The Cost of Surrender

January 25, 2015

By John Partridge

Scripture: Jonah 3:1-5, 10

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

Mark 1:14-20

Last week, we talked about the Wizard of Oz and how the Wicked Witch demanded Dorothy Gale to
surrender. In the movie, everyone understands that surrender would be awful. The servants and soldiers
of the Wicked Witch are treated terribly and, in the end, they celebrate when she dies and they are freed
from her authority. Surrendering to the witch was a surrender of your freedom, your happiness, and
many other things. For the Iraqi soldiers that surrendered to the United States, the cost of their surrender
was different. For them, although they lost their freedom, they gained many other things, like food,
water, and medical care.

At the beginning of the WWII, Maj. Gen. Edward P. King, became the commander of the US and
Philippine forces in the Far East after the departure of General Douglas MacArthur. On April 9th, 1942
General King realized that his troops were vastly outnumbered, weakened from months of jungle
fighting. With no hope of resupply or reinforcements, he then negotiated the surrender of his remaining
forces within Bataan and Corregidor with Maj. Gen. Kameichiro Nagano, the commander of the Japanese
invasion forces. Following that surrender, the Japanese attempted to relocate nearly 80,000 survivors (far
more than they had prepared for) to Camp O'Donnell which included a march of over 60 miles. So brutal
was this march and their treatment, particularly in light of their condition after months of fighting, that as
many as 10,000 died during what has become known as the Bataan Death March. Even after their arrival
at Camp ODonnell, the survivors continued to die at a rate of 30 to 50 per day.

No matter how you do it, surrender always comes with a price tag. The price that must be paid depends
greatly upon whom you are surrendering to. Everyone knew that surrendering to the Wicked Witch
would not end well. For many reasons having to do with Japanese culture, as well as the poor condition
of those who surrendered, surrendering at Bataan did not end well. But in many cases, from WW2, the
Korean conflict, the Gulf War, and others, surrendering to US forces has often been far less traumatic.

Because of our knowledge of history, and our own experiences, we understand that there is a price to be
paid for surrender, some good, and some bad. When we are married we voluntarily surrender some of
our freedom and individuality so that we can build something together. Although there are things in our
single lives that we give up, what we gain because of it is worth far more. When we have children, we
surrender more of our free time, and more of our money, so that we can raise our children. But what we
give up is far outweighed by the love and sense of wonder that we gain.

But still, we understand that there is a price to be paid for our surrender and we wonder what it will mean
for us to fully surrender to God. And so, let us spend some time looking at examples of that surrender in
scripture. We begin with the story of Jonah; some time after Jonah has been spit out by the great fish, and
finally arrived in Nineveh. (Jonah 3:1-10)
Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim
to it the message I give you.
3

Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took
three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a days journey into the city, proclaiming, Forty
more days and Nineveh will be overthrown. 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and
all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6

When Jonahs warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes,
covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:
By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people
and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil
ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce
anger so that we will not perish.
10

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring
on them the destruction he had threatened.
It is important to notice that in the very first verse, it says the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second
time. The first time God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, he ran the opposite direction. But in the belly of
the fish, Jonah had an epiphany. He realized that God was God. Somewhere under the sea, Jonah prayed
and surrendered. He surrendered his reluctance, he surrendered his fear, he surrendered his hatred of the
people of Nineveh, he surrendered his stubbornness, and he surrendered his insistence to do what he
wanted instead of what God wanted. But with that surrender comes that first verse, the word of the Lord
came to Jonah a second time.
With Jonahs surrender, came a second chance.
When Jonah surrendered to God he did not receive a punishment or a rebuke. He did not get humiliated
or sent home. He was not demoted or replaced. Instead, he was given a second chance to do what God
has asked him to do.

And then, only a few lines later we learn that after Jonah began preaching in the city of Nineveh, The
Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on
sackcloth.
6

When Jonahs warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes,
covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. When the people, and even the king, of
Nineveh heard the word of the Lord, they surrendered. They heard that God had condemned them and
they surrendered their culture of violence and immorality. They surrendered their idolatry and hatred;
they accepted Gods judgment and prayed for mercy. And 10 When God saw what they did and how they
turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
When the people of Nineveh surrendered to God, he did not punish them, enslave them, or destroy them.
Instead, God gave them a second chance.
This is the theme that is repeated throughout scripture. If human beings are willing to surrender to the
will of God, then instead of being punished or abused, we are given a second chance.
In Mark 1:14-20, Jesus begins to call his disciples. For them this is a different, but still very similar sort
of surrender
14

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 The time
has come, he said. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!
16

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the
lake, for they were fishermen. 17 Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will send you out to fish for
people. 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
19

When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat,
preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with
the hired men and followed him.
Jesus called to Simon and Andrew to surrender and follow him, and when they did, they left their family,
their jobs, and much of their lives behind. For them, there was a price to be paid for following Jesus, but
once again, there was something that they received in return. Being among the first of Jesus followers
these men had front row seats as they witnessed the most pivotal moments in all of history. They were
there as God entered the world in a new way and created a way for all of mankind to have a second
chance.
After all, that is the point of the whole story of scripture.
Human beings are at war with the will of God. We insist on making ourselves the center of the universe.
To us, no one is more important than we are, which means that we put ourselves
in the place of God.
But through Jesus Christ, through his life, death and resurrection, God has given us all a second chance.
Like Jonah, for us to receive our second chance, we must first surrender. And so, once again, while we
understand that there is a price to be paid for our surrender, we wonder what it will mean for us to fully
surrender to God.
And once again we find answers in scripture. In 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, Paul tells the people of his
church what surrender would look like.
29

What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should
live as if they do not; 30 those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not;
3

those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if
not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
Paul tells the church that we must live as if the end of the world and the return of Jesus Christ is just
around the corner. While his words do not mean for us to mistreat, to leave our spouses, he uses this
extreme language to emphasize that we should not grow too attached to anything of this world. We
should live as is this world was temporary. We should live as if all that we know, and all that is familiar,
will soon come to an end.
Because it will.
Paul is not calling on the church to live like monks or to retreat into the desert or to a mountaintop and
wait for the end of the world. Paul is reminding us that the kingdom we serve, the life that we will live,
and the world that comes after this one, is more important than what we now have.
In his trial for war crimes after WWII was over, Maj. Gen. Nagano and his defense lawyers insisted that
he was unaware of the treatment of the prisoners on the Bataan Death March until several months
afterward. General Nagano forgot that war, and victory in battle, did not last forever.

He did not get a second chance.

God call to us just like Jesus called to Simon and Andrew to surrender and follow him. We all know that
there is a price to be paid for our surrender but we also know that the bulk of that cost has already been
paid by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What remains for us, is to remember to let God be
first in our lives. Like Jonah we must surrender our pride, reluctance, fear, hatred, stubbornness, and our
insistence on doing what we want instead of what God wants.

We are called to hold on to what we have loosely, to live as if this life is not that important. And to use
what time we have to tell the world that they can have

a second chance.

 You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first
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