This post is a continuation of “A Scorching East Wind – part 1”, so I would recommend you start there before going on to part 2.
And we wait. The sun burns our skin. No shade. No relief. Only suffering. And if that weren’t enough, there’s this scorching east wind. Normally, wind can provide a sense of comfort. It comes in the form of a cool breeze evaporating the sweat from our skin which provides a pathway for the heat to dissipate from our bodies. But not today. Not while our enemies are celebrating. Today, the wind only brings discomfort to Jonah. It adds to his misery. Wind should bring relief. And yet, for Jonah, no relief is found. Today is different. Very different.
Wind. What are we to make of it?
As I mentioned in my last entry, there is this tendency in our post-enlightenment, analytically driven world to look at the wind in this story as a factual detail. But, my experience with the Bible over the last several years has been a bit of discovery. I realize what I am experiencing is not new but it has been a discovery just the same. It’s this notion there is always more wisdom and insight to be found in the text if you are willing to search a little, put the time in to it and even talk it out with a group of people. Some ancient people called it wrestling with the text. You see, it’s not a new idea. For me, it’s been a realization of something which has been there all along. It’s an idea the Bible has this tendency to invite you to dive a little deeper, to dig a little further and to explore the text for more than just mere facts. And, I think it comes down to this fundamental idea facts simply don’t speak to the heart. Pictures do. And pictures can be complex. They can communicate to us on different levels in a very personal way. So, part of what we see in Chapter 4 in the book of Jonah is a picture being created and drawn out through the text by the author. And, if we allow it, this picture invites us to engage in an act of introspection and self-examination. This would be an exploration of the heart. Our heart.
And what about the heart? It just may be the core of our very being, which is why, I think, we ask Jesus to reside there when we decide to follow him (at least that’s the way Baptists have typically described the act). And it’s the place we’re invited to explore through the telling of the story. We’re asked to get to know Jonah’s heart, which might be a lot like our heart. A heart being burned by this scorching east wind.
The wind. What is it about this wind?
Fast forward to the New Testament and we find this story in the Gospel of John describing a conversation Jesus is having with this Pharisee named Nicodemus. Honestly, it’s a bit of an odd exchange because Nicodemus just can’t wrap his mind around how one is to be born again. Nicodemus is convinced Jesus is talking literally (obviously Nicodemus was a bit ahead of his time because he sounds like someone who would fit in real well with those “the Bible must be taken literally or you’re a heretic” crowd, but I digress…). And, if you take everything literally, a concept like going back into the womb to start over in life can (does) sound a bit (or maybe really, really) bizarre.
But we know Jesus is not talking in literal terms, of course. He’s using a metaphor. He’s giving Nicodemus a picture which I think speaks of letting go of the ideas we inherit from this world we’re physically born into and discovering what it means to be a human being created and loved by God. It’s about allowing our hearts and minds to be remade and renewed – that is, reborn – by the Spirit. It’s about entering into this place we call the Kingdom of God, which can’t be adequately covered in this post. But, in one sense, we might describe it as simply as a place where we strive to live the way God intended human beings to live from the very start. It’s the only way of living which can go on for eternity in the presence of a loving God. We might say it’s a way of living that tries to bring joy and peace into the world. We could describe it as a way of seeing our lives and the world in a new way. Therefore, we even see our enemies from a new perspective; allowing us to actually love them and (hey Jonah) cheer for their salvation.
Well, to get to this new place where we see things differently, Jesus says we must be born again through the Spirit. Reborn. Renewed. Redeemed. Heart, mind and soul become alive in this world in a brand new way. And you don’t have to re-enter your mother’s womb to do it. Thank the Lord. And mothers everywhere rejoice and shout out an energetic “Amen!”
All joking aside, we should follow this passage a little further, because when Jesus talks about being born of the Spirit, he goes on to talk about the Spirit being like the wind. The wind goes wherever it pleases, he says. “You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.” And I love the picture being painted here because there’s a curious thing about this particular metaphor when you stop and recognize the New Testament was originally written in the Greek language. And in the Greek language, the word for spirit is “pneuma”, and spirit would be the figurative definition of the word. The more literal definition of “pneuma” is a current of air or breath or wind. Wind and spirit can be used interchangeably here. They are the same in a very real and even “literal” sense.
