God’s concern for all people.
Jonah 4:1-11
Key verse: 11
“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?”
Today we are going to finish up the book of Jonah. Do you remember what we had studied in the previous chapters? God called Jonah to deliver a message of judgment to a pagan city, Nineveh. But Jonah tried to flee from God, and then hewas swallowed up by alarge fish and spentfor three days and nights in its stomach. After getting vomited on the shore Jonah preached a message to the people in Nineveh. The entire city turned to God in repentance and fasting. These events surprise us.The surprising and shocking events in the book of Jonah call our attention to a surprising and shocking truth about God. Today, we are going to study the heart of God through another surprising event.
I. Jonah’s anger(1-3)
Verse 1 begins with Jonah’s anger. “But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry” Why Jonah was so angry? Chapter 3:10 gives us a clue. “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.Jonah was angry because his mission journey was too successful. Jonah’s short message impacted on the entire nation. People in Nineveh repented and stopped their evil doings. They not only repented but also bore the fruits of repentance.God saw their repentance and forgave them and had mercy on the Ninevites, cancelling out his judgement upon them. But to Jonah this seemed very wrong. Jonah wanted God’s judgmentto fall on Nineveh no matter what. He wanted the wicked people to be punished by calamity and the wicked nation to be removed from the history. Jonah was standing as a judge and he even judged what God had done for Nineveh.
With anger, Jonah was praying in verse 2-3 “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.” I don’t know if I could call this prayer. In his prayer, Jonah was angry at God, not because of some mistaken perception about God, but because of a true perception of God. With bitterness in his heart, he was saying that God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love, and relenting from disaster. To Jonah these attributes of Godwere good only when they are given to Israel, God's chosen people. When God chooses to display his gracious character toward pagans like the Ninevites, then these attributes of Godwere not good. He is not only angry with God, but he doesn't like who God is. He was disappointed with God’s character, and he would rather die than see the fruits of God’s compassion.
Jonah reminds us of the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son. He was fine when his younger brotherran away from their father. He was fine when his wayward brother lived a wild and ungodly life in a distant country. He was fine when his brother was starving. But he wasn't fine when his runaway brother came back home and his father welcomed him with great love and compassion.
The common factor that Jonah and the prodigal son’s older brother have isthat they hatedthe mercy of Godto be shown to the sinners. Those whose hearts are filled with self-righteousness can hold that mindset. The older brother hated seeing the father who extended his mercy to the prodigal son. In Jesus’ time, the Pharisees and religious leaders hated Jesus when Jesus was extending his mercy to the prostitutes and tax collectors. We should watch out such kind of self-righteous mindset.
Jonah, the older brother and the Pharisees didn't realize how desperately they needed the mercy of God. So when God’s beautiful and amazing mercy was shown to sinners they could not see and cherish it. All they saw was that the sinners were not getting the judgment they deserved.
What they didn't realize is that we sinnersare in great need of God’s mercy. Jesus said “It's not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick, and he didn't come for the righteous but for sinners.” When we realize how urgently we need God’s mercy for ourselves, then we see his mercy toward others is a beautiful thing. Jonah was living a second life by the mercy of God. So Jonah should have remembered how God had rescued him from the stomach of a fish and shared God’s mercy on himself with the perishing.
What was God’s comment on Jonah’s prayer? Verse 4 says“But the LORD replied “Is it right for you to be angry?” Do you think God was angry too when he was asking this question?“Is it right for you to be angry Jonah? When I read this verse carefully, I understand the heart of God who was shepherding over the complaining prophet, Jonah. God was gracious and merciful on the Ninevites and on Jonah as well. So God was somehow helping Jonah to understand his compassion and mercy upon the perishing. He was asking Jonah to re-examine it. God wanted Jonah to find himself as a sinner instead of becoming angry. Jonah doesn't answer God at this time, but God doesn't stop pursuing Jonah.
II. God’s concern for all people (5-11)
Look at verse 5. “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.”Jonah didn’t answer God’s question. Instead, he left the city and built a shelter to see what would happen to Nineveh. Chapter 3:10b says, God relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. Jonah was greatly disappointed when God’s judgment was not pouring down to Nineveh, and he knew it was because God had compassion upon the city. But why did he still wait for calamity of God upon the city? It was like Jonah’s protest toward God. He might have been holding a picket with written phrase “Better off die unless destruction of Nineveh!” Jonah was passionate to see the demolition of Nineveh, with his own eyes.
Jonah was suffering a lot under the shabby shelter. He was not a good handy man. The shelter was not providing much relief from the hot sun. In that region, temperature went up to more than 40 degrees Celsius during the day. How hard it could be for Jonah, doing nothing but waiting and waiting in scorching of days. However, scorching sun was not the matter if Jonah could see the demolition of the.
