.

And the most amazing thing happens. The people of Nineveh repent. They confess their sins. They actually turn from their evil ways. They even made their donkeys repent, whatever that means. I don’t know how donkeys sin, but whatever. 

But then, “God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it” (Jonah 3:10b). That’s where we picked up in today’s reading. And what a gift. The city is not destroyed. God is pleased. The people of Nineveh actually become better people. 

But Jonah is, shall we say, petulant? He wants to watch the city burn. He wants to see God punish the people of Nineveh. He’s been through all of that – the stormy sea, the fish belly, the vomiting – and now, he wants to see some fireworks. He’s suffered for this mission from God, and he wants other people to suffer, too. There’s a sickness in that. A sickness that you and I probably have a little touch of. If I’ve been miserable, I want you to be miserable, too. That just seems fair. But God is a merciful God – slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.

The ending is a bit odd. Petulant Jonah finds shelter under a bush, and he’s happy about. Then God sends a worm and the bush dies. And this grinds Jonah’s gears. He says to God, “[I am] angry enough to die” (4:9b). And God’s like, “what gives, man?” God says, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow…and should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city?” (from 4:10-11). 

And that’s it – that’s the whole book of Jonah. Look at that, we did a whole book of the Bible in one sermon. Now the takeaways:

You gotta quit running away from God. It’s just not going to work out for you. I’m not saying that you’re going to be swallowed, and vomited by a great fish, but it’s been known to happen. You run from God, and find yourself in trapped in the abusive relationship; trapped by the bottle, or the pill; you’ve hit rock bottom; you are burned out, used up, in the belly of the whale. The thing about God, is that God won’t let that stop him. God will seek you out, God will find you. And you get the imagery, right? Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days, as good as dead, but made alive again. Jesus was dead and laid in the tomb, and rose again on the third day. The Lord God is Almighty – and to him, things like darkness and loneliness are not obstacles. Even death is no obstacle for God loving you, and wanting to be near you. You are never too far away, never too much of a sinner, never too sick, never too lonely, to be too far from God. That’s the first lesson – accept the love of God for what it is, a free gift.

And the second lesson is tied to that – you gotta let other people receive that gift, too. See, this is also a story of God’s abundant love and mercy. Jonah experiences that – though he has tried to run away, though he was chucked overboard into the sea – God rescues him. Jonah changed his mind, he repented, and the Lord God showed him favor. That’s great. But then, Jonah doesn’t get it when the people of Nineveh get the same goods. They change their mind, they repent, they confess their wickedness, and the Lord God shows mercy. The same mercy he gave to Jonah. This is what I’m getting at – God knows you, God loves you, and in returning to God, you will find grace upon grace. And, God will do that for everybody else who does the same. We ought to be happy when other people get the good stuff from God, and not bitter that’s it’s not us. Because we can get that, too. It’s not like there is just so much mercy, but no more. It’s not like I get grace, but they don’t. No. It’s free, and accessible, to everyone…everyone. 

That’s the same thing that Jesus was getting at in that parable about the laborers in the vineyard. Don’t be grumbling, don’t be complaining because God was good to someone else. Because, if you receive it, if you open your eyes to it, God will be just as good to you. In the story of Jonah – both Jonah and the people of Nineveh get the same thing – God’s patience. In the story from Jesus, everybody gets the same payment – God’s love is radically but abundantly equal for all who come to him. 

One last thing – I often hear about how in the Old Testament, God is a God of anger and wrath and smiting people. But in the New Testament, God is all nice because of Jesus. That is such a misreading of things. And that’s why the book of Jonah is such a gift, such a gem. It cuts through those simple readings. The book of Jonah is about this God who cares. In those struggles that I know you have, when you do find yourself chucked overboard or in the belly of the whale, when you are trying to do God’s will or when you are running away from it, know that God is always there. Jesus is there for you, as much as he is there for anyone and everyone who returns to God in faith.