What the Captain Teaches
These days seem perilous: An ill-defined war with Iran, gas over $5 a gallon, and diesel much higher, existential AI threats, social media influences, a widening gap between haves and have nots, families dissembling, a super El Nino, drought in the west, and downpours in the east. The list of woes society faces is long. Maybe it always has been like this, and this is just our time to live in uncertain days.
It’s easy to understand why some believers want to hunker and bunker to cluster and cloister. The belief is that if we insulate ourselves and our families from the world’s bad influences, we will survive while those outside can circle the drain. However, isolation has never been God’s plan for his people.
Let’s go to a small OT book for some guidance how to navigate times like ours when life seems crazy.
Tim Keller, in his book The Prodigal Prophet, breaks down the book of Jonah, who eventually, albeit under protest, followed God’s call to travel to and preach within the walls of Nineveh. This kingdom had done real evil, and Jonah felt that divine destruction was well-deserved and a message of repentance and grace had no place there.
After getting a directive from God to go east to preach to this great and depraved city, Jonah promptly heads west on a boat into the Mediterranean. Soon a fierce storm arises, and it looked bad for the boat and its crew. Part of the text reads like this.
All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”
Here, the non-believing captain rebukes God’s prophet to get in the game. In a very real way, they were all in the same boat. The same is true for any Christ follower in a city or town or country facing problems most any way one turns…we are all in the same boat, and not playing a small role to help build it all up for the good of all is not what we’re called to do.
But that is not always a popular stand to take. Here’s an example.
Along with some other friends who follow Jesus, I volunteer a couple times a week to do outreach to the homeless camps in our area. No big deal, and this certainly won’t solve the problems out there, but when someone needs a clean pair of chonies and dry socks and maybe some food or a blanket, to me the right thing to do is to dish it all out from our van.
Recently, I was confronted about this by a man who was convinced I was just enabling people to continue their destructive lifestyle and sponge off the community, really doing harm in the long run. Maybe he has a point, and I’ll admit I don’t know where is the line between compassion and enabling, but I’d rather offer a hand than turn my back. We are in this boat together.
Here’s Keller’s take on what God wanted Jonah to learn from the captain and Nineveh.
Jonah fled because he did not want to work for the good of the pagans—he wanted to serve exclusively the interests of believers. But God shows him here that he is the God of all people and Jonah needs to see himself as being part of the whole human community, not only a member of a faith community.
And another thing to consider is Jesus. If we really choose to follow him and imitate his actions, we will move toward the margins of society. Jesus talks often about the poor and the outcast and the needy, and that’s where we see him go. In the mode of an OT prophet, he on calls those who call him Lord to go with him and join him in caring for those who don’t necessarily look or think or smell like good church folk.
It’s also interesting that Jesus doesn’t slot people into categories or “us vs them.” At my worst, I can see those different from me and those whose choices I think are bad as the Others. Jonah did that with the folks in Nineveh and I do that as I sometimes compare me to “them.” I’d be better off if I eliminate my othering. It seems Jesus only took the super-religious to the woodshed…and he did that on a regular basis.
We are called to see and help as we can. You can’t do it all, but when the Spirit shoulder-taps you, act. That can appear to be a tall order but Jesus models the way. Part of your identity is as salt and light in an often tasteless and dark world. Your efforts may not seem to move the needle, but Jesus said the watching world will see your good deeds and glorify God.
The Captain reminds Jonah and all of us that we co-inhabit this world. So, we press in and don’t sail away in the opposite direction of need.
What or who has God placed in your path that could use a bit of salt and light? Head out to the margins. If you want to hang out with Jesus, that’s where you’ll find him.
Music? Sure, here we go…
Funnies for the week…
Joan’s husband likes to sing. He decided to join the church choir. From time to time he would practice in the shower or getting dressed or preparing a meal.
Whenever he would start in on a song, Joan would head outside to the porch.
Her husband, with hurt feelings, said, “What’s the matter, Joan? Don’t you like my singing?”
Joan replied, “Honey, I love your singing, but I just want to make sure the neighbors know I’m not beating you.”
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Someone in our neighborhood put a huge sofa out by the curb for trash collection.
Since it was in good shape, many motorists slowed down for a look. But when they saw how enormous it was, they’d leave.
Eventually a compact car pulled up, and two men got out. “This I’ve got to see,” I thought.
They removed the cushions, turned the sofa upside down, and shook it hard.
Then they picked up all the coins that tumbled out and drove off.