One of the big questions in the book of Jonah is; why does Jonah run away? It is not because he is afraid, it is because he doesn’t want Nineveh to be saved. Assyria is the superpower of the day, if its capital and king get wiped out so much the better for Israel that would be a major threat off the radar. That’s why Jonah runs away, he doesn’t want Nineveh to be saved, doesn’t want to run the risk of them repenting and God showing grace to them. He wants to see Nineveh wiped off the planet!
Look at 4:1-3, I think these are some of the most disturbing words in the whole Bible, especially as they are spoken by God’s prophet. Jonah is incandescent with rage he is furious with God. Why? “Because to Jonah this seemed wrong…”
What seemed wrong? (3:10) Nineveh repenting and God showing grace and mercy to them. Jonah’s fury leads him to rail against God and spit accusations against him (4:2). What is it Jonah’s rages against?
“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.” That is why Jonah runs, to stop God showing grace and mercy to Nineveh, that's why he is so cross with God.
Do those words shock you? They should! Here is God’s prophet, God’s messenger furious because God has shown grace to Nineveh. You are too loving, you should never have saved them, you should have blasted them with your white hot holiness, and you should have given them exactly what their actions deserved! is effectively what Jonah is saying.
Jonah doesn’t get grace, even after God has shown him such grace. Without God’s grace where would Jonah be? He would be dead, he would be fish food. Jonah’s problem is that he makes a good thing an ultimate thing.
That’s a good definition of idolatry – making a good thing an ultimate thing. And that is what Jonah has done, Israel is his idol. Tim Keller has said that anything which the loss of makes you say “it is better for me to die than to live” is an idol.
For Jonah that is Israel, as God’s grace triumphs and Nineveh repents Jonah’s hope crumbles because it means trouble for Israel.
Am I like Jonah? Are there things which are so important to me that if I lost them I would say “it is better for me to die than to live”? If there are they are idols; be it career, family, a relationship, children, all good things but idols if they are turned into ultimate things.
As the book ends God teaches Jonah the same lesson about grace again. The book ends with the knowledge that “Salvation comes from the LORD”. God is a God of compassion, love and grace because yet again Jonah rebels, he questions what God does. But God shows Jonah mercy and grace, he hasn’t forfeited the love of God yet.
Some people say the book has an unsatisfactory ending; we never know what happens to Jonah. As the final scene fades Jonah is still lying on the ground, and God’s words are the last words we hear as the screen goes dark. “should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left – and also many animals?”
The question is left hanging, does Jonah get it? Its left hanging because that is what the author wants us to think about.
Do I get it? Do I understand grace? The danger is that I can be just like Jonah; we experience grace just as Jonah did but just like Jonah we don’t get it, and it does not change us. Why? Because we cling to our idols, be it career, relationship, wealth, class or children and look no different to those around us.
Do I get grace? Do the people I live, work and breathe alongside see the relevance of trusting Jesus. That is the issue today people say 'Christianity, it’s just not relevant', 'we don’t see the difference it makes', 'we don’t see the change in attitude, in loving, in forgiveness it makes'. 'So why should we listen to the message!'
In contrast to Jonah Paul writes “I have become all things to all people…” Why? “so that by all possible means I might save some.” That is what it means to get grace!
4 comments:
Oh to get grace, Jonah invites my repentance.
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