The Story:
Jonah has delivered the message to the people of Ninevah, and they put on sackcloth, sit in ashes and repent. They all cry out to the Lord and ask for mercy. Even the king of the city takes it on himself to sit in the ashes and plead for mercy. Despite this show of repentance, Jonah decides to sit up on a hill and wait for the destruction due to Ninevah.
The only problem? God forgives Ninevah and doesn’t destroy them. Jonah waits for destruction, and God (ever patient) grows a plant up over Jonah’s head to protect him from the sun. This makes Jonah happy, he now has a comfortable place to sit and wait for the fire and brimstone he expects to rain down on the city before him. Now, let’s remember that God grows the protective plant over Jonah even AFTER Jonah angrily sputtered at God about how it wasn’t fair that Ninevah was receiving mercy instead of destruction.
Then, the plant dies. Not only does the plant die, but rather it was destroyed by a worm sent by God. Jonah is incredibly by this, and he whines to God and literally says he wants to die. Of course, our God doesn’t kill Jonah here. Instead, he asks if he has right to be angry. Jonah says yes!
God then compares Ninevah to the plant. The plant came and went within a day and grew without Jonah’s help, while the city was massive with thousands of people who had intricately woven lives, who had repented from their sins and turned back to God.
God asks Jonah to look at how he feels about the destruction of this plant, that he didn’t care for, and try to imagine how God felt about a city full of real people whom he did care for. We never get to see if Jonah changes his attitude, but the book ends with God’s question to Jonah. This feels like an even more powerful way to end the book, even if it doesn’t seem as satisfying at first glance.
It feels like the author, by ending the book with this question, is asking the reader this question.
The Take-Aways and Self Application:
How many times have we refused to forgive?
How many times have we been forgiven for our transgressions but then kept tally of someone else’s?
How many times have we cared more about something because of how it benefited us (like Jonah and the plant) than other people (Ninevah)?
Often, I am so caught up in my own feelings and what I want that the people around me become less important. When the care in front of me takes too long to turn so now I’m stuck at a light and late for work, I blame them and I hold it against them. Anyone else?
God forgives the people because they repented, admitted their wrongs, and asked forgiveness. Our God is so merciful. Yet, even after experiencing his mercy firsthand (refer to Ch 1-2), Jonah is still bitter when others are shown mercy. Both Jonah and Ninevah were deserving of God’s punishment, but they both saw mercy instead. Jonah is somehow very willing to accept the mercy himself, and slow to accept mercy for others.
In the final verses of the chapter, God asks Jonah to compare his despair for the plant to how much more God would despair over the destruction over people. By comparison, the grief for the plant is minuscule, and yet Jonah feels as though he could die from his anger.
It is so easy for me to read this book and talk about how ridiculous and unreasonable Jonah is being, and yet I am Jonah. I am unreasonable when my emotions get involved. I hold myself as somehow superior to others, I expect and accept forgiveness for myself and still want others to be “held accountable” for their transgressions. At what point did I become this hypocrite? I believe the bible school answer would be “when Eve ate the apple” but that isn’t the point today.
I, while far from perfect, can improve. I can put my “plant” into perspective so that the “Ninevites” in my life can get the fair shot. We can reflect on who our Ninevites are, the people you refuse to forgive, the people who you think deserve the worst punishments. In all fairness, they might have done truly terrible things. However, God did not give you a gavel. After a person repents, forgiveness should follow.
Let me caveat: If you are in an abusive relationship and their is a cycle of abuse and apology followed by abuse - that person HAS NOT REPENTED. You can and should walk away, go to a place where you can be safe. You do not need to stick around in a dangerous situation, nor should you. Forgiveness comes after repentance, and empty words are not repentance. Empty words are the enemies lies intended to entice you into a dangerous situation. Also, any abuse you received is not your fault, it is not you who should be seeking forgiveness from them.
Friends, there is real evil in this world and sometimes it comes disguised as a significant other. If you need help, message me on Instagram or send me an email (firstjesusthencoffee@gmail.com).
Coffee Fact:
A Latte and Cappuccino have the same amount of espresso. A Latte has less milk foam, but more steamed milk while a Cappuccino has equal parts of each.
Also, I totally forgot to ask Collin (the guest on the podcast for Chapter 4) how he takes his coffee while we were recording so I went with a coffee fact instead of a tip for this section. The more you know.
As always, I am but a work in progress.
Cheers.