(Text and Audio)
Title: Petulant Jonah
1. The Lord Shows His Mercy
Let’s not forget that these people certainly did not EARN this reward. Yes, the scriptures tell us that God “relented” after seeing them “turn from their evil way” (repentance), but we must be careful to ask this very important question:
Q: What gave the people of Nineveh the opportunity to repent? How did they even know that God was displeased with them and was planning on bringing ruin to their great city?
A: God, in his mercy, sent Jonah to warn them of the destruction to come, to give them an opportunity to repent.
Q: How does this serve as yet another parallel between the ministry of Jonah and the ministry of Jesus?
A: God, in his mercy, sent Jesus to warn us of the destruction to come, and to give us an opportunity to repent.
Q: Why is it essential when we are sharing the message of Jesus, that we explain the reality of sin and God’s anger against us, and our destruction if we do not repent?
A: Because if we leave out God’s wrath, people don’t know why they need a savior. If we skim over the destruction, people won’t realize they are in danger.
One last, very important question before we move on:
Q: what happens, both to the people of Nineveh, and us today, if God does not chose to send his messenger to warn the people?
A: Our destruction is inevitable. There is much mercy and God’s warning!
2. Jonah’s reaction is less than ideal.
The first thing we see is that his displeasure leads immediately to anger.
Q: what are the dangers of our displeasure leading immediately to anger?
A: We tend to not make the best decisions, we tend to say and do things that we later regret when we are angry.
Examples? (Parents, have any of you ever said something in anger and frustration with you child that you later had to backtrack on?)
What should we instead do when we feel out frustration is leading to anger?
James 1:19-20
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
Proverbs 29:11
Fools give full vent to their anger, but the wise bring calm in the end.
Jonah cries out to god in his anger, and, let’s see who’s really been dialed in to the mind of Jonah.. at the core of it all, what is the reason for Jonah’s anger?
He Never wanted the people of Nineveh to have an opportunity to repent in the first place. This is why he was so obstinate about going to Nevaeh in the first place. This is the reason he fled to Tarshish, he confesses here at the climax that he knew God’s mercy and character was such that if the people of Nineveh were given an opportunity to repent, there was a very high probability that they would repent and the result would be God showing his compassion and mercy.
At its most basic Premise, this is an issue of pride for Jonah. He believes he knows what is right and best for their rebellious evil people of Nineveh. He wants them to suffer God’s wrath, he is not interested in being a harbinger for God’s mercy to these people.
Now, I believe there is a great temptation for us today to say “tsk tsk” to Jonah and shame him, but before we do that, I think it is essential that we look in our own hearts and ask the very difficult question: have we ever prayed for someone’s destruction because we have determined that they deserve God‘s wrath?
Have we ever done this when we know we should have been praying for God‘s mercy kindness and revelation to open their hearts to repent? In other words, do you pray judgment upon your enemies, or do you pray mercy upon your enemies?
The truth is, Jonah is far more like us then we would probably like to admit.
3. Jonah’s solution:
The good news for God, is that Jonah has it all taken care of. Not only does he know what card should have done to the people of Nineveh, he also knows what God should do to him now that Jonah has witnessed their repentance.
Look at verse 3 again
3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”
I have to chuckle when I read this because I remember clearly being 13 years old at summer camp in the Ozark Mountains in Missouri and one certain beautiful Susan Alice Brockway rejected my invitation to be her boyfriend. And my great angst and frustration I cried out to God, at 13 years old, “Lord take me now! If I cannot have Susan Alice Brockway is my girlfriend there is no point to life”
The immaturity, temerity, and absurdity of this type of claim is not lost on me. Jonah is being a petulant child here. First by claiming God has made a mistake, as if such a thing as possible, then secondly by offering the solution that God should just kill him now because the pain of watching his enemies come to saving grace is too much for him to bear is equally arrogant and disrespectful to God.
The core fundamental issue for Jonah remains the same: he thinks he knows better than God.
As it is for Jonah, it also is for us: pride is truly the root of all sin.
Close:
In the coming weeks, we will see that God is simply not done with Jonah yet, there is more discussion to be had, more demonstrations of God’s sovereignty over all things to be revealed, and more time for Jonah to be seasoned so that he might step away from his childish ways of thinking and truly admonish God as what he has: the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
Pray/Q&A