“As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation…The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here.”
Luke 11:29-30, 32 NIV
We cannot leave Jonah without examining some of the lessons he might have learned through this harrowing experience. What did he reflect on when he was back home in his safe space? Had he known what he had learned from his encounter with God, would he have thought and done things differently?
One thing is clear. Despite being a prophet of God, Jonah did not share God’s attitude towards ungodly unbelievers. Whatever God thought about the Assyrians, the Jews hated them because they were vicious, cruel, ruthless, and powerful. However, the fact that he, Jonah, was to preach judgment against them was no comfort to him because he also knew that God was merciful. What if they repented and God forgave them?
With this thought in the back of his mind, Jonah had tried to escape God’s command but failed. His worst fears were confirmed when, after preaching judgment, the whole city of Nineveh repented even when he thundered against them.
“Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.”
Jonah 3:4-5 NIV
Jonah was angry and rebellious. Why did he not share God’s compassion for a city under judgment? Jonah viewed the Assyrians, not as people to be pitied because they had no idea what judgment meant, but as a threat to his own people’s existence. In other words, his view of the Assyrians was “enemy” to be exterminated, not sinners under judgment to be pitied.
God’s view, by contrast, was “people”, created in His image, who needed to be rescued because they were precious to Him. God’s plan was, from the beginning, to have a human family, created in His image, with whom He could have fellowship and share His love. The fact that humans changed sides and rebelled against God did not change His plan. He revealed the extent of His love by sending His own Son to take the judgment intended for humans. He judged them, not by what they had done but by what they had done because they had refused to believe and obey Him.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
John 3:16-18 NIV
God does not love to judge. He yearns to save. Through Ezekiel, He spoke to His own people…
“Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’”
Ezekiel 33:11 NIV
God’s mercy overrides judgment when people repent and turn to Him, but He also comes down hard on those who, having received His mercy, refuse to treat others with mercy.
“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
James 2:12-13 NIV
The end of Jonah’s story is telling. God used an object lesson to confront Jonah with his terrible attitude…Jonah was angry because a worm destroyed his shelter and because caged forgave the Ninevites. He judged people by what they did, not by who they were, people created in God’s image regardless of what they did.
“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?””
Jonah 4:10-11 NIV
Did Jonah learn the lesson? We don’t know.
So, God reached out to the worst of sinners then, and He still does…He wants us, His children, to do the same. We are to treat others as He has treated us. This is the crux of real faith in Jesus…hearts so full of gratitude for God’s mercy that we, in turn, reach out in mercy towards others.
To be continued…