Having a Heart of Grace

Prayer

Jonah 3-4, Nineveh repents, Jonah sulks

Today we’ll be looking into the second half of the book of Jonah, which is really one of the wildest stories in the Bible. To set the scene today, we’ll start with a quick recap of what happened in Jonah 1-2. All this takes place during the reign of Jeroboam, king of Israel (northern kingdom). As we saw last week, Jonah, son of Amittai, prophesied during this time, late 8th century BC.

Jonah, as you may recall, was called by God to go preach to the Ninevites - but Jonah rebels, fleeing as far as he can in the opposite direction from Nineveh. This takes him to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, where he catches a ship bound for Tarshish. That is, until God stirs up a raging storm. Out of fear of all them dying, Jonah, at his own suggestion, is thrown into the sea by the ship’s crew, seemingly to his death.

But God shows mercy, saving Jonah from certain death by providing a huge fish to swallow Jonah in whose belly he stays for three days and nights until he is vomited up onto dry land. Chapter 2 ends with Jonah praising God for his salvation. This is important, as it informs what happens next, which is what we turn to now, Jonah 3-4.

We’ll start with Jonah 3:1-10, Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” 10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

So once again God sends Jonah to preach a message of warning and repentance to Nineveh - this time he obeys, traveling 500 miles (at least a month!) to Nineveh. He makes his way into the city warning them that in forty days the city of Nineveh will be destroyed.

Amazingly, the Ninevites respond to the preaching of the prophet from Israel! All of them, the entire city, from the greatest to the least. Even the king joins in, going as far as declaring a fast not just for the people, but the animals as well (clearly, they’re taking no chances here they don’t want to be destroyed because of a wayward donkey).

All in hopes that Go will relent and show compassion and not destroy the city. The Lord shows his great mercy, withholding his wrath. It’s at this point that you’d think that Jonah would be elated. In spite of his initial rebellion, the Lord gave him a second chance at obedience, to share in his salvation work - which he does, he goes and preaches and the response is far more incredible than anyone could have imagined - the entire city, people and animals repent. You’d think Jonah would be doing cartwheels out of sheer excitement. You’d think that, but you’d be wrong.

We turn now to Jonah 4, first few verses, vv. 1-4 - But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Jonah isn’t excited, he’s angry! Angry at God. Angry because the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from calamity. Turns out Jonah didn’t want the Ninevites to be saved. In fact, he’s quite upset about it - so upset, that he wants to die! The Lord confronts him on his anger.

The whole thing is astounding - Jonah knows the character of the Lord, and though he loves it for himself (as we saw last week), he resents it for his enemies. And to be clear, Nineveh - which is an Assyrian city - these people are Israel’s enemies. They are a growing empire who threaten Israel - and as we’ll see in weeks to come, those threats come true.

But as we’ve seen with Jonah, he’s quite the stubborn one. We’ll see that as we continue the story - So, Jonah, after preaching to the Ninevites and seeing their repentance, decides to sit outside the city and wait and watch - all in the vain hope that the Lord will change his mind and destroy the city. And because this is desert territory, he makes a shelter for shade. Then Lord blesses him with a leafy plant that grows overnight to give Jonah more shade. And, of course, he’s quite happy about the plant.

But the Lord isn’t done. He then provides a worm who chews on the plant, causing it to wither. Not just that, but the Lord sends a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. So when the heat of the day hits, Jonah is hot and miserable. Again, he expresses a desire to die (clearly Jonah is not only rebellious, but whiny).

And again, the Lord confronts him, Jonah 4:9 - 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.”

It’s at this point that the Lord lowers the boom on Jonah, revealing the reason he provided the plant and then took it away. Little hint here: it reveals Jonah’s heart. It’s not good. These are the final verses of book of Jonah, 4:10-11, 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. 11 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?”

A Heart of Grace

Do you see what the Lord is doing here with Jonah? He’s revealing how selfish his heart is, how limited his love and concern for others is. Jonah was so happy about this one plant - not really for the plant itself, but because it benefitted him, provided him shade. And as the Lord reveals here - Jonah didn’t do anything to make the plant happen, the Lord provided it, he made it grow, it was an absolute gift. Remember, too, that the only reason Jonah was out there sitting in the desert, getting baked by the sun, was because he chose to wait to see if God would change his mind and destroy it. That’s why he was there, he was hoping for their destruction. He could have just gone home, or stayed in the city and taught them about the Lord.

Instead, Jonah sulks. Sulks about a plant that he didn’t make grow, but was a gift from God. He gets angry, as if he were entitled to the plant and its shade. And he thinks he is absolutely justified in his anger and so he holds on to it. By the way, I would guess most of us, myself included, have been there. You’re angry, you get called out - and even though you know you’re wrong, you don’t want to admit it, don’t want to give in, give the other person the satisfaction and so you double down, no matter how dumb or weak your argument is.

The Lord points out to him that he cares so much about this plan, which he had nothing to do with, and yet he cares nothing for an entire city full of people and animals. No concern for them and what happens to them. Quite the opposite - he wants to see their destruction, that’s what he’s hoping for, he’s angry that it isn’t going to happen. His whole attitude is - Lord, how dare you be so gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love! How dare you be that way to these people!

Notice that Jonah didn’t get angry about the Lord saving him, sparing his life - no complaints there. Again, the exact opposite, Jonah rejoiced, he praised the Lord then. He was very happy about the Lord’s grace and compassion and boundless love - because it benefitted him.

