Christian or Religious? Jonah 4

A church service began with the audience being asked if they could decipher the following Dingbats:

Most got the first one correct – ‘Growing old’ but the second one stumped them, even though the answer seems obvious – ‘Missing the point’.

Unfortunately many ‘miss the point’ when reading the book of Jonah. Chapter 3 ends with Nineveh, having heard that God will judge all evil, repenting and turning back to God. This would be a natural place for the story to end. The central message would then be about the love of God for all people and his hatred of their sin. Instead, the final section of the book is this strange story about Jonah and the plant that withers.

“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. But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 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. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

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. 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. But 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. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

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.” 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.

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?” Jonah 3:10-4:11

This story is about why Jonah is so reluctant to share the gospel about God’s grace with others. This is also the underlying cause of the demise of so many churches in this country. Our problem is not ignorance, it is just that we have ‘missed the point’ about what God expects of his people. Too often we are so unenthusiastic and so begrudging about sharing the message of God’s grace with others, just like Jonah was. Chapter 4 is the punchline of this book and so it is very relevant for most Christians today.

1. Jonah’s anger and Nineveh’s deliverance Jonah 3:10-4:1

The translation of the Hebrew in many English versions of the Bible is very polite but weakens the strength of the verse. The New International Version says, “But to Jonah this seemed very wrong!” but the emphasis in the Hebrew is stronger, “But Jonah considered God’s compassion to be exceedingly evil”. Jonah wasn’t angry because of the evil in Nineveh but because God showed compassion to Nineveh; he thinks this is exceedingly wrong or indeed evil, presumably because the Ninevites were such a bad people.

To understand this reaction of Jonah we need to know something about the Kingdom of Israel at this time – their behaviour was very similar to that of Nineveh. Amos and Hosea, as well as Jonah had been prophets to Israel, pointing out how they had abandoned the God who had chosen them and had descended into being a wicked, idolatrous and brutal people. These prophets had warned them that unless Israel repented God would send their enemy, Assyria whose capital was Nineveh, to punish them, even though they claimed to be God’s people.

Jonah appears to understand the necessity of repentance. Nineveh had repented and therefore their judgment was postponed, but Israel had failed to repent so did this not mean that Israel faced destruction? Jonah’s ministry to Israel was a failure compared to his ministry in Nineveh.

Jonah’s anger explodes. His reaction is typical and explains his strange behaviour in the earlier chapters. Jonah was an Israelite through and through - he loved Israel. His successful mission to Nineveh, Israel’s deepest enemy, made him a traitor to Israel. His teaching had saved their enemy! This explains why he ran away from God in chapter 1. It explains why Jonah was willing to be thrown into the sea. Deep down he didn’t want God’s message of forgiveness to be told to those obnoxious people in Assyria, he felt they deserved God’s judgment. But the all-powerful God had a different opinion and he was determined that his message of grace should not only be shared but he was also determined that his preacher Jonah should not ‘miss the point’, he was meant to be the messenger.

Jonah's prayer shows that he had ‘missed the point’. He quotes from the words that God had said to Moses to explain his character:

“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness.” Exodus 34:6-7

Jonah thinks these words are for Israelites like himself and not for idolatrous Assyrians in Nineveh.

The irony behind that quote seems lost on Jonah. God’s description of himself in Exodus 34 was given to Moses soon after Israel had finished constructing an idolatrous golden calf. God’s compassion for idolatrous Israel was no different to his compassion to the idolatrous Ninevites now!

God then asks Jonah a very penetrating question:

“Have you any right to be angry?” Jonah 4:4

It is worth emphasising that there are few forces so destructive to family and social living as anger. One of the great benefits of being a Christian is that God’s Spirit enables us to control our outbursts of anger that do so much harm.

Jonah has no right to be angry but God is intent on showing Jonah that he is being a hypocrite. Notice how quickly Jonah’s anger at Nineveh’s deliverance turns to delight at his own deliverance.

