“When God saw that they had put a stop to their evil ways, he had mercy on them and didn’t carry out the destruction he had threatened.”
- Jonah 3:10
O Jonah. This story has always led me a stray by its many interpretations and reoccurrences in Sunday School or Veggietales. Jonah is pegged to be a hero, after all his name is the title of the book, and often the focus in on the belly of the fish rather than on God. Jonah is no hero, just a deeply flawed individual who knows a lot about God and yet distances what he knows about God from how he treats others.
Jonah could rightly be called a racist in his days. In fact, many Jews in his days had similar views about certain people groups. Some of these groups were considered morally backward, overtly violent, and overall, very far from the reaches of God’s grace. That’s the Ninevites, one of Assyria’s great cities. Even while Israel would prove to be defenseless against Assyria, the Israelites still looked down upon the Assyrians and elevated themselves to a place of righteousness and prestige.
But there is also more to this story, because ultimately it is revealing to us who God is to the world.
“God passed in front of Moses and said, ‘I am the Lord, I am the Lord, the merciful and gracious God. I am slow to anger and rich in unfailing love and faithfulness. I show this unfailing love to many thousands by forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. Even so I do not leave sin unpunished, but I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations.”
These verses, Exodus 34:6-7, are some of the most referenced scriptures within scripture. We see these verses allured to here in Jonah 3:10, as well as many other places throughout the Old Testament. What this means for us though is an understanding of who God is as how God explains it Himself. God is Merciful, Gracious, Slow to Anger, Rich in Unfailing Love, Faithful, Forgiving and yet Just.
God’s very character possess an issue for Jonah. Jonah knew all this to be true about God, perhaps even more than all of us. But because he knew it to be true about God, he ran away from proclaiming God’s word to the Ninevites. Jonah did not want to see these people forgiven or mercy brought to them, so he ran in the opposite direction. Essentially running away from who God is.
Jonah’s of Today:
I wish Jonah was an isolated case, but I believe he is more representative of many of us Christians today than we would like to admit. Many of us, by the way we live and talk begins to preach a message of God’s grace for us and us alone. Even though God’s grace is outreaching. Surely, there are some racist Christians today both in their hearts and minds and also who are complacent with racism today, much like Jonah to the Ninevites. But there are other ways we appear like Jonah too.
What about when someone knows more accurately you political affiliations than they know your faith affiliation? What about when we allow work places or political parties to diminish the humanity of others, being passive while others have their rights and freedoms stripped away from them? How do you respond to someone who is an active sinner? Do you treat them differently depending on the sin?
Jonah was quick to be the judge of who got to experience the grace of God. Yes, God will also judge sin but this very God offers the opportunity to repent, to turn away from sins, and turn to grace and compassion. Jonah tried to be Nineveh’s judge, jury, and executioner. But that is not the role of a prophet, and that is certainly not our role as Christians today. Too often many pastors and Christian leaders have tried to be the judge, jury, and executioner of sinners. They pass judgement, allow for hatred in their congregations, and then try to proclaim the gospel as Good News to the poor, the prisoner, and the persecuted. Jonah’s strip God of His grace and then tell people to repent to a graceless God.
Surely God will judge those who remain in their sins, but God has offered grace first.
Final Blessing:
God is a God of mercy, compassion, unfailing love and faithfulness, who is slow to get angry and will be the final judge. God’s judgement though must be properly understood in light that he has offered grace to everyone so as long as they come and believe in Him, to be in relationship with Him. What Jonah reveals to us is that we cannot escape or determine who God gives grace to, or else we might find ourselves to be the ones judged by God. God is a God who offered Grace but remains Just none the less.
Now may the Lord of Life and Redemption be with you every step, every breath, and every heartbeat of your journey.
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