Read: Jonah 1-4
When God saw that [the people of Nineveh] did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 3:10-4:3, NRSV).
I can’t believe I actually said that to God. Seriously! Everyone everywhere celebrates the fact that God is gracious and merciful. Only I had the temerity to complain about it!
Oy. It’s so embarrassing. I can’t believe God didn’t turn me into a cinder for saying it. But God is slow to anger, and so I’m still alive to tell you about what has happened since the official end of my story.
In short, I finally got the point. What point? you ask. The one about grace. The one that God had tried repeatedly to teach me. First, there was the fish. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that being swallowed by a huge fish did not feel like grace at the time. But it saved me from a watery grave, and once I scraped off the fish vomit, I could see it for the reprieve that it was.
Then God gave me a second chance to do what God had ordered me to do in the first place: preach to the people of Nineveh. This time I did as I was told, but I’ll be the first to admit I did it with “ill grace.” Never was there a shorter sermon preached with less enthusiasm. “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” I hurled it at them like a piece of dried dung.
To my surprise, they repented all over the place. Shoot, even the cattle sported sackcloth and cried “mightily to God.” God was impressed, and—true to form—forgave them!
This was not at all what I’d signed on for. I hated those Ninevites. My people had a history with Ninevites. So, to say that I was angry wouldn’t begin to cover it. I wasn’t angry; I was incandescent. So, I pitched a fit and begged God to kill me.
Fortunately, God ignored that request and gave me something I didn’t ask for: grace. You’d have thought I’d have been more receptive to that message after the fish affair, but what can I say. I’m a slow learner. In fact, it took yet another object lesson to finally get the lesson of grace to sink in. I guess you could say the “worm” was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Sorry if I’m mixing my metaphors, there, but hey. It’s hard to put into words.
So, what happened next? Well, it was touch and go for a few days. I hung around outside the city of Nineveh weighing my options. But finally, I knew what I had to do.
These days I’ve set up shop smack in the middle of the city of Nineveh. I run a discount fish market. The smell reminds me of God’s grace. I don’t preach much anymore, but I do love to chat with my customers about how God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. I should know, after all!
Ponder: What does it say about us when we’d rather die than to see our enemies find forgiveness? What are some of the things that make forgiveness complicated for you?
Pray: Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Introducing a New Series: “Now What?”
Have you ever wondered what might happen next to some of your favorite biblical characters? For instance, what happens to Esther after she saves her people? Does she really live happily ever after with King Ahasuerus?
Or what about Jonah? Does he ever really understand what God has been trying to teach him about grace? If so, what decisions might he make about what to do with the rest of his life?
In this series, we’ll be following up on some of my favorite biblical characters and asking, “Now what?” Of course, such wonderings lead us beyond traditional interpretation and into the imaginative territory of midrash. But I think it might be fun—and I think it might make us look at our own lives and ask the same question.
Enjoy!
Carol M. Bechtel