So what are we to make of this interesting and perhaps, provocative language? Is it to say God’s Spirit, and we might even say God’s love – that is, His grace – is free and will go wherever it pleases? Could we take this further and discover this idea that God’s Spirit or His love or His grace cannot be contained by borders, nationalities, genealogies, organizations, denominations, religious authority or hierarchy. In other words, this spirit, this wind, or we could even say, this source of air or breath is for all to take in so we might be born again. God’s Spirit provides a new breath for all so we may rejuvenate and change our lives. It’s in this new breath we find a redeemed life in the Spirit of God. And no one on this earth gets to determine where the wind goes (even presidents of seminaries, preachers and loud, angry Christian protesters). It goes wherever it pleases.
I’m reminded of what it’s like to experience a gentle cool breeze move across your skin on a hot summer day. It’s unexpected and you can’t see it. You don’t know what caused it to show up, but it came just the same. And it brings relief and perhaps a feeling of calm. I remember those days as a kid when I was working out in the tobacco fields with my family on a hot day in August. Periodically, we might take a few minutes to rest under a shade tree and drink a glass of water. The shade was great but when a breeze would come we felt rejuvenated. It was refreshing. It was a gift. It was unearned. In fact, I could have been a complete jerk to my brother earlier in the day and yet it came anyways. It was unexpected. It was grace.
New life. A second chance. Redemption. Whatever you call it, this gift of being reborn in the Spirit begins with an act of grace. It always has. New life begins with an act of grace. There is no other way, I think. And, if all this is true then there is one other point we need to consider and it may simply be this: If God’s grace provides new air for all of us to breathe, then it stands to reason the only way to keep on living is to keep on breathing. Now I know this sounds a little funny. Perhaps, it’s a little too obvious to make much of until you stop and realize that breathing requires not only inhaling, but also exhaling. In the act of breathing, the two are inseparable. If you stop exhaling, then you will stop breathing; and ultimately, you die. So, as you consider this connection between the physical and the spiritual which Jesus describes, where do we land on this gift of grace? Is it to say the only way to receive grace – that is to accept and internalize this gift into our lives – is to turn right around and give it away? Simply put, is it like breathing? The air you take in must be given away in order to live. Grace brings new life. But, what is freely given must be freely given away in order for this new life to be lived, to be sustained – that is, to be eternal. Life – yours, mine, our neighbors – is renewed and sustained through simple, courageous, selfless acts of grace.
Hang on to that thought and let’s go back to our story about Jonah. What does Jonah say in verse 2 of Chapter 4? He prayed to God and in this prayer, these are his words: “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.”
What caused Jonah to run from God? It seems pretty straightforward, doesn’t it? It seems like he didn’t want to share God’s grace with his enemies. But, as Jesus points out to the Pharisee Nicodemus, God’s Spirit, or we could say, God’s grace is like the wind. You don’t know where it comes from or where it’s going. It blows wherever it pleases. It’s the wind and this source of new life cannot be contained. But, Jonah is trying to keep God’s spirit of grace to himself and his people. It’s like he’s holding his breath. He’s stopped breathing and he’s okay with that. He wants to die.
Later in verse 8, we find out God sends a scorching east wind, which only adds to Jonah’s misery as he stubbornly waits in the blazing sun to see Nineveh destroyed. But we know Nineveh has repented. God will not destroy the city. And remember that scorching east wind? The Hebrew (the original language of the Old Testament from which we get this story) word for wind is “ruach”, which is the same word the Bible uses for God’s spirit. Spirit, wind – same word in Hebrew just like in the Greek. It’s as if the Bible is saying to us that for Jonah, one of God’s own prophets, God’s spirit of grace has become a scorching east wind which can only bring him misery. Jonah has tried to keep God’s grace for himself, but grace does not work that way. It goes wherever it pleases. It must be given away. It must be breathed out.
