Picture the scene.
It’s Christmas afternoon, and the family is sat in your front room. Someone was given a particularly nice box of chocolates, and they’re being passed around. You have your eye on the coffee creams. There are two in the box. To your dismay, you watch two other people each take one before the box can get to you. Dashed hopes. … And a piece of Turkish delight.
You’re frustrated. But not angry. Certainly not angry enough to storm out of the room. That’s the kind of thing a child might do. But not a grown-up. We don’t get that angry just because someone else got the thing we wanted. Do we?
Well let’s ask the prophet Jonah. He’s going to show us that this is about more important things than chocolates. “What’s more important than chocolate?” I hear you ask. Well, indeed! That’s a question we shall return to.
The story of Jonah
Let me remind us of the story of Jonah. If you’ve never read it, why not do so? It’s not very long, it’s a great tale, and you now know where to find it in the Bible.
Jonah was a prophet in Israel the early 8th Century b.c. One day, God asked him to go to the great city of Nineveh, the ancient capital of Assyria. Roughly where the modern city of Mosul stands today, in modern Iraq.
In Jonah’s day, Nineveh was a wicked city, and God was going to destroy it. So he wanted Jonah to go and warn them. Nineveh was to the east of Israel So Jonah went west. As far west as he could – he boarded a ship headed to Spain.
But he didn’t get far. You can’t run away from God. A furious storm sprang up, and Jonah knew God had caught up with him. He confessed all to the sailors on board, and asked them to throw him overboard. The minute they did so, the storm stopped. The calming of the storm, part one.
But God was kind to Jonah. He provided a fish to swallow Jonah so he wouldn’t drown. We’re so used to films like Jaws that the thought of a fish, whale or shark swallowing a man whole is the stuff of nightmares. But this fish was God’s rescue.
Spat up on the beach, God spoke to Jonah a second time: “Go to Nineveh.” And this time, he went.
He told Nineveh that God’s judgement was coming, and they believed him. They repented. Chapter 3 verse 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.
Before we look at chapter 4, some of you will be thinking that this is all a bit far-fetched. Surely this didn’t really happen?
There’s only time to address that briefly. Mainly by saying – why ever not? If you don’t believe the Bible at all, don’t believe that Jesus rose from the dead for example, you wouldn’t believe this. But assuming you believe Jesus to be the all-powerful God who made everything, why ever not? Why can’t Jesus walk on water, feed 5000, and rise from the dead? Why can’t the same God provide a fish large enough to swallow a man? Why can’t he either ensure the man survives for 36 hours, or raise him to life on the beach? It’s no more difficult for God than for you or I to write our name.
The other thing to say is that Jesus believed this story. Just as this happened, so would he rise from the dead. To Jesus, Jonah’s fish and his own time in the tomb are equally historical.
What Happened Next
Which brings us to chapter 4.
Nineveh repents. How does Jonah react? He’s furious with God. Verse 1: But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry.
His reaction is stacked with irony. God cancelled the disaster he had planned for Nineveh. Which Jonah thought was a disaster. It was a disaster to Jonah that God didn’t bring disaster on Nineveh. God was no longer angry with Nineveh. Which means Jonah is now angry with God.
So Jonah storms off in a huff. He goes and sits in the desert, where he can see the city. Perhaps God will destroy it anyway. You never know!
It’s hot, and God is kind to Jonah. Verse 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. Jonah was hot. The word for discomfort is the same word as the disaster that God spared Nineveh. God shielded Jonah from the disastrous heat.
But only for one day. Then verse 7: At dawn the next day, God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint.
I know nothing about gardening, but I’m told that some kinds of plants have thin stems, and one grub chewing through at the wrong point could make the plant collapse in the heat the next day.
We’re being told that God is in control here. The key phrase is God provided. He provided the fish in chapter 1. Now he provides the plant, the worm, and the wind. God can do as he chooses. He shelters Jonah from the disastrous heat. Then he removes the shelter.
God is patient with this angry prophet. He’s using the plant, the worm, the sun and the wind to teach him. Two lesson for Jonah about compassion.
He wanted God’s compassion for him, but not for others
First: Jonah wanted God’s compassion for him, but not for others. He wanted God’s compassion for him, but not for others.
Jonah was angry when God showed compassion to the Ninevites, shielding them from disaster. But then it was his turn; God took away his shelter. Jonah was angry that God did not show him compassion, when he stopped shielding him from disaster.
Angry when he doesn’t get compassion. Angry when the Ninevites do. It’s back to the coffee creams in the box of chocolates again. I didn’t get it. They did get it. It’s not fair.
Jonah didn’t want God to spare the Ninevites from destruction. Back home, he had been prophesying to his own people, the people of Israel. They hadn’t listened. Why did the Assyrians find God’s forgiveness, but the Israelites did not? It’s all upside down.
Jonah had forgotten the fish. He didn’t have the moral high-ground. He had had to be rescued by God. He had found God’s love and mercy when he most needed it. How churlish not to want others to experience that same kindness. Yet that’s what Jonah did.
Jesus was regularly criticised by the Jonahs of his day. Why were the notorious sinners flocking to him? It’s just so wrong.
So he told a parable about a man who had two sons. One who went off the rails, but then came back, and his dad threw a party. The other son had never run away from home; he’d just taken his dad for granted. He’d never appreciated how fortunate he was. So he sulked and wouldn’t join in the celebrations.
Jonah’s forgotten how kind God has been to him. He’s been rescued, saved by God’s grace. He doesn’t deserve all he’s got. He doesn’t want the bad Ninevites to know God’s kindness because he’s forgotten that he’s no better than they are.
