Pastor Tom Johnson, September 18, 2011
Jonah thought God was mistaken when he called the prophet to go preach to the Ninevites. The Ninevites had their own religion. They were foreigners. They were a violent people. And Jonah’s people were victims of their violence. But Jonah knew God to be good and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. And so Jonah went in the opposite direction—to the opposite side of the known world—to Tarshish in modern day Spain. And, you remember the story...God caused a storm to almost sink the ship Jonah and it’s pagan crew was on. They prayed to their gods while Jonah was sleeping in ignorance. When he realized that they were all going to die, he volunteered to be thrown overboard—willing to die so that Nineveh would not hear God’s word. We should think of the greater prophet to come, Jesus, who is willing to die so that the whole world hear God’s word of forgiveness and eternal life.
But a great fish, out of obedience to the Creator that put the disobedience of the prophet to shame, swallowed Jonah whole. And it was only while the stomach acid and lack of oxygen ate away at Jonah that he had a partial change of heart. At the command of God, the fish vomits Jonah up in the correct direction toward that axis of evil, Nineveh. And Jonah walks around the city preaching his doom and gloom: “In forty days God will turn you all to ash,” he says. It was a horrible sermon. The only thing Jonah preached was the imminent destruction of that great city. There was no hope for redemption in his message. Jonah preached a fiery, vengeful, and angry God who was about to crush them.
But then the unexpected happened. Despite the disobedient prophet and his poor homeletical skills, the Ninevites begin to respond. The Ninevites cover themselves with ash. Even the animals were covered in sackcloth and ash. Both humans and non-humans fasted and prayed that God would relent this disaster. “Who knows?” they asked. “the Prophet Jonah only preached destruction, but maybe God will be merciful.” And so all the Ninevite creatures repented.
After Jonah is done preaching doom and gloom, he found somewhere he could sit to watch God rain fire and brimstone on Nineveh. It was hot and dry place. So, when he found a bush to shade himself under, he appreciated the plant very much. Jonah loved the shade-tree but still despised those Ninevite humans and their animals. So when nothing happens to the Ninevites but, instead, God causes a worm to eat the shade tree, Jonah is angry—so angry that he says that he is “angry enough to die”—he was willing to let his anger consume his life. Again, we should think of the greater prophet to come, Jesus, who is “compassionate enough to die”—willing to let his love for the world consume his life..
It’s only at the very end of the story of Jonah that the real point of the story comes out loud and clear: God loves his whole creation. “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” God asks. “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in night.” “Jonah, I am the Creator. You are just another creature. Don’t fall under the delusion that you are the master of your own destiny. Don’t limit my goodness to your own little world.” “Don’t have such a enlarged view of yourself in the place of creation and such a small view of other humans, animals, and plants. And even more importantly, don’t have such a small view of the Creator of heaven and earth and his love.”
“Should I not be concerned about Nineveh,” God asks, “that great city, in which there are more than a hundred thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” This last verse tell us a lot about God’s love for the world.
First of all, God loves great cities. The greatness of any city is matched by the greatness of God’s love. No skyscraper reaches out of reach of God’s love. No urban sprawl passes out of the boundry of God’s mercy. No population is too numerous for God not to hear each of their individual thoughts and prayers. No corruption and brokenness is beyond God’s compassion and care. A great city will always be outmatched the greatness of God’s love.
Also, God loves the little children—he cares for young humans that grow up in a broken culture and dysfunctional relationships—too young to know their left from their right—impressionable minds that God wants to impress with his love, forgiveness, and eternal life through his son, Jesus Christ. "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world—red and yellow, black and [Ninevite]—all are precious in his site. Jesus loves the little children of the world."
And finally, God cares about the many animals in Nineveh. His love is not bound to humans. His love is so deep and so wide that it extends to the depths of the oceans to the great fish and to the cattle on every hill.
If God loves the great cities, little children, and even the animals, so should we. We too should target that mass of urban humanity, prioritize teaching our little ones the Gospel, and we should not forget to be good stewards of God’s creation by caring for plants, fish, and animals.
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