The Stubborn Evangelist: Part 4 Series

Today we conclude a four part series entitled Jonah: The Stubborn Evangelist. Jonah is also a man on the run from his responsibility – to share the message of God’s mercy to others. And this is what Jonah is really about – first experiencing God’s mercy and then extending God’s mercy. And it’s just this reason why Jonah shows his stubbornness. For he hates his enemies and does not want to show God’s mercy to them.

Nowhere does Jonah’s hatred for his enemies become clearer than in today’s passage. For at the very mention of the city of Nineveh, Jonah revolts from God and runs from God. And all throughout this short story is one where Jonah is in flight; it’s also one where God is in pursuit. And in the end, it’s God’s pursuit that eventually extinguishes Jonah’s rebellion. For four chapters we witness Jonah’s futile flight as well as God’s persistent pursuit.

The Story of Jonah: Catching Up from the Last Three Weeks

When we last saw Jonah, he had walked off the beach and into the great city of Nineveh. His story began by the word of the Lord coming to Jonah where God says, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:2) Many of you remember the general outline of what happened. Jonah did not go east to Nineveh on the Tigris River. He got on a boat in Joppa bound for Tarshish (probably in Spain) – the opposite direction. God hurls a storm against the ship. When the prayers of the crew prove useless, they awaken Jonah and tell him to pray. Then they cast lots to see whose guilt brought the storm, and the lot fell to Jonah. When they asked who he was, he said, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land” (Jonah 1:9). When the crew asked what might still the storm, Jonah said, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you…” (Jonah 1:12). The crew threw him overboard, and the storm ceased. And Jonah sinks in the water to be swallowed by a big fish. Jonah sends a big fish not to punish Jonah to turn him around. After he is turned around, he walks into the city of Nineveh was a short and terse message: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4b)!

Today’s Scripture

Today, after seeing a stunning response we watch a prophet pout.

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 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. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle” (Jonah 4:1-11)?

The book comes full circle. In the beginning it was simply a story of two personalities: God and Jonah. Now, at the end, we focus again on God and Jonah. Of all people, how could Jonah forget God’s mercy so quickly? The book of Jonah 's message is first experiencing God’s mercy and then extending God’s mercy. My desire is to stir inside you a strong motivation to extend God’s mercy and kindness to others. Unlike God, Jonah mercy was limited to a few people.