RUN, JONAH, RUN

 

I love the little book of Jonah! It makes it clear that God’s grace is too much for us and it makes it clear that God always “gets the man or woman He calls.”

 

In Jonah's day, the world was tough and ruthless, but Assyria was as bad as it got. In 722 BC Assyria decimated the northern kingdom of Israel and then besieged Jerusalem 20 years later. The Assyrians demanded “protection” money, or else. from many vassal states and if they didn’t get what they wanted, they ravaged, tortured, and humiliated the people of the land. The Assyrians were feared throughout the known world, and Nineveh was its capital city. Thus, when God called Jonah to go to Nineveh and give its people the chance to repent, Jonah could hardly believe his ears! Giving the people of Nineveh a chance to be forgiven was absurd,,, and Jonah would not do it. No, he wouldn't do it.

 

So, instead of going to Nineveh, he boarded the first ship to anywhere, to get as far away from God as he could possibly get. But God is always aware. Jonah should’ve known that. He couldn't run from God. None of us can, and Jonah discovered that for himself, when he encountered a life-threatening storm at sea. Running from God is surely a mistake, and in Jonah's case it would've been fatal... if God hadn't sent a big fish to gobble him up... and spit him out... right back where he had been in the first place.

 

Hey Jonah, God called again, how about going to Nineveh and giving them a chance to repent? Well, Jonah was obedient this time, and he soon found himself walking up and down the streets of Nineveh, calling both the "great and the small" to repent and turn to Yahweh. And they did! They repented. They all repented... and Jonah was outraged! He couldn't accept the fact that these hated people would be forgiven. So he threw another fit and pouted, and waited to see what would happen. God told Jonah that He (God) had to be concerned about the 120,000 people who lived in Nineveh... because they didn't know "their right hand from their left," which reminds me of Jesus’ prayer, “Father forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing.” They didn't have a clue... and God has a special place in his heart for the confused and lost.
     

Thus, we encounter a God who is more forgiving than we are... which is hardly surprising because we are afraid of grace. We are afraid that others will take advantage of us and we don’t know who deserves grace and who doesn’t. We may give ourselves the benefit of the doubt, but we are prone to be unforgiving of others. Unmerited grace (and all grace is unmerited) embarrasses us. We protest when it's offered to us and we resent it when it's offered to others. To most of us, grace seems unfair, and even though it is not Biblical, we insist on believing that God helps those who help themselves! We talk about grace,  but we expect others to earn the love they get (and we suspect that this is also true for us).!   
     

Someone once told me that the book of Jonah was written as a humorous account of what God may ask us to do…  but grace is not a joke... and our unwillingness to give it to others is not funny! Expecting God to forgive our deepest sins... while holding our neighbor's slightest misstep against him or her... is not a laughing matter. Friends, let us accept the fact that we are forgiven and forgive others to the point where it seems silly! Pray that God will show us how to give grace and show us how to become a more forgiving people. May we come to see that none of us “deserves” grace... and that no one has ever “earned” it!