Jonah experiences God’s grace

It seems that Jonah still cannot believe that God is refusing to show his hatred of sin by destroying Nineveh. So he finds a site east of Nineveh from where he can overlook the city. There he sits, hoping that the repentance of Nineveh was short-lived and that he will soon see some fireballs descend from heaven.

There he sits, stewing and angry, and getting hotter under the collar. However this spot became so hot because of the scorching sun that he built himself a shelter. At this point in the story God again intervenes to save him:

“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 4:6

Please do not get het up and worried about the plant growing quickly overnight and that just the next day a voracious worm with strong teeth eats it up. This story has a very strong meaning and it is this meaning that we should be focusing on. A castor-oil plant with giant leaves was provided to give Jonah some shade from the baking heat. The Hebrew has another clever word play that is slightly lost in our translations. The NIV says the plant was given to ‘ease his discomfort’ but the Hebrew literally says it ‘saved from disaster’. Exactly the same phrase is used earlier to explain what had happened to the Ninevites, God ‘did not bring on them the destruction’ that he had threatened. We are meant to see the comparison

This story is full of irony. Jonah experienced exactly the same deliverance as the city. He was exceedingly angry about their deliverance, but for his own deliverance from the heat he was exceedingly happy. We are all so similar, we tend to judge others differently from ourselves, in spite of what Paul tells us:

“You therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgement someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other you are condemning yourself.” Romans 2:1

Jonah’s main concern was himself

The English word ‘idol’ has an ‘I’ as the first letter. This ‘I first’ is the idol God wants to expose. We all have a tendency to be more concerned about ourselves than what God wants. So God acted,

“But 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. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.” Jonah 4:7-9

Jonah had been so pleased with the plant and it's lovely shady leaves, but he wakes up the next morning to find his comfort has gone and the blazing sun is again threatening disaster on him. Jonah yet again becomes angry, angry enough to want to die. He obviously lacks self control, an essential characteristic of a godly person.

Why is God doing this to his prophet? He gives Jonah relief one day but then removes this the next. Is God being callous? Is this action pointless? God in his wisdom is using this plant to expose Jones idolatrous self concern. Jonah had been delighted when he'd been shown God’s grace and comfort, but he's furious when that same grace is shown to the people of Nineveh. Indeed he was happy for disaster to come on Nineveh but when it comes on him it is totally unacceptable!

He has a completely distorted view of God. He wanted a God who was consistently biased towards helping his own people. He wanted God to punish their enemies but to turn his eyes away from his and Israel’s own sin. It is this idolatrous self-centredness that blinds Jonah to God's grace and from his wanting to show this grace to other people. A key verse in the middle of the book explains why this book was written, it is a warning for those of us who claim to be God’s people but will not live as he wants:

“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” Jonah 2:8

Jonah was more concerned about his exposure to the burning sun whereas he had little concern for the eternal welfare of 120,000 people! He is blinded by self-concern. So the story finishes with a contrast, Jonah is concerned about himself but God is concerned for the lost.

“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?” Jonah 4:10-11

In Hebrew the word ‘concern’ is a very strong word. It means ‘pity to the point of shedding tears’. This gives a ridiculous final scene. Jonah is weeping tears over the poor dead plant, but really his concern was ‘poor me’, Can you picture this story being told later around the campsites of Israel how the hearers would chuckle at such a ridiculous comparison? How much more should God weep for his people in Nineveh, after all he had created them and still loves them in spite of all they were doing. He knows each of their names and even the number of hairs on their head. The city of Nineveh was one of the most ancient cities in their world. Genesis 10:11 tells us that it was one of the first built by Nimrod. What a comparison, 120,000 people or a plant, which should God value more? So the book ends with a cliff-hanger:

“Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh.”

The message for us is clear. Should we not also be concerned for the lost who are in our towns and cities today?

Don’t ‘miss the point’

God wants us to see ourselves in this satire, we must not ‘miss the point’.

