Sunday 21st September 2014: Jonah and God's amazing grace

by David Clarkson

Sunday 21st September 2014: Jonah and God's amazing grace

So, here we are at week four of Jonah.  Last week we saw that Jonah preached the message that God had given him, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”  And the people of Nineveh, these horrible, hateful, fearsome people cried out to God in repentance.  It’s an amazing story.  Jonah runs away from God, spends some time in the belly of a fish, and now that God has given him a second chance 120,000 people have repented.  Can you imagine Jonah just falling on his knees before God saying, “Thank you for using me.”  Can you imagine the sheer exhilaration and exhaustion that he is feeling.

When we catch up with him at the start of our reading today it says, “But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.”  He should have been ecstatic.  If this happened today, Jonah would be booked at every church conference, speaking all over the world.  He would be on the front cover of magazines and newspapers.  He would be recognised as a church growth consultant and people would wait with anticipation for the book and DVD study guide.

But that’s not how Jonah responded.  He was very angry, in fact, the Hebrew word is ra’ah, and it’s the word that’s used for evil.  The word translated anger is harah, which means to burn with fire.  So the original meaning of this text is that when Jonah looked back on this part of his life, and particularly God having pity on the people of Nineveh, what he saw was evil and he was burning with anger.

Remember last week, I said that the word used for overturned could mean overturned and destroyed, or overturned and changed.  Jonah wanted to see them overturned and destroyed, but because they repented what happened was that God allowed them to be overturned and changed.  When God looked at the city before they repented he saw evil, and he was angry.  But after they repented, it was Jonah who looked at it and saw evil and became angry.  It seems to be a really strange reaction.  He sees the grace and compassion of God at work in somebody else’s life and he becomes angry.

I wonder how many times that has been the reaction of God’s people over the ages.  Every great move of the spirit of God has met opposition from within the established church.  It’s as if church people can’t bear to see people receiving mercy from God.

Thurso – personal story

New people inevitably bring change.

How did Jonah deal with his anger?  It says, “He prayed to the Lord.”  Jonah only prayed twice in this story: the first time was when he was in the belly of the fish and he was at his wits end; and, the second time was now when he was angry.  I wonder how true that is of you?  Is only when you let your wits end, or your angry, or in the midst of some other tragedy that you call out to God?  For some people, that is the extent of their relationship with God.  The reality is that our relationship with God is so much more.  Jesus comes to do more than rescue you from pain.  He comes to give your life, as good and purposeful and fulfilling as it can be, even in the midst of pain.  Don’t settle for a crisis driven relationship with God.

Jonah is very angry and effectively what he prays is, “I knew it!  That’s why I didn’t want to come!”  He acknowledges that God is slow to anger, abounding in love, and willing to forgive and what is his response to that?  He says, “Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Jonah is really saying, “These people were so vile that I cannot believe you would ever have compassion on them.”  The irony is that he is thankful that God was patient with him, thankful that he got a second chance, but totally unwilling to give the people of Nineveh their second chance.  He is living in the middle of a huge contradiction.  He wants all the blessings and all the benefits that God has to offer, but he is unwilling to see them extended to other people.

Maybe you’re here this morning and you are angry.  Maybe you are harbouring anger and unforgiveness towards someone because you’ve been hurt.  Maybe you’ve been subjected to some sort of physical or emotional abuse: you’ve been told that you’re not good, you’re not worth anything, you’ll never amount to anything.  Maybe you’ve been let down by someone you trusted, someone who has left you high and dry and the spread lies and rumours about you, and you’re angry.  You’re broken and fragile, but you’re hanging on to unforgiveness.

Maybe you’re sitting there relieved, because you don’t have any unforgiveness.  Maybe it’s resentment that you’re dealing with.  Resentment, it’s probably a bit more vague and often less significant at the start but, when it’s not dealt with, it can create attitudes and actions that as damaging as unforgiveness.  Maybe you’re resentful because your spouse isn’t in church; maybe you’re resentful over something from the past, maybe it’s because you didn’t get a promotion, or because you’re better at your job than your boss.  I don’t know what is for you, but I know what it was for me.  Here’s the thing: we have to forgive.  We are called to forgive because if we don’t, we cannot ever be truly free.  Resentment and unforgiveness keep us from the fullness of life that we are offered in Christ.

