Biblical Interpretation

It came clear to me again this week how two people can read a Biblical story and hear two very different messages.  I showed Ryan Jones documentary "Fall From Grace" at my church.  It is an inside look at Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church.  Fred's claim to fame is showing up at funerals and other places with outrageous signs of God's hate for the world.  What I found interesting is the logic behind the picketing.  His family understands themselves as modern day Jonah's and the United States is Nineveh.  Jonah's message was repent or Nineveh will be destroyed in 40 days.  It is not a message of grace but one of God's judgment and wrath.  One of Fred's sons described their goal.  They intend to put this nation's lips to the cup of God's fury and make it drink.  Fred himself believes he is a modern day prophet but assumes that it is too late for this country.  What I find fascinating is that I don't read Jonah as a story about Nineveh's sin.  It is not about how bad Nineveh is or about their repentance because of Jonah's message.  It is a story about a reluctant prophet who couldn't care less about Nineveh.  Jonah doesn't want Nineveh to repent because he wants them to get what's coming to them, what he thinks they deserve.  In that way he was not so different from Fred.  Fred doesn't really want the United States to change, he wants it to be destroyed.  When I read Jonah's story, I don't hear a message about Nineveh but about Jonah's failure as a prophet.  God's disappointment with Jonah is because of his self-centeredness and lack of compassion.  He is so focused on his hatred for Nineveh that he cannot see God's bigger picture.  I guess I do agree with Fred, he is more like Jonah than he might ever imagine.

Comments

[William E. Salmon]

Is is insightful to realize that Jonah did not want Nineveh to repent, but he wanted it to be destroyed. However, there is one overlooked point, Jonah was God's reluctant messenger; he didn't have the stomach for the task and neither did the Big Fish.
The overlooked point is to disassociate grace from God's judgement and wrath. This is often the case in today's pew and pulpit; judgement and wrath sounds mean spirited. Theologically, it is inaccurate to make this association.
Unfortunately, most people get it wrong about grace and judgement. Jugement and wrath sre nothing less than God's "tough love," and isn't this grace in action?
As a child, when my grandmother sent me out to cut my own switch, I knew that Judgemen Day was not far "behind." However, after years of parental refection the conclusion is that she loved me enough to awaken me from living the ungracious life of disobedience. In this sense, God's wrath is a gracious act for God.
Concerning the Nineveites God was concerned that they were not fulfilling their intended purpose of living the humane life. They needed to "switch."
As for Jonah, his failure was a demonstration of the un-repentent life he sought to change. They awakened while Jonah slept.
Is there a lesson for preachers in here somewhere?