I am always captivated by the reluctant time-travelers. I’m drawn to their stories. It’s Claire Randall in Outlander. It’s Billy Pilgrim in Slaughter-house Five. It’s Henry DeTamble in The Time Traveler’s Wife. It’s Dan Vasser in the short-lived (but much praised and much missed) TV show, Journeyman ... on and on.
Sure, there are plenty of stories where the characters use technology or some kind of power to intentionally travel through time. And they are usually interesting. But the reluctant time travelers have no control over when they vanish from their present life, none over where and when they travel, none over how long they are gone, and none over when (or if) they ever return. Somehow, I find that more believable.
Oh, and one other thing: none of them wants to go.
I suppose there are folk who live for adventures packed with zero predictability. I’m just not one of them. Count me with the reluctant time travelers. Somebody wants me to go somewhere I don’t want to go and do something I don’t want to do: I hate that. I think we've all felt that way at one time or another. Maybe several times.
Take Dan Vasser, for instance: he has no option. He has to go, no matter what. He could be sitting at his desk, or even at home with his toddler when, with almost no warning, he would be swept away into the past.
The disorientation, alone, would be reason enough to not desire the experience. Add in that upon his return to the present —also beyond his control— he could not provide a credible excuse for his absence ... well, let's just say his personal relationships suffer. Whatever force jerked Dan from his life as a husband, father, and reporter, it seemed to have zero concern for Dan. And, of most importance, Dan never had a choice.
That's the main way we differ from Dan: For most of us, living in the first world as we do, there is almost always a choice.
We can say “No.”
You might think the Prophet Jonah was more like Dan than us, but that would be wrong. Not only did Jonah have free will; in this week’s scriptures he so strongly objected to what God had instructed him to do, he actually went in the opposite direction!
The book of Jonah, though, is not really about Nineveh, nor about the sailors on the ship, and certainly not about the fish. The story is about Jonah's relationship with God. Don't think for a minute God had to send Jonah to Nineveh. He could have sent anyone. He chose Jonah for a reason. Jonah needed some lessons: about obedience, about God's priorities, about grace, about second chances.
And a lesson about God's sovereignty.
Unlike our reluctant time-travelers, Jonah had —and exercised— free will. He chose to disobey God. And why? Because he didn't agree with God's willingness to redeem some wicked people.
God is sovereign. He can do as He wants ... and what He wants is to forgive people their sins. If we're not on board with that, we're on the wrong spiritual journey.
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Compass photo: Adobe Spark Post
Nineveh photo: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31941827
Different versions of this reflection appeared in September 2014 as A Whale of A Tale (and An Epilogue) and September 2017 as Journeyman.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 20 (25) (September 20, 2020) Exodus 16:2-15
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
Jonah 3:10-4:11
Psalm 145:1-8
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16
LINK TO THESE SCRIPTURES - https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=160
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We’re back! DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast have resumed on Friday mornings at 8:00am (Central Time Zone). Join us for scripture, discussion, prayer, and laughter. Please contact me at least one day early if you want to attend. I will get you the Zoom Link and let our Zoom GateKeeper know so you can be admitted.
Blessings,
Steve
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