THE STORY OF JONAH – Jonah 3:6, 10; 4:1–2 – The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. … When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”
What’s the big miracle in the story of Jonah? It’s got to be the part with the fish, right? Jonah, having run from God’s assignment, ends up in the ocean. But rather than letting him drown, God sends a giant sea creature to gobble Jonah up, belching him up days later on dry land.
That’s the part my six-year-old daughter remembers from this story, anyway. And she’s probably not alone. Of course, I do believe she is alone in her recent desire to swallow me whole so that I can live forever in her belly. (Mercifully, she has thus far been unsuccessful in this endeavor.)
So yes, the bit with the fish is certainly a miraculous element of Jonah’s story. (And it’s one that skeptics find, well, tough to swallow.) But the biggest miracle in the Jonah story actually happens a couple chapters later, when the king of Nineveh leads the entire city to repent of their sin.
If we miss how big of a deal this is, it’s probably because we don’t know how bad the Ninevites were. They were ruthless and violent. Nineveh was the capital of the ancient Assyrian empire, which repeatedly attacked God’s people and would eventually conquer half their kingdom. These were bad people.
You might assume Jonah was avoiding Nineveh because it was dangerous. Not exactly. Jonah didn’t want to take God’s assignment to Nineveh because he didn’t want those bad people to experience God’s grace.
Ouch.
Jonah is proof positive that God works not only through his people but also, at times, in spite of his people.
Jonah, the reluctant prophet, brought God’s message to his worst enemies. And when God showed them grace, it infuriated Jonah. Jonah didn’t want God to be kind to those bad people.
The book of Jonah ends with him sulking under a plant, but there’s good reason to think that Jonah’s story doesn’t end there. How do we know? Well, simply because we have the book of Jonah. He wrote it down. It seems that at some point, perhaps years later, Jonah wanted people to know what had happened in Nineveh. He wanted to chronicle his embarrassing failure and God’s lavish grace. He wanted others after him to learn: God isn’t after the “right kind” of people; he’s after all kinds of people.
It’s a lesson that’s easily forgotten. When God sent Jesus into the world, for instance, the religious leaders had some of the same objections Jonah did. “Oh, Jesus,” the religious leaders said, “You really don’t want to hang with that crowd. Maybe you don’t know, but those are bad people.”
To which Jesus replied, “I’m a soul doctor. I’m not here for so-called ‘healthy’ people. I’m here for the weak and wounded” (Luke 5:31, paraphrase).
Because Jesus didn’t seem to go after the “right people,” a lot of people missed him. Tragically, even as we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth, we can still miss him. This year, let Christmas remind you that God came not for the healthy, but for the weak and wounded.
Connect:
God still chooses the people we least expect, and he still uses his people to do it. But like Jonah and the religious leaders, we are prone to limit God. Which group of people do you consider “too far gone” for God to love? How might God be calling you to cross an ethnic, socioeconomic, or cultural barrier to extend God’s love to them?
Take the first step and text someone today.