Verse 6 tells us that God appointed a plant to grow fast enough and large enough to provide a shade over Jonah as he waited to see what would happen to Nineveh.Jonah really liked that plant. He was exceedingly glad to have that plant over him for a short moment.But the next morning God appointed a worm to eat the plant. The leaves that provided Jonah with relief from the discomfort of the sun withered and died. But that was not the end. God sent a scorching hot wind to blow across the land. Again Jonah was suffering a lot in extreme hot and thirsty body condition. Jonah became depressed, dehydrated and he was ready to die.Again he asked God to take his life.
Here let us think about God’s supernatural hand in the book of Jonah. God threw a great storm on the boat as Jonah tried to escape. God appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah before he drowned. God commanded a fish to vomit Jonah onto the land and God appointed the plant to grow up quickly, and then appointed a worm to eat the plant and God caused a hot wind from east to blow.
What do you learn about God here? The point of the book of Jonah is not just displaying God’s miraculous power but to reveal how much God cares for Jonah to make him his servant who knows the heart of God. To help one person, God used many sources such as sea, wind, fish, leafy plant and even tiny worm. Once God calls his servant, He never gives up shepherding, caring and disciplining over the person until he or she understands the heart of God. I believe that Jonah knew God’s character well through his personal experience with God. Many of God’s characteristics are shown and God applied them to Jonah throughout Jonah’s story.
Now God asks Jonah a same question in verse 9 that he asked before“Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” Jonah says, It is, and I’m so angry I wish I were dead”Jonah’s answer is like my children’s cranky response. Sometimes Joyce is wrapped up entirely in what she wants, very trivial thing, crying endlessly when she doesn’t get what she desires. It is very hard to make her calm though her mom explains and soothes her with by all means. Jonah was a spoiled prophet that he never changed his heart. But the gracious God doesn’t stop helping Jonah until he understands God’s compassion.
So God asked his last question, the question of compassion in verses 10-11“You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up over night and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than an hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left-and also many animals?” Though Jonah didn’t do anything for the plant, he felt affection because it provided him with comfort. Jonah must have been concerned with the plant to stay long with it because the plant would be withered soon if there was no rain in the wilderness. Unlike his wish, however, the plant died next day because of a worm. When God took it from Jonah, Jonah even lost his desire to live.
Nineveh was a wicked andenemy cityto Israel. That is true. And God will and must judge the wicked. But Jonah ignored one thing. God had concern for their souls though they were sinful. The Ninevites were God’s creatureswho had the image of God, but had a problem that they were spirituallyblind and ignorant. God somehow wanted to give them an opportunity to listen to the message of salvation by sending his servant. It’s the same heart displayed in Jesus when he said from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”
Why couldn’t Jonah grasp the heart of God though God talked to him and showed many miraculous events to save the Ninevites? Early in the message, I mentioned about Jonah’s mind-set which was judgemental and critical toward others. Jonah was wrapped up in this kind of mind-set and he never thought about people in the city ever. Jonah hurriedly spoke the message of God and came out of the city quickly. Jonah kept certain distance from the city and he was overseeing the country waiting for the calamity to fall on.
But let’s think about the people in the city. There are over 120, 000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left. My youngest daughter, grace, has no concept of right and left. Suppose if great calamity like earthquake, tsunami or flooding hits the city, how miserable it would be for the little children. Once I saw the picture that a little girl was trapped under the demolished building after earthquake in china and her daddy was weeping so miserably right in front of her. That picture really hurt my heart. Jonah was expecting God to do this kind of disaster in the city of Nineveh. Through this we learn that when we keep certain distance from others with wrong mind-set, we may become like Jonah, being cold hearted, filled with anger and judgmental spirit, having wrong concept of God. However, God was in the city of Nineveh being concerned with them. God was caring for their salvation and God’s heart was there in the city because God grew them. God wanted Jonah to take his steps close toward the people in the city so that he would see precious souls to be saved.
The book of Jonah ends with open-question. Do we love and forgive and have pity on precious human souls like God does? Will we love people even when we don’t like them? Even when they seem so indifferent to spiritual things? When someone hurts or offends us, will we pull up a chair in order to watch judgment fall on them, or pray for them and have compassion on them? God hasn’t called His church to be self-righteous, but to share His love and compassion for a lost and dying world. Jonah’s story teaches us many lessons about God’s compassion for all people on earth.
The book of Jonah reflects our life. We were like people in Nineveh, sinful and wicked, causing God’s wrath and anger. However, God made a way for us to escape the wrath of God through Jesus’ cross. We see our strong ego and reluctant attitude toward God’s mission through the life of Jonah. We sometimes have bitterness toward God and others. We are indifferent toward spiritually blinded people and the perishing. But what God tried to help Jonah was to share his compassion with others. Overseeing others in a distance does not work. It can be possible when we take our steps closer than before toward others with the genuine concern for them. May God grow our church community to be compassionate so that God’s love and mercy can be reached out to the people around us.