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When God saw what the people of Nineveh did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city. The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” Then the Lord said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”
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Of all the Old Testament prophets, Jonah is my favorite. The reason I say that is because he is "real." The reading for this Sunday provides us only the last chapter of his prophetic experience. Recall that when God initially sends Jonah to go to Nineveh, he wants no part of this call to go and speak to this city as a prophet of God. We aren't told until this moment in the fourth chapter of Jonah why he runs away from this calling. The only thing we are told initially is that Jonah is not merely running from the call. Jonah is trying to escape the presence of God. This reading from the tail end of the third chapter through the end of the fourth provide the answer for why Jonah tries to run away from God. Jonah knew that if Nineveh responded to the Word of God proclaimed with repentance, God would forgive. In other words, God would do what Jonah believes is both unbelievable and unacceptable. Jonah wants to see judgment fall down on this city. He has no room for mercy towards them. If it were left to him and his wisdom, there would be no mercy. But Jonah does not have the final call for who is to receive mercy. That is reserved for God. And God shows the divine longing for mercy in granting mercy even to a stubborn and rebellious prophet who first tries to run, who then sits and waits for judgment to fall as fire from heaven that consumes everything and leaves nothing remaining.
I wonder how often we are Jonah. In our wisdom, we believe firmly that some are beyond hope and that mercy and forgiveness for them are mere foolishness, even when granted by God. And yet we know that God is longing deeply for that moment when even these ones to whom we would show no mercy cry out for that very grace. We may have reservations for showing mercy, but God never has reservations.
That fact should not trouble us in the least. Remember, after all, that God has delighted to show mercy upon us and to grant us that grace, peace and love of God that passes all understanding. When we consider our "Ninevites," therefore, we should be mindful that we have no more right to God's mercy than do they. It's all and only grace for us all. And the moment we turn grace into right, the very thing of which we speak is no longer grace, not simply for those we believe to be beyond hope, but for ourselves also.
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