Jonah's Anger

Have you ever been at a point finding yourself angry that someone got something because you didn’t think they deserved it? A mother once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death. "But I don’t ask for justice," the mother explained. "I plead for mercy." "But your son does not deserve mercy," Napoleon replied. "Sir," the woman cried, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for." "Well, then," the emperor said, "I will have mercy."

Now if you know anything about Napolean, he was not a good guy. In fact, we was ruthless.

And he spared the woman’s son.

We’ve spent the last three week in the book of Jonah. Jonah is a short book in the Old Testament, only four short chapters, but there is a wealth of lessons for us that are applicable to our lives today. We started out seeing how Jonah ran from God’s call, instead by running in the other direction because he didn’t want to do what God was asking both because he feared the Ninevites, but also because he really didn’t want to see God’s plan come to fruition because he knew what would happen, because he knew his God. We examined how we can be and probably have been just like Jonah at times running from what God is calling us to do.

Pastor Cindy then shared from chapter 2 and gave some insights on Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the great fish. Last week, Pastor Jillian shared from chapter three how Jonah was obedient after his time in the fish. He went to Nineveh preaching the message of God’s impending wrath. She shared with us how he didn’t even make it across the whole city before the message started to spread organically, even reaching the King. When this happened, we see God’s relentless grace, just as was shown to Jonah after he ran from God applied to the Ninevites in a way that spared them from God’s coming wrath.

Today, we are going to be in chapter 4. As we read and dig into chapter 4 today, I want to mention right up front that we are very capable of acting, and probably do act just as Jonah does more than we might want to admit. In fact, I might be so bold to say that in our western culture, particularly as divided as it is right now, we might be doing this and not even realizing it. Turn with me to Jonah chapter 4.

Jonah 4:1–11 NIV

1 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?” 5 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. 6 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. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 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.” 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.” 10 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 story is told about Fiorello LaGuardia, who, when he was mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great Depression and all of WWII, was called by adoring New Yorkers 'the Little Flower' because he was only five foot four and always wore a carnation in his lapel. He was a colorful character who used to ride the New York City fire trucks, raid speakeasies with the police department, take entire orphanages to baseball games, and whenever the New York newspapers were on strike, he would go on the radio and read the Sunday funnies to the kids. One bitterly cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court that served the poorest ward of the city. LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself. 

Within a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread. She told LaGuardia that her daughter's husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges. "It's a real bad neighborhood, your Honor." the man told the mayor. "She's got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson." LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said "I've got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions--ten dollars or ten days in jail." But even as he pronounced sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous sombrero saying: "Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Baliff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant." So the following day the New York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren, fifty cents of that amount being contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner, while some seventy petty criminals, people with traffic violations, and New York City policemen, each of whom had just paid fifty cents for the privilege of doing so, gave the mayor a standing ovation. ~ Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel, Multnomah, 1990, pp 91-2.

Similar to the red-faced grocery store owner and the compassionate mayor, I would summarize this fourth chapter of Jonah in this way. We see an angry messenger in Jonah and a compassionate God. In the first part of this chapter we find Jonah becoming angry at the mercy, grace, and compassion that God had shown to the Ninevites. We see in verse one that Jonah thought that this action of God was very wrong, or even evil. We see him become angry that God has shown compassion.

Then in verse 2 and 3 we get a bit of a glimpse into why Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh in the first place. These two verse are in the form of a prayer. You see, Jonah knew his God. He knew that if the Ninevites listened to the message and repented then he was spare them. He knew his God was a God of grace, mercy, and compassion. Jonah was probably hoping that by stalling going to Nineveh that he wouldn’t have to go because God would wipe them out first. In fact, we find Jonah was living in the great contradiction. He knew God intimately, desired his forgiveness but withheld forgiveness from the Ninevites.

Friends, our God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love. He loves people so much that we find several occasions where he relents from sending calamity on a sinful individual or people. He gives us chance after chance after chance as he pursues us with his relentless grace.

Jonah’s prayer ends with a death wish. He is so angry that the Ninevites were shown grace and compassion that he wishes he were dead rather than deal with his own attitude and his own sin. You see, Jonah was full of grateful praise when God saved him, but did not share the same praise when God saved others who needed Him. Instead, he was willing to trade his life that he sought with death.

Verse 4 provides Yahweh’s response to Jonah. He didn’t respond to the death wish directly, but to the anger Jonah was displaying. He asks Jonah, is it right for you to be angry? I believe that this question was rooted in the idea that Jonah should have expected (and in fact he did, hence why he ran in the first place) and be grateful that God shows this relentless grace to all!

God is also a God of provision. As we look at Jonah’s story, we see several several examples in the life of Jonah. For example the storm and the fish in chapter 1, and here in chapter 4 we see the vine, worm and wind. Jonah leaves the city and goes to another place. The text doesn’t tell us much about this place other than it was east of the city. Jonah made a shelter and sat in the shade watching the city. I think he still thought (and even hoped) that God would still destroy the city. That would make him feel better!