What we’re seeing here is exactly what we saw last week, another example of Jonah knowing the character of God, intellectually, he can tell you all about it, but he does not embrace it or honor who God is. Remember we saw how Jonah knew that the Lord is the God of heaven, the one who made the sea and the dry land? The sovereign Lord, over all? And yet, Jonah resisted that, trying to escape, flee from the one who is Lord over all. He was resisting who God is, even as he told the sailors this is who my God is.

Same thing here. Essentially what he is saying to God is, I knew you were a gracious and compassionate God, but I don’t want you to be here. Jonah resists who God is. He only wants God to be that way when it suits or benefits him. He wants a god in his image, who he wants the Lord to be, rather than humbly submitting to God as God, and accepting that it’s he who (like all of us) is meant to be conformed to the image of God. Jonah wants it to be the reverse, God in his image, rather he in God’s image.

This is where it hits home for us. Because it’s either one or the other. Either we, like Jonah, resist who God is, only embracing the aspects of God that we like or approve of, or when it suits us. Or we surrender to the fullness of who the Lord is.

In the first part of the story of Jonah, that’s the sovereignty of God, his lordship, ruler of all, that Jonah resists, tries to ignore - at least up until he’s dumped into the sea. Then he very much wants God to be Lord, cries out to him as such. The whole story started with God commanding Jonah to do something, and he flat out refused. In Jesus we see what a life fully surrendered to the will of the Father looks like. Embracing him as Lord. Not my will, but thine be done.

But the aspect of the Lord that I want to focus on more is what we see Jonah resisting about the Lord in the part of Jonah’s story we looked at this morning. Here we see Jonah resisting the grace of God. His deep compassion - for all, not just for the people Jonah wants him to be compassionate toward. For Jonah it was all for me, none for thee. So much so that he gets angry when the God who is slow to anger and abounding in love shows himself to be slow to anger and abounding in love toward the Ninevites! Outrageous! Literally, Jonah is outraged over the Lord being exactly who Jonah said he was. The nerve of God!

This is the same scandalous grace that infuriated the religious leaders and the Pharisees about Jesus. They were constantly grumbling about his welcoming and being willing to eat with tax collectors and sinners. There’s a great example in Luke 7, when Simon and his other dinner guests are deeply offended that Jesus would let a sinful woman wash his feet with her tears, dry them with her hair. Exact same attitude - how dare he be so gracious and compassionate! But that’s who God is, and who he wants us to be!

To surrender to Jesus as the gracious and compassionate Lord is to desire that grace and compassion not just for ourselves, but for all people. Not just the ones we think deserve it, or who we like, or who think like us or look like us or share our values. It is to grow a heart of grace toward others. To have concern for the Ninevites - and their animals. Or, perhaps in our case, to have concern for drug dealers. For immigrants, legal or illegal. For Democrats. Republicans. Even those darn Independents. LGBTQ folks. Your rude neighbor.

Not because they deserve it - like us, they don’t deserve it. That’s the point of grace! It’s a gift. We should want them to know and experience the abounding love of Jesus because they, like us, so desperately need it. Because they have no hope without it.

I’m convinced that as we grow to become more and more like Jesus, that will always involve our hearts getting bigger and bigger - an ever widening circle of who we love - and an ever deepening willingness of how much we will love them, how much we will be for their good. That in the same way that the Lord is lavish in his grace towards us, we would grow to be lavish in grace towards others. Like Jesus, we would welcome sinners, eat with them (just to be clear, to share a meal with someone is an act of friendship).

One of the ways we see how much that’s true is in this story, because what we see here is the Lord trying to teach Jonah, to reveal his heart to him through providing the plant and then turning around and immediately destroying it. God is working to reveal Jonah’s hardened, selfish heart to him. You’ll note that the ending of the story is an open question, we never get to see how Jonah responds. Point is that it’s an invitation for us to respond, for us to come away to have the same concern for others as the Lord does. The Lord wanted that for Jonah, he wants it for us.

Jesus made the same point in the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18, where a king (representing God) shows remarkable grace to a servant who is unable to repay his debt - a debt so large he would never be able to repay it. The king has compassion for the servant and forgives his debt. But that same servant is unwilling to forgive a far smaller debt that a fellow servant owes him. Rightfully, the king is outraged that this servant would not show even a fraction of the grace he himself received.

It’s why Jesus teaches us to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” In other words - Lord, to the same degree we are willing to show grace towards others, show that same amount of grace toward us. When we really stop and consider what we’re praying here, we should want to show lots and lots of grace towards others!

I know that’s been true for me, in those moments when I’m resisting forgiving someone (often because of that strong urge we often have to hang on to that self-righteous anger just a little bit longer), this prayer has been a humbling reminder of the need to forgive. How can I refuse grace toward others when it has been so freely given to me?

That’s the point here - it’s what Jonah resisted. This is what Jesus is inviting us into - to know his grace and compassion. And through him, to become people of grace and compassion. To know the heart of Jesus, to share in his heart of grace.

And so, as we close, how can we put this into practice? What practices will help nurture in us a heart of grace towards others, towards all others?

Why regularly engaging in the Discipline of Confession is so essential. Of continually recognizing our own sin - and our need for the grace and forgiveness of Jesus. In confession we receive that grace. What we do every Sunday during worship is a practice you can easily engage in every day, perhaps in the evening, as your day comes to a close. Spend a few moments inviting the Holy Spirit to guide you as your reflect on your day, your interactions with others, your heart toward others.

Discipline of Forgiveness - take seriously forgiving others (like we pray in the Lord’s Prayer). Don’t take this lightly, forgiveness, genuine forgiveness is hard work. When you feel slighted, hurt, so easy to start rehearsing all those old wounds, think poorly of others. To hold that grudge. Keep engaging in forgiveness until you experience genuine love for the other, desire their good. Closing Prayer - Time of Reflection