If you're not laughing by the time chapter four of the book of Jonah rolls around, you're missing out. The story of Jonah is certainly comical, and it also pinches a bit when we realize how often his caricatured responses mirror our own. Jonah is only four chapters long, but it packs in a lot of truth about human nature, and about the nature of God.
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| Jonah, by John August Swanson |
In chapter one, we learn that Jonah is called by God to speak a prophetic word. Prophets played an important role in the Old Testament. They shared messages from God - usually warnings about what kind of consequences the people were heading toward if they didn't change their ways. The message Jonah was called to deliver was directed at the city of Nineveh, which was the capital of Israel's enemy Assyria. To put it simply, Jonah didn't want to go, and so he headed in the opposite direction, to Tarshish.
This is the part of the story that's probably most familiar. While traveling to Tarshish, a storm arises and heavy wind and rain cover the ship. The sailors, frightened, do whatever they can think of to stop the storm, which ultimately only calms once Jonah has been thrown overboard. Don't worry! God doesn't want Jonah to drown - God wants him to go to Nineveh. So God sends a large fish to swallow Jonah. He's inside the fish for three days, praying for deliverance and giving thanks to God. Finally, the fish spits him out onto dry land, where Jonah receives God's call again.
This time, Jonah does what God tells him. He walks through Nineveh, shares God's message...and then is shocked and angry that the message did what God intended - calls the people of Nineveh to repentance and welcomes them into God's mercy.
The portion of the story we heard last Sunday is the most hilarious part, followed quickly by a pinch. Jonah, sulking outside the city, is so mad and so unaware of the big picture that something as small as the withering of a shady plant makes him want to die rather than live. He angrily prays to God, revealing finally why he didn't want to travel to Nineveh to begin with. It wasn't because he was afraid for his safety, or concerned about the long journey. No, Jonah didn't want to pass along God's invitation to repentance because he knew God would forgive them. "...for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing."
Usually, those qualities are things about God that we celebrate, and give thanks for! Usually, we are relieved that God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Or at least we are when we are the recipients of God's mercy. It can sting to be reminded that God also cares for the people we dislike. We can get so caught up in our own sense of self-righteousness and goodness that we forget how often we ourselves have needed God's grace and forgiveness. Having made it through the gate, we often prefer to lock it tight behind us rather than invite others in. If God forgives too many people, the kingdom of heaven just won't be a special place anymore! Right?
Not quite. As writer Anne Lamott put it, "You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do." It's painful but necessary to have our curved-in, sinful nature unbent every once in a while. Rather than gazing inward, selfishly considering only that which benefits me, God's transformational forgiveness adjusts our gaze outward. Having been found and forgiven ourselves, we learn to rejoice with the lost who have also been found and the wayward who also repent.
The next time you find yourself sulking because God is merciful, think again about Jonah, and about the God whose boundless compassion is truly a gift for all of us, even when we can't see it.
Bonus resources:
- The VeggieTales version of the story of Jonah is entertaining and insightful for folks of all ages! It's available on Netflix.
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