Have you ever wanted a “do-over”? You know, a chance to try again? We give them to our children and grandchildren. They missed the ball, let’s try again! Didn’t get that part in the school play, there’s always the next one. When you fall off the horse, everyone knows the best thing to do is get right back on — ask me how I know!
When we’re young, the world is a forgiving place. Of course we will try, fail, and try again. We learn through failure, we adjust, improve, and grow. But at some point in life — and it’s hard to know exactly when — doors start closing the first time. Mistakes can’t be corrected. Friendships and marriages end. Jobs disappear. Finances suffer. Our choices stack up behind us, and our actions don’t seem reversible. We look in the rear-view mirror at missteps, missed opportunities, and misspoken words.
Traditionally, we read the Book of Jonah this afternoon. The sages chose this short, mysterious book to be read and studied every single year on our holiest day. We all know the story — or, more to the point, we all think we know it. But do we really?
Jonah is called by God to deliver a message to the city of Nineveh. He is told in no uncertain terms, “Ukra aleha” — cry out against it lest it be destroyed. And what does Jonah say? (pause) I am outta here. Or as one of our sages back in North Jersey would say, “Fuggedaboudit.”
Do you know about the Ninevites? They were some of the most evil people ever to walk the earth.
Nineveh was the capital of the Kingdom of Assyria, sitting on the banks of the Tigris. Today, it is the city of Mosul in Iraq. At the time, it was the crown jewel of the empire, the largest city in the known world, completely walled in but full of lush gardens and grand temples.
The Ninevites’ cruelty to those they conquered was legendary. Based on archaeological evidence, they let cities burn, decapitated their victims, then created pyramids of skulls. They dismembered people, flayed them alive, gouged out eyes, drove stakes through the tongues, and buried people up to their necks in sand to die. The Ninevites were barbaric monsters.
And they were the sworn enemies of Israel.
When God told Jonah to warn them of their wickedness before their destruction, he might as well have been asking an observant Jew to walk openly into the center of Nazi Berlin or an IDF soldier into Gaza unarmed. It was an impossible task.
Now we know why Jonah fled to the ends of the earth. God or no God, he wasn’t going to do it.
The reluctant prophet bought a ticket to Tarshish. A storm rose up, and in order to save the ship, the sailors threw him overboard. You might have missed this — Jonah would rather die than fulfill God’s request. Then the most famous moment: a large fish swallowed him whole. Three days and three nights went by, but eventually, he was deposited on dry land. Then what happened?
וַיְהִ֧י דְבַר־יְהֹוָ֛ה אֶל־יוֹנָ֖ה שֵׁנִ֥ית לֵאמֹֽר׃
“The word of GOD came to Jonah a second time.”
Sheinit.
God chased him across the world, sent a fish to save him — yes, the fish was to save him — and asked him again to warn the Ninevites. God didn’t hold Jonah’s refusal against him, didn’t punish him. God chose him again despite his fear, his flight, and his mistakes. Ours is a god of second chances.
Look at Moses. He had a temper. And he was a murderer who fled to the desert to escape punishment. And yet with all his flaws and violent history, he would become our greatest leader. Not only that, but a prophet who spoke face to face with God.
Think of Rahab. She was the harlot who helped Joshua overtake the city of Jericho. How? By hiding his spies on the roof of her home when they were being hunted. As reward for her faithfulness, Joshua protected her and her family when the city was taken. This woman of dubious virtue would go on to be the great-great-grandmother of King David — spoiler: also a murderer — and therefore the ancestor of the Moshiach. She too was given a second chance to show her faith and goodness.
How are we to understand books like Jonah? How can we reconcile the pasts of King David, Rahab, Moses, and so many others? Many read the Bible as if looking through a window or watching a tv show. We see these characters, what they do, and what they say. We hold them at a distance. We get the “too long, didn’t read” version and think, “Nice story, rabbi.”
Try this instead.
The Book of Jonah isn’t a movie, it’s a mirror. We must hold it up to ourselves. Each of us is one mistake away from needing a second chance. Each of us is one moment away from losing something or someone precious to us. One text. One accident. One drink. One aveirah, one sin. It may be our choice, it may be random, we may never know.
One thing we can and do know. We are all one step away from giving others a second chance.
At times — and at many times — we all need a second chance. Jonah’s story is our story.
“So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the world of Adonai.”
This time, without a word, without protest or fear or flight — Jonah got up and obeyed. Our sages teach that the great fish placed him near Nineveh so all he had to do was rise and walk to it.
It was a city that took three days to cross by foot, filled with tens of thousands of people. What did he do?
“And Jonah started out and made his way into the city the distance of a one-day walk. ָAnd he called out and said, “Forty more days and Nineveh shall be overturned.”
Five words. No mention of Adonai. No mention of the God of Israel. No mention of forgiveness. (pause ) Worst prophet ever. You can almost hear Adonai say, “I chased you across the world and that’s the best you got? Where’s Ezekiel? Now that was a prophet…”
But it worked — they turned from their evil ways, they fasted and put on sackcloth from the king to the young children.
Think about it. He spent days inside a fish, he probably stank to high heaven. He’d been on the run. He was what the kids call “a hot mess.” But his mess became the message for the Ninevites.
The message for us? God can still use us as imperfect as we are.
Our midrash teaches that the reason the city reversed course quickly and without question was that the surviving sailors had come to Nineveh and told the amazing story of Jonah’s miraculous redemption. “No, really, this guy went running from God, then when we tried to save ourselves by throwing him overboard, he was swallowed by a giant fish…and there he is!” What were the odds?
His mess of a life became the message. What you think makes you irredeemable — your habits, your addictions, your mental health, your struggles — these don’t matter. God is able to use them for God’s power and glory in this broken world.
It didn’t matter that he had rebelled and run, that he nearly caused a shipwreck. He was given a second chance to preach and save. His half-hearted prophecy saved an entire city. His set-back, his failing — his story, warts and all — became a set up and then a triumph.
I could go on about Pesach Sheini — Second Passover — and maybe the story of Rachel — talk about second chances! — but on second thought, maybe that’s for another sermon on another day.
We drop the ball, we fall off the horse, maybe we get swallowed by a large fish…these things happen. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.
From Lamentations 3:21-23 we read these words of hope:
חַֽסְדֵ֤י יְהֹוָה֙ כִּ֣י לֹא־תָ֔מְנוּ כִּ֥י לֹא־כָל֖וּ רַחֲמָֽיו׃
חֲדָשִׁים֙ לַבְּקָרִ֔ים רַבָּ֖ה אֱמוּנָתֶֽךָ׃
“The lovingkindnesses of Adonai do not cease,
for His mercies are endless.
They are new every morning.”
Every day, every single morning, whether we know it or not, whether we think we need it or not, God gives us another chance, another do-over.
What’ll you do with yours?