Picture Jesus on the cross: he had been abandoned, abused, lied about, spat at, crucified, and what did he do?  His response, while hanging on the cross, was to look out at the people who were there and say, “Father, forgive them.  Forgive them.  They don’t know what they are doing.”  Jesus is living out what he taught in Matthew 16 weird he said, “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

As God’s people, we are supposed to be countercultural.  We are supposed to be people who forgive unconditionally.  It hurts, it’s painful and sometimes it doesn’t seem to make any sense.  Who do you need to forgive?  Maybe you’re the one who needs to ask for forgiveness.  If you’ve been holding on to resentment will you let it go?  Don’t allow your mind to get clogged up with ideas and thoughts about what people are thinking and doing and become judgemental and critical. 

Let’s be people that live free.

Jonah is not interested in that so he goes out of the city and makes himself a shelter.  Jonah didn’t get the answer that he wanted and he has effectively gone off in the huff.  Even here though we see the compassion of God.  It says in verse 6, “The Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head and protect him from the sun”.  We’re told that  Jonah was very happy about the vine.  However, we’re then told that, “Early the next morning the Lord sent a worm to chew on the vine….. and a scorching wind.”  Jonah is so uncomfortable and once again gets to the point where he thinks he would be better off dead.

Jonah is not content, and he is not excited about where he is in his life.  Are you content?  So many people are unhappy because they are not content with where they are in life.  A lot of people are not content with their marriage or relationships; people are not happy with the career; people are unhappy with decisions they’ve made; or, how they’ve brought up their children.  Lots of people are not content with the life they have.

So Jonah is having a terrible day.  But what we need to understand is that God is the God of the terrible day.  The word provided is really significant in this story.  The word translated  as ‘provided’ carries the meaning, giving assent to or appointed.  And this story is saying that God knew exactly what it was that he needed to send into Jonah’s life, and exactly when it was going to be needed, so that Jonah could not only do the work to which he had been called, but also that he could experience for himself the compassion of God.  God provided the storm, the fish, the message, the vine, the worm and the scorching wind.  God doesn’t do these things because he is mean, but because he knows what Jonah needs in order to come into fullness of life.  That was what he wanted for the people of Nineveh and he also provided for them. What he provided for them was Jonah.

I would much rather see the God of the vine.  I like the idea of God, who blesses and brings prosperity into my life.  I can look back to times when God has provided for me and when I have known his blessing.  I can also think of times when there’s been storm and scorching wind.  If it wasn’t for those things I wouldn’t be here today.  We need to become people who are not only grateful for the vine, but also for the worm and the wind so that Christ is able to develop our character.  It’s in these circumstances that God develops patience, endurance, and perseverance.  It’s in these circumstances that we become the men and women that God has called us to be.

Jonah isn’t interested in any of that because the reality of chapter 4 is that he’s only concerned with himself: about his anger, his unforgiveness, his comfort, his loss of the vine.  And what is revealed is Jonah’s selfishness, blindness, and unrighteousness.

God shows him that he is wrong.  He shows him that it’s about Nineveh and the more than 120,000 people in that city.  And there is the huge lesson for those of us who call ourselves people of God.  It’s not about us.  It’s not about what we sing, how we pray, what version of the Bible we read, or how we dress.  It’s about the people we meet when we walk out of the doors of our building.  We live in a world where marriages are falling apart, where children don’t know their fathers, where people are living in poverty, where lives are ruined by drink or drugs.

The Gospels have lots of parables about the kingdom, and includes stories of servants is being sent out to bring people into the banquet.  I think that speaks directly to this story: if we make everything about us then essentially what we are doing is keeping the banquet to ourselves.  But if we make it about those people who don’t yet know Jesus, then we become the servants sent out into the world to bring people into the presence of the King to enjoy his banquet.

 







Leave a comment