Peevish Jonah – Jonah 3

A text – Jonah 3:1-5, 10

3:1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying,
3:2 “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.”
3:3 So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across.
3:4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
3:5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.
3:10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

A reflection:

Jonah. I really like him. I don’t think I’d have liked him as an actual person in real life. He was a naysayer and a whiner and a pouter. But he is truly interesting to watch. God of course knew that Jonah was all these things when God called him to be a prophet. Perhaps he was a tiny bit like Nathanael in our gospel reading for last week. He had an idea about the way things usually go, and he was skeptical about whether he wanted to be an active part of it.

In this brief passage from Jonah’s story we don’t see the reluctant, pouty Jonah, though. We see God’s word coming to Jonah and Jonah obeying, going to Nineveh and walking about a third of the way into the center – not even to the center (halfway in) – just a third. He was a little pouty, I suppose. And then we see him stop amid all the busyness and noise and cry out (shout, perhaps): “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Then, we might presume, we would see Jonah leave.

Well, now, God’s Spirit may have been working on folks before this moment, and a handful of those who heard Jonah’s one-sentence shout would have been greatly affected by his prophesy. They may have been the influencers of Nineveh, because very soon everyone was repenting. Jonah’s small act, performed in a peevish mood by a prophet who was pouty, suddenly turned a city in a new direction. God had thought it might, and really wanted it to be so. God decided NOT to destroy the city, and all those people (and animals) were spared.

What do we know about God from this story? God is merciful. God will do almost anything to show mercy – even send someone who doesn’t want to go to do the act that turns things around. And God can get even the most peevish of us to do something that will have a great result. God’s kingdom has labor that must be accomplished by many types of people, even the ones we would least predict could do any good at all.  Jonah. I really like him.

A prayer”

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for calling even the worst of us into your service. Help us to be alert to your call and willing, even a little willing, to do what you ask. Great things can happen as a result. Such events may not change our character in the least. But God loves us anyway. Amen.