Jonah 4:8-11 (NIVUK)
8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, ‘It would be better for me to die than to live.’
9 But God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?’
‘It is,’ he said. ‘And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.’
10 But the Lord said, ‘You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left – and also many animals?’
Because God forgave the Ninevites despite their earlier wicked lives, Jonah got into a sulk. Wanting to help him to understand, God gave him a plant to find shade under, and then caused it to wilt… Through this parable he sought to help Jonah gain an insight into how he saw the Ninevites, not seen simply as 2 dimensional disposable statistics, but living breathing people acting in ignorance and confusion, whom he gave life to and loves (and their animals, I love that that insight!) It is all too easy to label people as good and bad, when God and love sees beyond that.
Father, teach me your compassion in my dealings with others, help me to see them more as you do.
Leave a Reply