He wanted God’s compassion for him, but not for others.
How might we make this same mistake? How might we get mad when we see other people becoming Christians?
In Jonah’s case, he got made because of who it was who turned back to God. If his fellow Israelites, back home, had done this he’d have been delighted. But not the Ninevites! They were the wrong people.
Imagine lots of people in Kemsing became Christians and started going to church. Some of them were people you invited to the carol service. Only it wasn’t our church they’re going to! They go to the Methodist Church, the URC, a Baptist church, Hope Church, any church but our church? How do you feel? Delighted, or frustrated?
There’s a village I know, nowhere near here, where there are two churches. The long-established Anglican church, and a new church meeting in a school. The new church has resources, families, Sunday schools; the established church has none of those things. They’ve plugged away for decades, and now there’s spiritual life in their village, but it’s down the road.
I know another church in a village in the north of England. Every Sunday, scores of people drive through the village. From the villages further north where they live, to large churches in the town centre. They drive straight past this church and others like it. For several years, the vicar there was eaten up with bitterness at the hoards going somewhere else. He’s now worked through that.
Or perhaps the issue is people joining another congregation in this church? Some new people join, they clearly believe, they get stuck in. Only your main service is 9.15, but they come to the 10.30? Or your main service is this one, while they have settled at the 9.15?
People becoming Christians. But not the right people. Why are we not the church or the congregation that is growing? Why are people becoming Christians, but we don’t get a slice of the pie? It almost makes you angry. A bit like Jonah.
Or maybe someone new starts to come to this church. But did it have to be them? Is there perhaps one neighbour, one parent on the school playground, one work colleague, that you silently dread coming to talk to you. You never let on, or so you think, but they have an annoying mannerism, or they always talk for hours, or their conversation is really boring or whatever it is. So when they’re around, you try to avoid eye contact. Hope they talk to someone else.
And then invite everyone you know to join you at church over Christmas. Everyone made their excuses, everyone except one person. You guessed it!
Maybe I’m revealing more about my prejudices than yours. Supply your own examples. The minute we forget that without Jesus we are lost sinners, no better than anyone else, we’re in deep trouble. Like Jonah, we need to be gripped by God’s compassion, his mercy, his grace to us. He’s been so kind to forgive people like you and me. Remember that, and we’ll be delighted whenever anyone else comes to experience the same thing. Even if they’re not your type. Even if they’re not part of your clan.
Jonah wanted God’s compassion for him, but not for others.
He cared for a plant, but not for other people
Second, God showed Jonah that he cared for a plant, but not for other people. He cared for a plant, but not for other people.
Jonah grew fond of his plant very quickly. It wasn’t even his plant. God made it grow big and tall. But Jonah grew attached to it because it made his life more comfortable. Verse 10: You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow.
Jonah cared. Very touching. But it’s a plant! Compare the plant to Nineveh. Jonah did not make the plant grow, but God made Nineveh grow. Verse 11: And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are a hundred and twenty thousand people? That’s people, Jonah.
And even if the thought of all those people being wiped out doesn’t move him, perhaps he’ll have some compassion for the cattle. Look how Jonah ends: … and also many animals. Surely the cattle aren’t guilty of anything. Surely you don’t want them to die, Jonah?
He cared for a plant, but not for other people.
Again, such a contrast to Jesus. Jonah wept over the city of Nineveh because it repented and was spared. Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. Luke chapter 13, verse 34: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Jesus wept because Jerusalem would not repent, and would not be spared. It brought tears to his eyes.
It makes us ask: What makes you weep?
We’ve thought about Jonah’s anger that Nineveh was spared. This was misplaced passion. God now points out to him that he cares more for one plant than for thousands of people. He’s exposing his dispassion; Jonah simply doesn’t care that so many people were about to die.
Do we?
Are we moved by the plight of those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ?
We care about all kinds of things. Like Jonah, we care about the things that make us comfortable – house, car, job, the people close to us. Nothing wrong with that.
Maybe we care about the physical needs of others. Their health. Their hunger. Their need for company. We want to see poverty eradicated and global warming stopped. Again, all well and good.
This was not the level at which Jonah failed. He failed to care for the fact that the Ninevites were far from God, that God would judge them. The trouble is, we can’t see how lost people are without Christ. You can send people photographs of malnourished children to persuade them to give. You can’t send a photograph of someone spending an eternity without the Lord Jesus. That’s so much harder to visualise, harder to grasp, harder to believe.
So like Jonah, we simply fail to care – at least, at that level. Our creature comforts matter more to us than the many people who are without hope and without God.
We’re in a village of 5000 people. On a good Sunday, 150 come through these doors. Maybe twice as many again go to other churches in the area. What about the other 4,500. How much does that bother us? Move us?
We had a great carol service last week. Some of us brought friends, and were delighted when they agreed to come. I wonder how many of us didn’t invite anyone to come. I wonder how many people in the village did not receive a personal invitation from anyone.
You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are a hundred and twenty thousand people?
He cared for a plant, but not for other people.
Conclusion
Look at how Jonah cared for the plant, he was dispassionate about the lost people in Nineveh. He simply didn’t care.
Look at Jonah’s seething anger after God spared Nineveh, he was deeply passionate about the people of Nineveh. He didn’t want God to spare them.
Look at Jesus care for the lost, the sinner, the outcast, the city, we see someone who was deeply passionate. He longed for them to come to him in repentance, to find forgiveness and new life. People, in fact, just like us.
Who do you and I most resemble? Jonah. Or Jesus?