lectio divina:: jonah

I just finished the book of jonah- and its one of my favorite parts of the old testament.
jonah is a funny guy.
as far as a prophet, he kind of stinks.
he doesn’t like lost people.
he whines.
he complains.
he is blatantly disobedient.
when he actually does get around to obeying God, he phones it in.
(his entire message of hop to the ninevites takes up one verse where he says,
“forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!”)
and several times in the book he proves that he would rather die
than serve the ninevites.


God has a lot of patience for jonah.
when saul disobeyed, God just worked with someone else.
but when jonah ran, God went after him.
God could have had that fish digest him,
but instead, he spit him out safe and sound.
even though jonah gave little effort or passion to his role,
God used him powerfully.


when God sparks a revival, jonah throws a fit and says,
“didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? that is why I ran away to tarshish!
I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
You are eager to turn back from destroying people.
just kill me now, Lord!
I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”


God’s response is classic.
(and could be said to each of us each time we throw fits of our own.)
he says in 4:4 “is it right for you to be angry about this?”
that’s some patience!


at the end of the book, jonah is sitting on a cliff,
waiting for ninevah’s destruction.
it was hot so God made a plant grow to give him shade.
but a worm came and ate the plant
and jonah threw another fit over his discomfort and disappointment.
God end this short little book with a line that knocks my socks off:


“then the Lord said, “you feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. but nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”


even though the ninevites were vicious people. God loved them and sent a prophet to them to tell them that He loved them.
jonah was weeping over his lost comfort,
but God was weeping over his lost ninevites.


what about you?
what about me?
am I more likely to weep over my lost comfort or lost people?
the answer to that is worth weeping over.


wait a minute-
where is ninevah anyhow?
oh yeah! the middle east!
God loves them! He has always loved them!
wouldn’t it be sad if there were modern day jonah’s
preaching hate against those who God has always loved?


God is love.
-rev-rob