how come i end up where i started
how come i end up where i went wrong
Well, we’re in the throes of a season dedicated to one of our favorite activities; counting.
And this isn’t limited to elections, either. The Super Bowl is basically a national holiday, and so is Black Friday. There are also TV ratings and streaming numbers. And we’ve practically made a national pastime out of counting likes, retweets, mentions, and the like. Haven’t we?
But it’s not the counting we’re really interested in. Is it? It’s the meaning we divine from these numbers. The judgments we impose upon them. Like the debate whether Jordan or LeBron is the GOAT.
And when it comes to sports, I suppose our little parlor game is harmless enough. Although the havoc it has wrecked on Baseball and the pure joylessness of Mr. Holzhauer’s 2019 Jeopardy run, it’s enough to make you think otherwise…
Counting has its place. But when it matters, it’s the last thing you want to do. It’s the surest way to scrub joy out of life…
And we must admit, the church has not been exempt from this loveless little diversion. In the church, this sport has disguised itself as codes of conduct—both ethical and theological.
But, no sooner did this game commence then all manner of bedlam broke out! In fact, all we have to show for our centuries of this sad little game is all the losses we’ve racked up.
…It’s a hard lesson to learn. You never set out to compete in a game you have no chance at winning. You always start under the misguided notion that you’ll come out the other side as a winner.
But, the numbers don’t lie. The house always wins. The only way to prevail is to quit the game altogether….
Jonah, though, thinks he can beat the odds…
Jonah’s sent to Nineveh. Which means nothing to us. But Nineveh had a reputation, and they were Israel’s age, old enemy. It’d be like God telling you to make nice with your least favorite in-law. Or that one Facebook “friend.”
…Now, we’ve skipped the infamous part, where Jonah tries running and is swallowed by a whale instead. And while that may be high drama, but it’s the end of this episode that’s really compelling.
After that big fish spits Jonah up, the word of the Lord comes to him a second time. And it hasn’t changed. Jonah’s to go to Nineveh.
This time Jonah gets the drift. He goes. But he gives one of the most half-hearted sermons you’ve ever heard! “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown,” he says. Just five words in Hebrew!
Lukewarm though Jonah’s sermon may be, the response is nothing less than heated! The people repent on the spot! Even the king gets in on the action!
With just five words, Jonah has become the most successful evangelist in history! Instead of being elated, though, he’s upset!
“This is what I told you would happen,” he huffs to God. “You’re soft on sinners. ALWAYS have been.”
…Well, things deteriorate from there, of course. Jonah leaves town to see if Nineveh will get there’s after all. God appoints and destroys a bush as an object lesson. Bu Jonah can’t see past his own bent out of shape nose to get the lesson!
Finally, God puts it to him, “why shouldn’t God be concerned about all those people?”
Even God, it seems, isn’t exempt from the game of counting. Only God’s math is totally different!
To Jonah’s reckoning, God should be counting. Counting sins. But God has subtracted that factor from the equation entirely!
…Centuries later, Saint Paul will be blinded. But it will open his eyes to what Jonah failed to see. The sign of Jonah! That by Jesus’ three days, not in the belly of a whale but the belly of death, God has laid to rest that tired old game of counting trespasses once and for all!
God doesn’t count. And that’s all that counts!
Jonah, though, is too busy counting to see this. Of course, the irony is he’s living by the very same second chance he’s begrudging God for extending to the people of Nineveh!
…Here’s how it works: when you see how deep in dutch you’d be if your sins were counted against you, not only will you willing quit that game, you’ll be all too happy to stop trying to force others to play it, too!
It’s a game we all lose—a joyless way to live.
…Now, maybe you’re like Jonah today, and you can’t see this because you’re too busy counting others’ trespasses against them.
Well, God gave Jonah a question. But as Jesus put after in his teaching on prayer, if you don’t forgive, why should you suppose you’ll be forgiven? (Matt 6:14-15)
In other words, allow me to open your eyes; you’re a sinner.
But, more than likely, after the week you’ve had, you can’t pretend anymore. You know you’re a sinner. You’re all too ready to have the game called off.
Well, good!
When Jesus said, “it is finished,” from the cross, he meant it! At the cross Jesus called the game of bean-counting once and for all. Game over.
From now on, you can no longer regard anyone, yourself included, from a human point of view. Now, the only way to see one another is from the other side of those three days! (2 Cor. 5:16) Where all sins are forgiven. And all wrongs laid to rest.
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