1. Do we show God’s grace to others?

Jonah loved it when God showed his grace to him. Israel was the same, they felt they were secure just because they were God’s chosen people. Church people can be the same. We can think that because we are members of churches that follow the doctrines of Jesus that we were safe. How often people, when asked if they are Christians, will reply, ‘ I’m a Roman Catholic’, I go to an Anglican church, ‘I’m a Methodist, ‘I’m a Baptist’. Being a member of a denomination does not mean we are saved. Baptism, confirmation and church attendance doesn’t save us. It is a personal commitment to Christ that saves. The proof of our salvation is that there is evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is because of his presence that we love Jesus and want to please him by obeying him; we love his word; we love his people; we love to involve him in all we do, we love to share the message about Jesus with others; we are looking forwards to being with him in eternity. Such is the evidence that Christ is in our lives and that we are secure in him.

Jonah lurks in all of our hearts. How can we overlook the sins in our own lives and our failings yet criticise others who do similar things?

Jesus warned us in the Sermon on the Mount,

“Do not judge, or you will be judged. For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:1-2

My attitude to others, my love for them, reveals my attitude to God.

2. Does my self-concern keep me from speaking to others about my Lord and Saviour?

Jonah’s nationalist pride meant more to him than his care for the lost. He cared more about the plant than the thousands in that city.

Rico Tice, a Christian evangelist, tells of a week in his life that he most regrets. His grandmother was dying and neithershe, nor the rest of the family, had a trust in Christ. They all thought that their good deeds would make them acceptable to God, the knew nothing of the gospel of God's grace. All the family were staying together in her house for a week waiting for her to die. Rico says that he had plenty of opportunities to go and share Christ with her, to pray with her, but he didn't because he knew his family would not approve. Consequently,

“She died without Christ and without hope.”

Rico said,

“I loved my grandmother and she loved me. The hard truth is I loved myself more than her. I wanted my family to think well of me more than I wanted her to think well of Christ. That's why I didn't speak to her. I loved myself more than I loved her and more than I loved my Lord - so my family’s respect and having an easy life became an idol to me.”

May I ask you, ‘What keeps you from talking about Jesus to your friends, to your family, to your colleagues, to your neighbours?’”

All Christians have an obligation to pass on Christ’s message to those around us. We might say, ‘I don't know enough’. Yes you do, even if you are a new Christian. Can you not share simply how Jesus found you and tell of what he means to you, of his willingness to forgive and how he gives his Spirit to enable us to begin new lives, living for him. We could easily give them an article that explains the message of Jesus. I always try to carry some articles with me now that I canpass on to any I get talking to, whether on a dog walk or visitors to our home. Too many Christians are ‘missing the point’ about why he chose us to be his people.

What is it that stops so many of us making friends with people, sharing some literature or inviting them to our home group or church, so sharing the good news about the Lord Jesus? Is it a concern for ourselves? Jonah and Jesus would ask us all to reassess our values and priorities. To have written this book, in the way he has, must mean that Jonah did come to understand what God was teaching him and that he longed for others to ‘see the point’ for themselves.

3. Do we have the same Spirit as Jesus?

Shortly before his execution, Jesus, a free man, was looking over the city of Jerusalem. He also knew that its inhabitants had also, largely, turned their backs on God. Like Nineveh, Jerusalem was similarly heading for destruction.

Whilst Jonah was weeping for his plant, Jesus was weeping for the lost. Furthermore the religious Pharisees wanted Jesus’ followers to cease talking to others about Jesus and asked him to stop this.

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace - but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Luke 19:40-42

What did Jesus then do for the people in Jerusalem who hated him and all he stood for? He enters the city, teaches the people there and then allowed himself to be crucified on their behalf. That is love! He left all his comforts behind him, entered his world to die so that we can be forgiven and only then did he enter into God’s eternal city, the new Jerusalem.

We have been shown incredible compassion by our Lord. We must therefore show this to others. We, like Jesus’ disciples, must speak out. To do this effectively we must keep praying both for opportunities to be presented to us and for wisdom so that we say what is really helpful.

BVP

February 2023