Mercy & Malice (Jonah 4:5-11)
How do we feel about those who have been evil in the past? What if Hitler’s Germany existed today? What about North Korea, China, and Russia? What atrocities are being done in those countries right now? If we were aware of concentration camps in those areas, wouldn’t we want them to be broken up and those who conceived these places to be punished?
Furthermore, how does God deal with these evil societies? Does he remain silent and let them be evil forever? Will he let the evil go unpunished?
The Problem
In the book of Jonah, this is the big problem. Jonah has gone into Nineveh to tell them what they are doing wrong. He purposefully told them as little as he could, hoping they wouldn’t listen and turn from their evil. But it seems like these Assyrians know that they have crossed the line and committed great sins against God. They appear willing to change everything, from the least to the greatest. The king even pronounces that they must all put on sackcloth and sit in ashes, asking for God to forgive them and not destroy them.
At the end of Chapter 3, we are told that God sees their turning away from evil and wants to relent in the disaster that he had said he would do to them. He would not destroy Nineveh. On the one hand, we look at this completely separated from the circumstances and think, “Wow! That’s great!” We are so happy to see people repent and return to what’s right. This message and their tender hearts make the world a better place.
But when we get to Chapter 4, our eyes are opened to the difficulty of this situation. Jonah doesn’t share our feelings of excitement. He does not feel warm and fuzzy when he sees the people repent. Apparently, Jonah is not told in verse 10 of Chapter 3. It just explains God’s desire to relent based on their repentance. Jonah doesn’t know that is what God will do, but he suspects it. He prays to God angrily, knowing what the repentance of the Ninevites means. “Lord, this is why I left for Tarshish! I knew you would be who you always are.” He effectively criticizes God for being too loose with his mercy and grace. He is calling God unjust for allowing these evil people to live. Anything less than annihilation is unacceptable in his mind. He’s so angry that he wants to die.
How would we feel about this? We preach in Berlin, and they say they are sorry. They set all the people free and stopped doing the great evil they were doing. Would that be enough? As the graphic details are revealed, we might become increasingly angry. We would not be on board with letting the leaders get away unpunished. It doesn’t matter how much they claim to have repented. As Christians, we understand that governments are put into place to punish those who are evil. But who punishes an evil government? Isn’t that God’s responsibility? Instead, he will let them get away with it because they said, “I’m sorry?” This is a big problem. Where is the justice in this?
A Life Lesson From A Plant
Jonah leaves the city and waits for the time of destruction to come upon the Ninevites. He won’t go home until he sees and understands how God will prove himself. He refuses to believe forgiveness can be like this, so he pitches his tent and watches. While he is there waiting, God brings up a plant to shade him. This makes Jonah happy. At this point, maybe he thinks, “God is so good to provide this shade tree for me.” God saved Jonah from his discomfort.
Why would God do this? His prophet is stubbornly watching to see what he is up to. He is angry with his decision to save the Ninevites, and God said he doesn’t do well to be angry. Why give him a plant to make his life easier? Once again, God is going after Jonah. Jonah is a runaway in his heart, so God is attacking his heart. He does this by giving him blessings and then taking it away.
The next day, God appointed a worm to attack and destroy the plant. Then he appointed a solid wind to mess up his tent. Finally, he brought intense heat to make Jonah miserable. The truth is that the more blessed we are, the worse it feels to lose everything. The height of the mountains makes us feel the depth of the valleys. Jonah is miserable and calls out to God, asking him to kill him. He says that he should die than live. God has gotten through to Jonah. He has pushed him to his limit by simply giving him some shade and taking the shade away.
What does this mean? The plant could represent God providing a nation to help people enjoy life. Throughout the Old Testament, there are multiple pictures of great cities as trees that provide a place of rest for the birds, shade, and protection for all animals. In that case, he wants to teach that destroying a city destroys what that city provides to the world. The good is wiped out with the bad, and God doesn’t like to do that. Remember how Abraham called for Sodom and Gomorrah to be spared?
Or, perhaps the plant represents God’s providence for Jonah. God can bring comfort and salvation or discomfort and suffering as he wills. It’s up to him. Jonah does not deserve comfort and forgiveness any more than the Ninevites, but we all know what happened in Chapters 2 and 3. God saved Jonah, but he can take away that salvation just as quickly. Jonah thinks it’s hot now, but it will get much hotter in the lake of fire where he is going if he persists. He doesn’t know it yet, but he doesn’t want to die. That’s the last thing he wants!
The third and probably the most likely reason for God giving this plant to Jonah and taking it away is to teach him how God feels about great cities like Nineveh. He is right in saving Nineveh and wants Jonah to see it so that he, too, will be excited about what has happened here. God doesn’t just want Jonah to understand. He wants him to share his feelings on this.
Mercy & Malice
God asks Jonah again, “Do you do well to be angry?” It’s always piercing when someone asks the same question multiple times. Jonah can’t take it. He has probably been stewing over this question for the past few days. He yells, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die!” I imagine this statement is full of emotion and malice. He is so mad about these Assyrians being forgiven that he cannot stand it, and now he can’t even get comfortable while he waits for God to fail him. He’s done!
But God tells him, “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.” He says, “Jonah, this plant was my creation, not yours.” Jonah is getting put into his place. Jonah loves that plant like he loves Israel. He cares about what the plant provides him even though he has no control over whether or not the plant lives or dies. He might even pray for the plant to survive. But is Nineveh less valuable than the plant? Not in God’s eyes. God loves people more than he loves plants. Men and women were created in his image. God pities them and wants them to survive. He says, “More than 120,000 persons do not know their right hand from their left.” Why is that so hard for Jonah to accept?
Malice has blinded his eyes to the mercy of God. He hates these people so much that he cannot see they are entirely ignorant of what is truly good and righteous. Unlike Jonah, these people have no teachings on the ways of God. Their view is completely distorted, and their attitude is ripe for someone to come in and train them in righteousness. Jonah could positively impact these people, but he hates them too much. That’s the purpose of Israel. He created them to be a royal priesthood.
Exodus 19:6 (ESV) --- 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
Everyone should have taught the word of God to the nations. They should be spreading the glory of God, not tarnishing his image with racial prejudice. The malice he feels inside toward evil people prevents him from becoming merciful and compassionate like God is merciful and compassionate. God is calling for him to do that at the end of this book. He wants him to put down his malice and pick up mercy like him.
God’s Message To Us
When we come into the New Testament, we see the same message is given to us. God wants us to be people full of mercy and compassion instead of malice and prejudice. Our goal is not to alienate evil people. Our goal is to bring them from ignorance to excellence.
How are we doing on this? Do we share the attributes of God’s mercy and grace? God blesses us with comfort and mercy beyond what we deserve. Will we see it or be blind to it like Jonah? He gives us everything, and he can take it all away, but those who know him must recognize the goodness of his mercy. We have to share his mission to be merciful toward those who are evil.
It’s so easy to put mercy away after we obey God. We think that our evil is no longer a big deal. We believe that our anger does not deserve judgment and that we do well to be angry with evil people. But we don’t. We are just as worthy of destruction, whether we want to believe it or not.