JonahVoorbeeld

Jonah is angry. God is merciful to more people than Jonah had thought He would be.

Imagine that God is merciful to other people, what would you think of it? Beautiful, right? Well, Jonah thought that it was very irritating. Very agitated, he approaches God, who had reconsidered his plan to destroy the city of the heathen in the Assyrian empire.

Finally, the truth came out that showed Jonah in his true colors why he did not want to go to Nineveh and tried to run away. ‘For I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster’ (Jonah 4:2). Really, Jonah is angry because God is good. Jonah is angry because God has not swept away his enemies from the face of the earth. He had preferred that God would have carried out his announced punishment.

Sulky, he sits down outside the city and waits. Who knows, maybe the announced punishment is going to happen after all. While he sits there, something miraculous is happening. A tree is growing like lightning and Jonah finally cools down. Here, in the shade, Jonah is getting more relaxed having a shelter against the scorching heat in the Middle East. But when the sun rises the following day and the heat takes possession of the whole area, the tree has died. Immediately Jonah relapses into his angriness and gloominess. ‘I would rather be dead than living on like this’, he says. 

The end of this story is quite abrupt. God holds a mirror up to Jonah’s face: you are angry, sad and upset because the wondrous tree is dead. You have not done a thing to let the tree grow. But I am grieved for an entire city where hundred and twenty thousand people live who do not even know their right hand from their left.

God is more merciful. It is harrowing to see Jonah’s attitude next to God’s attitude. Jonah wants to see the punishment. God is happy with the repentance of the city and feels compassion for the fate of the heathen. The contrast cannot be any bigger.

Nineveh is seen as the symbol for the church, by the way.  So many people who are unaware of everything. So many people not knowing anything about God. And so many people turning to God when they hear Gods message. God is so much more merciful than expected! To the dismay of people who have already belonged to God for a long time.

P.S. With Sandy Tales, we tell Bible stories drawn in sand. Curious for more? Then take a look here!