Scandalized by God: Jonah 3:10-4:11 - 16th Sunday after Pentecost

When God saw what they 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?" (NRSV)

I consider the story of Jonah and the Whale as one of “Sunday School’s Greatest Hits.” A man tries to run away from God, but God sends a fish to swallow him whole to give him three days to think about what he’d done. The fish coughs him out, and he finally obeys. But that’s not what the story is really about.

 

Today, I want to think outside the fish—because the book of Jonah paints shocking portrait of God that is very hard to swallow!

 

Jonah was a Northern Kingdom prophet—meaning that when Israel split apart after the death of King Solomon, he was in the half that Jerusalem was not in; where Samaria was the capital (hence the term Samaritans).

 

Throughout its history, the Northern Kingdom was at war with the Assyrian Empire. During Jonah’s time as prophet, the Northern Kingdom reconquered a significant amount of territory the Empire previously captured. At this point, the Norther Kingdom was feeling quite secure and self-confident.

 

So one day, out of the blue, God calls Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh—which was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Its ruins sit opposite the Tigris River from the city of Mosul in Northern Iraq. Jonah’s mission was to call its people to repent of their wickedness.

 

But why would the people of Nineveh give heed to a God they didn’t worship, who identified with a puny little nation their mighty empire will one day conquer? For Jonah, this was a fool’s errand and a suicide mission, all rolled into one.

 

Yet as we know, God doesn’t take no for an answer. After three days’ detention inside the fish, Jonah reluctantly goes to Nineveh, and delivers a one-sentence proclamation: “forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” Astonishingly, the Ninevites obeyed God! The king issued a call to national fasting and repentance. When God saw how they turned from their evil ways, God had compassion for them and relented from destroying them.

 

At this point, Jonah has become the bible’s most effective prophet! God’s chosen people didn’t obey the other prophets, like Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. At least not so quickly. But the hated Ninevites did!

 

Yet, Jonah is enraged. In his mind, God should’ve destroyed them—and life would’ve been better for everyone. Jonah is so scandalized by God’s compassion that he would rather die than live under a God such as this.

 

Are you not inclined to agree with Jonah, that life would be better without certain people in it?

 

Consider this: earlier this year, researchers at Vanderbilt University found that “majorities of Democrats and Republicans viewed the other party as such “a serious threat to the United States and its people…that ‘violence would be justified’ if the opposing party won the 2020 presidential election.”

 

Inside of every human heart is a little Jonah who seeks the destruction of your enemies. When greedy, violent, and immoral people are punished, you feel vindicated. You feel good to not be like “those bad people.” If, on the other hand, God is compassionate towards bad people, God is being unfair to you. It’s like your faith, obedience, and good works don’t matter.

 

Ultimately, the reign of God is uncomfortably greater and more inclusive than we do prefer it to be. God’s compassion is so vast that it is actually offensive—a sucker-punch to the ego.

 

A person’s wickedness doesn’t make them matter any less to God than a fully righteous person. Even when God punishes, it is an act of compassion. God’s desire is repentance, not destruction. God’s compassion is what turns people away from sin to righteousness; from death to life. Jonah, on the other hand, is unrepentant. Jonah is steadfast in his objection to who God is. But God is steadfast in compassion to Jonah.

 

And that’s not to say that God is excusing Nineveh’s bad behavior—or Jonah’s. Violence is wrong; lying is wrong; corruption is wrong; oppression is wrong; arrogance is wrong—no matter who does it. Invoking God’s name to curse another human being is blasphemy.

 

The conquering, warrior God who smites the wicked; who’s compassionate with conditions—can you really trust him to forgive you and welcome you to heaven when you die? What happens if that person whom everybody hates is you—or someone you care about?

 

Why is God constantly gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing? Because if God refused compassion, creation would cease to exist. Everything would die, with no possibility of rebirth. Evil would win.

 

It is only divine compassion that transforms death into life; hatred into love; and evil into righteousness. If there is anything to be sought from God in this divisive, chaotic time in our nation, it is that God’s compassion will awaken the better angels of our nature; calm our fear; crush our pride. It is only compassion and goodwill that will spare us a hell of our own making.

 

I think we all need to be scandalized by God’s compassion—because this increases our confidence in God’s promises and our eagerness to share God’s compassion with the world!