September 30th, 2013

Jonah 1:3 — But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

Did I tell you I really like the Book of Jonah? Some people call it “Jonah and the whale” but I like to think of it as “Jonah and the worm” … but that’s a story for another day. Today I’m moved to talk about my sympathy for some of the “wrong” people in the Bible. There are just some episodes in the Bible where I find myself on the side of the character that I really ought to be disapproving of. All too often I can see their point of view!

Let’s start with Jonah. The poor guy was stuck with a no-win mission. Go evangelize the Ninevites! They were likely to tear him limb from limb. And if they didn’t, The Lord would likely have mercy on them, and then the Israelites would stone him. Wouldn’t you have headed of the hills?

Or how about Martha. Let’s be fair. Without Martha, the house just doesn’t work. Dinner doesn’t get cooked. Beds don’t get made. Laundry doesn’t get done. So who gets to bask in the Master’s approval. Mary, that’s who! Don’t you have even a sneaking sympathy for Martha?

Then there’s my man Peter. Good old Pete! The apostle with the gift for opening his mouth and putting his foot in it. Sometimes it was just right — “You are the Christ”. Sometimes it was just wrong — “Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.” You know he really didn’t get a fair deal over that — all the other disciples said the same thing, but he gets all the bad press!

I’ve got a lot of them … people in the Bible for whom I have a sneaking sympathy. Just one more, and then we’ll wrap up.How about the (not so) prodigal son. Remember him? He was the one who didn’t take his inheritance early, didn’t go to a foreign country and end up making a pig of himself … and who didn’t get the fatted calf killed for him. I have to say that the party for junior might have ticked me off too!

So what’s the point? Well, Jonah and Martha, Peter and elder brother … they all had pretty good records. Most of the time they were the salt of the earth. They were critical to the success of the operation. You can bet Jesus loved them. But nobody’s perfect; everybody has their flaws.
One of the many wonderful things about our God is He won’t let our rough edges stay rough. He’s going to make the rough places smooth … He loves us too much not to.