Jonah 3:10-4:4

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.

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Jonah 3:10-4:4

The satirical story of Jonah and can often make us laugh. The fact that in the passage above, Jonah is complaining about God’s grace, compassion, and love can seem ridiculous to us. But I think if we all take a minute and really self-reflect, we can all relate to some of the feelings Jonah is expressing here. 

To give it some context, Jonah had some real problems with Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, and so did God. They were known for being quite brutal and oppressive of many nations. They committed some horrific acts against their victims, including the Israelites. So it is not unreasonable to expect that Jonah might have some hesitancy to see them as the recipients of God’s compassion. 

However, as God says in Ezekiel 18:23, He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked but would prefer that they turn from their ways and find life in Him. And God surprises Jonah when the wicked actually do turn from their way, and the reader of this story wonders, who really was the wicked one in this story? 

This story in many ways reminds me of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. They were the established religious leaders of the Jews, and they were the ones who supposedly knew God’s ways and obeyed His commands, and yet Jesus exposed their hypocrisy and the fact that they overlooked the more important commandments and the heart behind them for things like tithing their spices (Matthew 23:23-24).

Similarly, Jonah was an Israelite, a member of God’s chosen people who were to be the representation of God’s love to the world, and a prophet, who was to speak God’s words to the world. Yet, when the people Jonah spoke God’s word to, quite poorly I might add, He was upset that God has compassion on them after they actually heeded his message and even the cows repented! 

How often do we feel like we own the rights to receive God’s love and not THAT person? How often do we let our own self-righteousness limit God’s love and compassion? I know I can sometimes feel like this. But, like the band Citizens say, “Well thank God, that you eclipse, all our shallow understanding.”¹ 

In all of Jonah’s (our) self-righteousness though, I love God’s response to him. God is not condemning of Jonah (us), he is patient. He meets Jonah where he is and lets him sit in the tension of his own inconsistencies. His response shows that of a loving and caring parent, similar to the father of the prodigal son, and his older brother (Luke 15:11-32). God simply asks Jonah if his anger over God’s mercy on Nineveh is good. 

Today it can be easy for us to feel like we’ve got the corner on God’s love. Sure we want to see people who don’t know God come to know Him, and we’ve heard amazing stories of people at odds with God come to know and accept His love. But there’s always that one person we feel like will never come around. That person who has just done such awful things, or says such hateful things. But when we fall into this thinking, we put limits on God’s love and transforming power. 

My prayer is that God would continue breaking out of our boxes and surprising us at how incredible and powerful His love is. May we be continually challenged by His grace and compassion, so that we remember that it is all about Him and His great love and not ourselves.