This year, my vicarage congregation preached through the book of Jonah for its Lenten series. This is my Good Friday sermon.
Jonah 4.
But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."
But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?" Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint.
He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."
But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."
But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, the television show Jeopardy has been a popular one for a long time. In it, three contestants must answer trivia in the form of a question. The interesting part is that when the contestants choose a question, the host does not give them something to answer. Instead, the host gives them an answer. Then, the contestant must come up with a question that corresponds to that answer. So if the answer is “This prophet of the OT was bald, they must respond “Who is Elisha.” The answer is given before the question is asked. It is a fun game to watch, and I am sure that almost every one of us has seen that show, and watched it for a time.
Friends, today is Good Friday. Today we see our answer. Just like in Jeopardy, today we have the answer to all of our questions, before we even ask them. We see God’s answer to questions like, “Are you really out there God, Do you really care for me, will you take care of me, will you be with my loved one? We see the answer as we are gathered here today, almost 2000 years exactly to when our Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross. This was God’s answer to Sin. This was how He responded to what was going wrong in the world, and this was how He planned on setting it right. God’s answer was the death of His one and only Son.
But what was the question? What question is asked that required an answer of sacrifice, an answer of death? The question is found in today’s text as God asks the question: Should I not be concerned about that great city? This question could be asked of anyone of us. Should I not be concerned about you, O Israel. Should I not be concerned about you Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church? And we have seen His answer. God’s son hangs from a tree, suffering death in our place. Jesus is the answer.
God asks Jonah this question in today’s text, but we never hear Jonah’s answer. It is an open question. We never hear an answer, because God isn’t only asking Jonah, He is also asked to you. Because there is no answer given in the text, you have to answer. Should God be concerned about sinners? Take into account, as you answer those in the world who suffer, with earthquakes in Italy, and shootings here in Brookings, Those who suffer from cancer or hunger. It is asked about those neighbors that we don’t get along with, those politicians we don’t like. It is asked about you. Should God be concerned about the salvation of all including you, who daily live in the world? Well, should he?
We look in the world and all we see is sin. We see nations fighting against nation, because they disagree about who owes who a few million dollars. We see gangs murdering people over a few ounces of some drug. There are rapists, there are murderers, and there are terrorists out there? Do they deserve salvation? Should God be concerned with them? I mean these people are awfully sinful. Many of these people don’t ever go to church. Many of these people probably use language that we think is inappropriate, they might be stinky or dirty, they may not have a home. Do these people deserve god’s salvation? Should God be concerned about sinners?
Do you? Do you deserve God’s attention, do you deserve His grace. Should God be concerned with you? No, you are not a murderer. No you are not a druggie, as far as I know not a one of you is a terrorist. But you still sin. Each one of you is full of that very same sin. It permeates your entire being. It is that lust you have for anything else besides God. And we have that lust almost every second of the day. We are greedy for money. We lust over making our self feel important and making others feel worthless. We want to be in control of our own lives, to be our own god. We want to be the judge of what is right and wrong. And this is only the start of our sins. The list for them could go on for miles and miles. We are sinful. We have disobeyed God in everything that we have done.
Do you deserve God’s Grace? Should God be concerned about you? If we are honest with ourselves, the answer is no. We haven’t done anything to earn it. In fact, we struggle even doing the minimum required of us. Despite what the world says, being a nice person, some of the time, does not earn you eternal salvation. God demands more. God demands more than we could ever pay. We cannot earn God’s attention. Everything we do is sinful. Isaiah says “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” Its true. We don’t deserve God’s attention.
We are the city of Nineveh in today’s text. We are sinful. We are the huge monstrous nation, set in our sin, ignoring God, concerned only with our selves. We are headed for our own destruction. In our sin, the only thing that we do earn for ourselves is death. Just as Nineveh was on the path to destruction by God, as Jonah preached, 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown. We too are on the path to death. One day, we will face death, our bodies will be placed in the ground and our life will end. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Just as Nineveh was to be destroyed, we too are to face death.
But should God concerned about us sinner? We have the answer. We have the proof that God is concerned and that He does care about sin. We have Jesus Christ hanging on a cross, bleeding, suffering, dying. That is the proof that God cares about our sin, he cares and He wants to take it away from us.
This answer has been prepared before the world even began. God in his divine foreknowledge prepared to rescue us from our sin, he prepared to save Nineveh, to save you. When God created the world, he created Iron, and that iron would later be dug up, smelted and forged into nails, nails which could pierce a man’s hands and his feet. God created trees, which could be cut down, and reburied in the ground to form a cross, a cross on which a person could hang and die. God arranged that people would be born, people who would shout, “Crucify, crucify,” and that it would be done. The answer is already there. God prepares salvation for you. God’s answer is Jesus Christ.
There is our answer, Christ crucified for the sins of the world. Is God concerned about our sin? Yes. He is so concerned, that he is willing to die for it. Death is what we deserve, but it is the price Christ pays. Now God gives life. God gives life to you through the suffering and death of his Beloved Son Jesus.
Today we gather on Good Friday. We gather and receive the gifts that were earned for us 2000 years ago on the cross. Now at this time of the day, Jesus was only half way through his time on the cross. He was being ridiculed, mocked. His bloodied back was rubbing up against rough wood. His mouth is dry, he is in great pain. Upon his head, thorns are pushing into his skull. He is spit upon. He is laughed at. Jesus hangs naked on a cross. Jesus is suffering your death. This is the death he has rescued you from. Jesus is suffering your guilt, for your sin. Jesus answers the question, Yes, God is concerned about you. So concerned that Christ will suffer this… for you. Through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, he takes it away. He takes it as far away as the east is from the west. You are set free. Now you have eternal life, now you have the promise of no more crying, or suffering, no more death. Because Christ loves you.
Now we may ask those many questions in our life. “Are you there God?” “Yes, I am with you, I promised to be with you always, and that promise is sealed in my blood.” We can ask, “Lord, do you understand what my life is like, the struggles that I go through?” and God can reply, “Yes I do, I was made man, and lived a life. I was brutally beaten and murdered, I know your struggles, and I promise to bring you through them. That promise is sealed in my blood.” “God, do you love me? Are you concerned about me, a sinner?” And the reply is “Yes, No greater love is there than this, that one give up His life for his friends. I love you that much.” And that promise too is sealed in Christ’s blood.
Friends in Christ, our answer to all of those difficult questions is before us today. Our answer hangs, suffering and dying upon a cross, his arms extended, his back beaten and bloodied. Yes, God is concerned about the great city, even as Christ is nailed to the cross, you are main concern. God is concerned about you. The Lord cries out as they crucify him, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Shall Christ be concerned about you? Yes, forever yes. Amen.
