RESENTMNET || JONAH 4: 1-4

RESENTMENT

Jonah 4:1–4 NRSV

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?”

ME WE

What do we about those people who are just not deserving of our compassion, our kindness or our favor?

Because the truth is all of us know somebody who is just not deserving of or kindness or compassion. Maybe because they have done something so terrible to someone else that even the very though of what they did makes you sick within yourself or better yet maybe they have done something so terrible to to you that the very memory of that person brings a feeling of disgust and repugnance. There are some spouses who have messed up so bad that they are just not deserving of the other person’s kindness, compassions or forgiveness. There are children, family members, friends, coworkers and list goes on and on that have hurt you or someone you know so bad that they are not deserving of anything good in life neither from me or from anyone else… for example the affluenza kid, cops killing afro American or trump not wanted by the GOP establishment.

GOD

You may or may not be surprised by this but God is not surprised nor is he blindsided because some people find it hard to forgive other people. As a matter of fact, God has been dealing with people with this thinking for a long time. In the old testament of the bible, there was at least one bible character who believed strongly there are some people who are not deserving his forgiveness. He was possibly asking the same or a similar question that some of us may ask from time to time: how do we respond to those who do not deserve our compassion, kindness or favor? Based on the scripture reading you can easily tell I that I’m speaking of Jonah.

YOU

What do I want them to know?

What does this mean to all of us? Don’t We face this issue in everyday life where we get so stuck on what people have done that we sometimes forget what they can become. Isn’t it true that just a little act of kindness and compassion and forgiveness can go so much further than bitterness or annoyance or bad feeling? The truth is it is easier for us to show love and kindness to those who have been “good” to us HOWEVER it is more beneficial for the cause of Jesus Christ that we be compassionate, forgiving, loving and kind not just to the “good” ones but those who are undeserving. Because it is not those who are “good” who stand the be the greatest beneficiaries of a changed heart but the undeserving. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

So, while we are tempted sometimes to be selective to those who we show forgiveness, compassion and kindness to, God is challenging us in the book of Jonah to be more aware of those we undeserving because they stand to benefit more from your kindness and compassion. The greatest lesson that we can take from Jonah’s reluctance to show mercy and compassion to the undeserving is that RESENTMENT DEFORMS BUT ACTS OF LOVE AND FORGIVENESS WILL TRANSFORM.

The great American civil rights leader Martin Luther King preached one of his most moving sermons on the title “Loving your enemies”. He was in jail at the time, imprisoned for daring to suggest that American Negroes should have the same civil rights as other Americans. During his lifetime he had received death threat after death threat, he’d been maliciously accused of being a communist, his house had been bombed, and he was jailed over 20 times. Yet in this sermon he said “hate multiplies hate…in a descending spiral of violence” and is “just as injurious to the person who hates” as to his victim. But “love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend” for it has “creative” and “redemptive” power.

WE

What do I want them to do about what they know?

The great American civil rights leader Martin Luther King preached one of his most moving sermons on the title “Loving your enemies”. He was in gaol at the time, imprisoned for daring to suggest that American Negroes should have the same civil rights as other Americans. During his lifetime he had received death threat after death threat, he’d been maliciously accused of being a communist, his house had been bombed, and he was jailed over 20 times. Yet in this sermon he said “hate multiplies hate…in a descending spiral of violence” and is “just as injurious to the person who hates” as to his victim. But “love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend” for it has “creative” and “redemptive” power.