Pastor Phil Burdoin
March 27, 2022
Jonah was a prophet. A mouthpiece for God. He delivered a message to his nation that God was going to expand its boarders back to the time of King David. And it happened! Jonah was very proud of this and was seen as a hero of sorts. Then God gives him a new message. God says to go and preach to the great city of Nineveh. Nineveh is the capita of Assyria. These are the “bad guys.” Israel’s enemies. Jonah decides to run away from God instead of going to Nineveh. After God foils his plan of escape on a ship, Jonah ends up swallowed by a giant fish. In the fish Jonah repents and asks God for a second chance. God shows him grace and forgives him.
Now he has gone to Nineveh and preached to them that God would destroy their city if they did not turn from their violent, evil ways. The people respond and call a city wide fast. The King tells everyone, from the least to the greatest, not to eat or drink anything. He tells the to call out urgently to God. Because of their response God forgives them and give them a second chance. Jonah gets angry with God for showing them mercy. He hopes God will still destroy the city.
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?
Jonah 4:5-11
The story ends with a cliff hanger. It does not tell us what happened to Jonah or how he responded to God’s final plea.
God does not delight in judgment, he takes pleasure in repentance.Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
Ezekiel 18:23
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
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
Jonah does not delight in repentance, he takes pleasure in judgment.Jonah is “extremely happy” when God provides a plant with shade for Jonah. But Jonah grieves when his comfort is taken away.
God is saying to Jonah, “You weep over plants by my compassion is for people.” “I am weeping and grieving over this city-why aren’t you? If you are my prophet, why don’t you have my compassion?”
(Tim Keller: Rediscovering Jonah)
Am I more concerned with comfort, or am I more connected to compassion?This week:- Do a self-examination
- Ask God to change you
- Ask God to give you a second chance
What happened to Jonah. The Bible doesn’t tell us exactly. But the fact that this story was recorded means he either told someone and they wrote it down, or he himself wrote it down. And what kind of a man would let the world see how terribly selfish, uncaring, uncompassionate, unloving, and bitter a person he was? Only a man that permanently decided to stop running from grace and embrace it. A man that got real and asked himself Am I more concerned with comfort, or am I more connected to compassion.
