Back when I was learning how to type, I was in one of the first classes that learned using a computer and not a typewriter. Back then, we were using Windows 3.1. Do you remember what that was like? There was no taskbar, not start button, just a screen with a bunch of icons on it.
In order to make it work, you had to use your “mouse” to “doubleclick” on the “icon” to open a “window” or start a “program.” All of that was very new and very different, because for any of us that had a computer before, or used a computer before, we weren’t used to those things. Our computer we had at home didn’t really need mouse. Everything was text based, and sometimes if you used a mouse, then you would mess things up!
As a side-note, that was also when I figured out I needed glasses. Trying to type when you can’t read any of the words that are on the page is really kind of hard.
What is crazy now, when I look back on that, is that we were using Windows 3.1 It wasn’t the first version of windows, but it was the first one that most people had experience with. Since then, there’s been a lot of different versions: 3.1, 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10…..they just skipped over 9. That’s a lot of different versions.
But, through all of that, there is something that hasn’t changed. We still point and click to make things happen. Everything else that has, or hasn’t changed over the years, that basic piece is still there. The thing that makes it easy to use is still the same.
In fact, it works so well that every other major operating system and phone operating system does the same thing. You point, and you click (or touch).
The key to a successful upgrade, adaptation, or new version is to maintain a core idea or identity, but change the other pieces to make that thing even better. It doesn’t always work, just ask computer nerds about their opinions on some of the different versions of Windows that have come out over the years. But what lets you keep going is maintaining that core. That piece hasn’t changed.
Now, hold onto that thought for a minute.
We’ve been in the book of Jonah for the past few posts. One of the things that I want us to take from this book is what God is doing through Jonah’s story. God is preparing us. God is helping Jonah, but he is also signaling what is coming. Remember what I always say. God doesn’t do surprises.
Surprises are great for birthday parties, or special things, and occasionally plot twists, but not for us and how we live. We generally don’t like surprises. We need time to prepare, and this is what God has been doing.
We saw in the last post, with the story of the Good Samaritan why this is important that God is preparing things.
Jonah was very reluctant to do the right thing, but the Samaritan man just did it.
Jonah was angry with God because he didn’t want to help someone he didn’t like. The Samaritan man, even though there was a long history of Samaritans and Jews not getting along, stopped to help the man who had been beaten, even when other Jews had passed him by.
God didn’t care that Jonah didn’t like the Ninevites. The Core identity of who God is, is that he loves his creation, and all of his people. That means all of his people, regardless of our views on who we like or think are acceptable. And God wants them to be redeemed.
We can say that Jonah is the first version of this story. He’s the start, and the Ninevites are the first groups that Jonah is put into action with.
One part of Jonah’s story that we haven’t really talked much about yet is the redemption of the Ninevites. Jonah goes and does the big thing that God called him to. And Jonah doesn’t pull any punches in that. He does it right. He calls out to the Ninevites to repent, or they will be destroyed. We don’t know much more than that about what Jonah said, but it works.
The king of Nineveh then calls on everyone, literally everyone, human, animal, and bird to fast from food and water. He tells them to put on their funeral clothes and to pray to God to avoid what will happen.
They get redeemed. For them, this was redemption 1.0, the first version. Theirs would need to be repeated. That redemption was more about the moment, and wasn’t long-term. It was based primarily in fear, but it was a start.
For us, it’s a reminder that God is working on the longer plan, and he is getting us ready.
Throughout the Gospels, we hear about he sign of Jonah. The sign is that Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 days, then he came out and preached a message that redeemed the city of Nineveh.
Someone greater is here, Jesus. Jesus is Jonah 2.0 The core idea is the same, God wants his creation redeemed. He wants you redeemed, he wants the people around us redeemed. God had been preparing this for a long time.
Jonah was never meant to be the final version. He was a step along the way to get us ready, so that we’d be more prepared for when Jesus came.
God couldn’t send us the final release because we wouldn’t have understood, but now we’re ready. This isn’t just about in the moment redemption, but about long-term, forever redemption. It’s about the hope for entire sanctification and that we can be total freed from the power of sin.
Instead of sending a fiery prophet that is going to tell us to turn or burn, literally, God sends his Son who shows us how this works, and gives us what we need to be redeemed.
Jesus starts where Jonah left off, with the need for repentance. Jonah had to let go of his anger so that he could find peace, and so that he could move beyond his anger and hate for others that was causing him to sin more.
Jesus starts there. Jesus ministry is in telling us and showing us the need to repent, and then telling us and showing us that we have been forgiven.
Jesus' redemption isn't in the moment, but lasts forever. Jesus' redemption isn't based in fear, but is full of grace. Jesus' redemption is what God intended, but we weren't ready for.
Go out and receive Jesus' redemption, and then live a life that is full of the freedom that comes with it. Then go and share that with someone else. And do it all, in Jesus' name.
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