Do Over
Then the word of the LORD came to
Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the
message I give you.” (Jonah 3:1-2)
Some time ago a young man came to church and was very despondent. He told the preacher that he felt like God had given up on him. When asked how he’d come to that conclusion, the man said that he’d grown up in a religious home, but that when he went away to college he rebelled against everything he’d ever been taught. He’d broken his own standards. He’d broken God's standards. What bothered him most, however, was that he’d done the same wrong things over and over again. He knew better, but he continued doing what he knew was wrong. He once thought of himself as a Christian, but not anymore. He was convinced that God had given up on him. He was beyond hope … and help; or so he thought.
Have you ever been there? If so, then you know the feeling – a season in your life when you’ve been ready to check out on your faith because you think God is sick and tired of mess-ups like you. A hopeless feeling that, when coupled with an inability to see any help on the horizon, leaves you depressed and alone. If that describes you, take heart because you’re not alone.
Peter was probably one of the best known of Jesus' disciples. In fact, he served as a kind of unofficial spokesman for the group. Although Peter was brash and outspoken, he was intensely loyal to Jesus. Yet Peter appeared to have become a tragic moral failure as evidenced by events surrounding Jesus’ arrest and subsequent trial. Either out of loyalty, or just curiosity Peter lingered outside the courthouse warming himself by a fire. As he stood there trying to remain incognito, a young woman spotted him and accused him of being a follower of Jesus. Peter was probably a little taken aback by the accusation, so he denied it. Not to be silenced, and so as to be heard she accused Peter a second time of being one of Jesus’ disciples. Again, Peter denied his association with Jesus, perhaps implying that he was just a judicial wonk who wanted to see a trial up close and personal.
But as Peter made his second and probably louder denial, the crowd picked up on his accent – it was a dead giveaway. Peter wasn't from their part of the country; he was from up north. So now the crowd got involved and, along with the woman, accused Peter of being a disciple of Jesus. At that, Peter cursed and swore and denied that he even knew Jesus. And in that hour of crisis, Peter betrayed his good friend. And if we had been there and had heard Peter cussing up a storm as he denied Jesus, would we have written him off? If we were Jesus, would we have given up on Peter? If a friend had done that to you, would you forgive him or her?
That was a pretty grim episode in Peter's life. And later, when he realized what he’d done, he wept – bitterly. Peter must have wondered if there was any hope for him. After all, and in a way, he was no better than Judas Iscariot who’d betrayed Jesus. Peter had betrayed the very friend whom he had sworn to protect – even to the death. Yet, after his resurrection, Jesus went looking for Peter.
You see, Jesus had died for Peter. He died so that Peter's sins could be forgiven and that’s why Jesus forgave this man who had so vehemently denied him only days before. What’s more, Jesus restored Peter and set him free from his guilt. In fact, in a matter of a few weeks Peter was preaching his first Gospel sermon. The topic? Forgiveness. Out of his defeat, Peter had learned something: he learned that God is the God of the do over. But Peter is just one of many. Consider Jonah – the guy who had a whale of a story but whose story wasn’t just about a big fish. It was about another do over.
Jonah, an Old Testament prophet, had been commanded by God to preach to the citizens of Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital of the nation of Assyria, and Jonah was to tell the Assyrians that judgment was coming, and soon. But Jonah knew that if he did that the people could repent and be forgiven, and Jonah hated the Assyrians who, frankly, were a pretty easy group to hate. If you were to try and get a flavor of the bad taste in Jonah’s mouth, it’d be like taking some Nazi Germany and adding a dash of Al Qaeda in for flavor. The Assyrians were arrogant and cruel conquerors, and Jonah despised them. To tell Jonah that he was to preach to the Assyrians was like asking a man whose family had just been murdered to forgive the murderer. Nothing would have pleased Jonah more than to see the whole bunch wiped off of the face of the planet. The Assyrians may have mattered to God, but they less than mattered to Jonah.
We learn that God had directed Jonah to travel east, over land, to Nineveh, but Jonah booked passage on a fast ship and headed west toward Spain. (Jonah 1:1-3) During that journey, a tremendous storm came up and Jonah ended up in the Mediterranean Sea with the rest of the ship’s cargo. That's when the fish swallowed him. However, within a short time of gulping down the prophet, the fish suffered acute indigestion – perhaps because Jonah's disposition would have been enough to make anyone, or anything ill. And although God allowed Jonah to survive being swallowed by that fish, you’d think that God would have given up on Jonah and drafted another prophet with whom it would have been easier to work. But no. Not God. Not God of the do over.
In the middle of the book of Jonah there’s this really interesting phrase which may be the most interesting phrase in the whole book. It says, "The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time." (Jonah 3:1) God spoke to Jonah a second time despite the fact that Jonah had deliberately, consciously and stubbornly run away from God. God came to the prophet a second time and allowed him to carry on his ministry. In other words, a “do over;” a second chance. And 120,000 people, who didn’t know their right hand from their left, including their animals, were saved. (Jonah 4:11)
On New Year's Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played the University of California in the Rose Bowl. During the first half of the game, a player by the name of Roy Riegels recovered a fumble for California on his own 35 yard line. While evading some of the Georgia Tech tacklers, however, Riegels got disoriented and started running in the wrong direction. Fortunately, one of his own teammates, Benny Lom, outran him and tackled him on the one yard line before Riegels could score for Georgia Tech. Unfortunately, when California attempted to punt out of its own end zone, Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety which proved to be the ultimate margin of victory. That strange play came near the end of the first half, and everyone watching the game was asking the same question: "What will coach Nibbs Price do with Roy Riegels in the second half of the game?"
At halftime, the players filed off the field and trudged into the locker room and sat down on the benches and on the floor; all, that is, but Riegels. He pulled his blanket around his shoulders, sat down in a corner, put his face in his hands and wept like a baby. Generally speaking, a coach will usually have a lot to say to his team during halftime. But that afternoon, Coach Price was quiet; no doubt he was trying to decide what to do with Riegels, among other game-related decisions. But then the timekeeper came in and announced that there were only three minutes before play was to resume. So, Coach Price looked at the team and said simply, "Men, the same team that started the first half will start the second." At that, the players got up and started out of the locker room for the field. All but Roy Riegels, that is; he didn't budge. The coach looked back and called to him again. Still, Riegels didn't move.
So Coach Price walked over to Riegels and said, "Roy, didn't you hear me? The same team that started the first half will start the second." Roy looked up and his cheeks were wet with tears. "Coach," he said, "I can't do it. I've disgraced you. I've disgraced the University of California. I've disgraced myself. I couldn't face that crowd to save my life." Then coach Price put his hand on Riegels shoulder and said, "Roy, get up and go on back. The game is only half over." And Roy Riegels did go back, and those Tech players later testified that they had never seen a man play football like Roy Riegels did in that second half – he was like a man possessed.
You read that story and think, “Wow, what a coach!” But when we read the stories of Peter and Jonah, and the stories of a thousand men and women like them, we can’t help but think, “Wow, what a God” because sometimes, like Roy Riegels, we take the ball and run in the wrong direction. We stumble. We fall. We're so ashamed of ourselves that we never want to try again. But God comes and, in the person of Jesus Christ, puts his nail-scarred hand on our shoulder and says, "Get up; go on back. The game’s only half over."
That's the good news of God’s grace. That's the good news of the forgiveness of our sins. That's the Gospel of the second chance, or third chance or the hundredth chance. That’s the Gospel of the do over. And that’s very good news for each of us because if you’re in need of a do over, all you have to do is ask because God wants you back in the game and there’s still time left on the clock.
Grace,
Randy
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