Jonah the Nationalist
Unfortunately the first thing that often comes to mind when we think of this person Jonah and the book about him is a “whale” or a “great fish”. But the book of Jonah is so much more than a story about a man who miraculously spent three days and nights in the belly of a fish.
The book of Jonah is like a mirror. It shows us where we have gone astray in similar ways as Jonah. Let the truth of this amazing account analyze your life and correct wrong thinking and wrong actions.
Jonah is told by God to go to Nineveh. Now Nineveh is a prominent city in the Assyrian empire, believed by many to be the capital city at this point. And if you know anything about the Assyrians you know that they were gruesome and ruthless people. They were known for their extensive torture and seemingly limitless abuse to their adversaries. And Jonah, the Israelite, is told to go there and cry out against this city’s wickedness.
Now one would think that Jonah would be afraid of this city and that’s the reason he fled in the opposite direction, but that’s not what the Bible says. We see in the end of the book that Jonah reminds God of why he didn’t want to come to Nineveh in the first place “was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.”
Jonah knows God is merciful and was very aware that God could show mercy to this wicked and vile nation. And Jonah didn’t want that. He wanted Nineveh to get what they deserve.
When we compare Jonah’s life to our life we may see some comparisons. We often have a firm grasp on God’s mercy, but are slow to show that same kind of mercy to others and even become upset when God grants mercy to others. We insist that others must be worse than we are. Or that God has a good reason to show us mercy and not them. But when we step back and realize how much grace and mercy God shows us how can we but allow more mercy and love to be shown to others from God and oursleves.
Don’t be like Jonah and demand from God His justice upon others but require of Him mercy on you. We are to love people and have mercy upon others as God has had mercy upon us.