I admit it’s a disappointing ending, but the Bible is always honest. Not all of life’s endings are happy are they? In the end, God gave Jonah every chance to join Him in this life saving action of sharing grace to his enemies. God forced Jonah to do his part and carry this message of repentance to Nineveh, but God would not compel Jonah’s heart to change. That would be up to Jonah. And it may be the condition of Jonah’s heart – this conviction someone has to die or be punished for justice to be served – had devastating consequences.
Here’s what we know: the king of Nineveh repented. We also know at the time Jonah visits Nineveh, the Assyrian empire is at a low point in its history. They are weaker now than they have ever been. And, in fact, Israel has been able to take back territory once lost from the Assyrians, so they are now the same size geographically as they were in the days of Solomon. Isn’t it ironic? While Israel is as strong as they have ever been and the Assyrian empire is as weak as they’ve ever been, God sends Jonah to Nineveh with a message of repentance.
And this is what’s at stake. In this very moment, it’s possible Israel has the opportunity to make a friend of an enemy. Assyria could be in a position to turn around and become an ally to Israel. There is no way to know this for certain. There is no way to know if they could really change. But, we do know their king has. Why can’t the people follow the lead of their king? That’s what the people normally do. The time is now for Israel to secure its future. And maybe, just maybe, the way to do that is by offering grace to their enemies.
God gives Jonah every chance to find forgiveness in his heart for his enemies. But, the reality is it doesn’t happen. He could freely join God in extending God’s grace and mercy. But, instead, he does the bare minimum. He makes the choice to sit in misery and wait to die rather than to see God’s love shared with his enemies. And guess what happens? History books tell us in about 30 years the Assyrians regain their power and we have to assume the generation, which repented before God, will be replaced with a new group of leaders. And we know what eventually happens. These same Assyrians will ultimately destroy Jonah’s Israel. Was Jonah at fault? It’s obviously impossible to say. But, you do wonder if events would have turned out differently if Jonah had chosen a different path than the one that placed him in the hot sun waiting for God to destroy Nineveh.
As a church and as a people of God, this is our challenge more than ever, isn’t it? To love our enemies or those not like us as Christ commanded? Do we, can we, will we allow grace to flow freely like the wind to anyone who has ears to hear? If you are like me, I’m sometimes afraid to take up this challenge. And honestly, it’s not because I’m unwilling to give God’s grace away (at least I don’t think), but it’s because I am too aware of my sins and shortcomings. In other words, my breath is tainted and I fear it can’t be of any value to God. Sometimes we feel like that, don’t we? We’re not worthy, we’re not good enough. We’re too afraid because of all our shortcomings. We’re grateful for the love God has given us, but we’re not ready to be God’s messengers of grace and mercy. We’re afraid we’ll just be in the way. We are not enough.
But if the act of sharing God’s grace is like breathing, then I’m reminded of this fact that while the breath we exhale is not as rich in oxygen as what we took in, there is still enough oxygen in our breath to give life. The concept of resuscitation is built on this idea. Paramedics or those trained in CPR would testify to this truth.
I’m pretty sure this concept could also be applied to grace. While the grace we may give out is not as pure or as rich as what we were freely given by Christ, maybe it still has the power to change a life or give life? Sure, the grace we give may be tainted by our anxieties, our sense of hurt, our jealousies and our insecurities, but don’t we believe grace can transcend all that in the moment when another is in need?
Maybe what God is trying to say to us when Jesus so cleverly ties in these concepts of spirit, wind and breath is this: Grace does not require perfection. It simply needs to be given away. And through our imperfect and simple gift, a life can be renewed. A life can be changed. Broken relationships are mended. People with nothing in common find common ground. Our lives become more about being citizens of God’s kingdom and less about the pride and prejudice that comes with being part of an earthly kingdom. You, I, we can be reborn and you don’t have to go back into your mother’s womb to do it.
And here is one thing I find so interesting. It’s what Jonah missed and I think we miss it too. Grace – I think, I believe, I know – has the power to change the course of history. And it does so, two hearts at a time – the one who receives, of course, but also the one who freely gives it away. Grace and peace, everyone.