Instead, God has another plan. He provides the leafy plant to provide shade for Jonah and ease his discomfort from the scorching sun. Jonah was happy about the plant as we see in verse 6, however, God sends a worm which chews away the plant and then the wind came. At the end of these things, we again see Jonah wish for death, except this time it appears to be because of his lack of comfort. Again we see Yahweh ask the same question we see in verse 4. Is it right for you to be angry? As in the first case, Yahweh’s question reveals the motivation for Jonah’s anger. He again responds that he is angry enough to die.

This is ironic that the prophet who wanted to die because of God’s response to Nineveh now wants to die because of a plant died. This depicts the prophet’s misguided priorities.

As we get to verse 10 and 11, we see an interesting observation by Yahweh. He points out Jonah’s concern about the plant being most likely because of what the plant did for him, providing shade. Notice that Jonah did nothing to care for the plant. The plant came in overnight and perished overnight.

I want us to notice that this idea of perishing has come up twice before within this short book. First the concern of the sailors and then the King of Nineveh. It should be noted that Jonah wasn’t concerned in these previous instances but is concerned about a plant. Are people not more important? I think this is part of what Yahweh is trying to get across.

Yahweh continues by asking if he should not have concern for the city of Nineveh and it’s more than a hundred and twenty thousand people. Among all of the things mentioned in this short book, it should be noted that the divine concern for the people of Nineveh should trump them all. While it was a large city in terms of its physical size, notice that Yahweh describes the size of this great city in terms of the number of people.

The verse ends with this idea of the Ninevites not knowing their right hand from their left. It is likely that the Ninevites had little knowledge of God and his law, unlike the Israelites. Because of this lack of knowledge, shouldn’t they be worthy of compassion in comparison to Israel? Especially after the response that Nineveh had to God’s message?

I think that we have the tendency to be Jonah at times in our lives. We love it when God takes care of us, whether it is saving us, providing for us, blessing us, etc. But how often are we really willing share that same response when God does it for others? Particularly those who are not like us or we do not like? Or maybe even our enemies? Instead, I think we can all too easily fall into this same trap that we see Jonah in. He tries to subvert God’s plan and eventually reluctantly does what God is asking, however, he really doesn’t God to do what we should expect he will do. God shows the same grace, mercy and compassion to all people no matter what!!!!! We should be concerned for the people more than anything else as we see demonstrated in the book of Jonah.

When Billy Graham was driving through a small southern town, he was stopped by a policeman and charged with speeding. Graham admitted his quilt, but was told by the officer that he would have to appear in court.

The judge asked, "Guilty, or not guilty?" When Graham pleaded guilty, the judge replied, "That'll be ten dollars -- a dollar for every mile you went over the limit."

Suddenly the judge recognized the famous minister. "You have violated the law," he said. "The fine must be paid--but I am going to pay it for you." He took a ten dollar bill from his own wallet, attached it to the ticket, and then took Graham out and bought him a steak dinner! "That," said Billy Graham, "is how God treats repentant sinners!" Progress Magazine, December 14, 1992.

The angry response of Jonah should cause us to reflect on our own anger toward God. Why do we, as God’s people, as followers of Jesus Christ get angry when things do not go as we have planned or when our comfort is threatened? Or worse yet, when we see God’s mercy at work among those we would classify as sinners or maybe even not worthy of saving? Isn’t God supposed to be in the business of saving people from sin?

The problem I see is that too many in western culture have bought into this narrative that God should be destroying sinners and providing those of us who follow his precepts salvation, comfort and good things. The problem is, I do not find this idea anywhere in Scripture. We are not promised comfort or that things will always be good as followers of Christ. Instead, we are promised that we will be persecuted in the name of Christ.

Do we grieve over trivial things but not over those who are spiritually dead and dying? Do we seek destruction of others and their cities or do we pray and hope for repentance and deliverance of all peoples (even our enemies)? Folks, we need to be citizens of Christ’s Kingdom first and foremost. This has to be our first priority and our allegiance. We should be grieved by the fact that the gospel is not reaching people and doing something about the division in our day. Are we finding ways as the church to serve people and take care of needs while making a difference for the Kingdom or are we more worried about who is going to be in the White House in a couple months? Friends - God is still God and will still be God and on the throne no matter who is president come January 20. Our following the Great Commandment to love God and others and fulfilling the Great Commission to make disciples are of far greater consequence and should be our primary focus.

As we close this morning, I have a couple questions I want us to consider:

Is life all about you? - Are you like Jonah and grateful for the grace and provision God shows in your life but angry when God shows it to others we might deem unworthy? Are we focused on things that do not keep the focus on others? As followers of Christ we are to be focused on God, which means that as we are continually transformed by His Spirit we will be more and more outward focused. Take stock and let God point out the areas where we are focused on ourselves more than others.

What have you done this week to reach out to your community, neighbors, hungry, and the poor? Let’s all take some time to reflect on what we have done in the last week, or maybe even several weeks.