We learn in the first chapter of the book of Jonah, that God wanted Jonah to go to a place called Nineveh to tell them that they had been being bad people and that God was mad at them. But, instead of doing what God wanted, Jonah tried to run away, as far from Nineveh as possible.
We know that Nineveh was a scary place for Israelites because the people there did not like Israelites, and often were at war with the Israelites, so you may think that Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh because he was scared he would get hurt. However, if you read the book of Jonah for yourself, you will discover that the answer is entirely different.
Let’s start off by looking at what actually happened when Jonah did end up in Nineveh.
Jonah 3:1-4:3 (ESV)Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshis; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
As you can see, Jonah knew that if he warned the people of Nineveh that God was mad at them, they might decide to ask God for forgiveness. And if they asked God to forgive them, Jonah knew God would forgive them because God is loving and full of mercy.
So the answer to the question is: Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh because he hated the Ninevites so much that he did not want God to forgive them.
What does this means for us today?
In this case, we can learn exactly what Jonah was supposed to learn. We can see this lesson if we keep reading in Jonah chapter 4 right after Jonah complained about God forgiving the Ninevites.
Jonah 4:1-11 (ESV) 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 had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”
But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?
Just like Jonah we should know that our God is a loving and forgiving God. He is so loving and forgiving that He died and the cross so that He could pay for all of our sins and forgive them.
But we should also learn what Jonah did not want to learn. We should learn that it is not fair for us to be grateful that God forgave us of our mistakes but to also be angry when God forgives other people.
Instead of being angry that God is willing to forgive people we don’t like, we should be focused on being grateful that God IS so loving and forgiving, because if He wasn’t so loving and forgiving, we would all be in big trouble. We all need God’s love and forgiveness, even me, and even Jonah. It is not our place, as people who have been forgiven, to be mad at God for forgiving other people as well.
Besides, life is always better when we focus on the blessings and grace God offers us, instead of holding grudges against other people.
This series of blog posts titled, “Holding on to Reason”, is named after Amanda’s favorite C.S. Lewis quote: “Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.”