A Prophet, a Plant, and a People.

After Pentecost (Proper 20 ) | Year A | Jonah 3:10-4:11 | TJ Torgerson

The title of this week’s devotional is alliterated with 3 P’s, so you know it is from God. The story of Jonah is well known. Jonah was a prophet from Israel, and God speaks to him and tells him to go to Nineveh and warn them about impending Judgment.

If Israel was God’s chosen people, then Nineveh would have been the opposite. Nineveh was an example of evil in the Bible. It was a place known for its cruelty; they placed their enemies on stakes outside the city as a warning to others. They would hang people’s heads from trees. They would torture people by cutting off body parts and gouging out eyes. They are even said to have covered the city walls with the skin of their victims. [1] Nineveh was not a nice place.

I would be fearful to go to such a place. However, fear is not the reason we are given for why Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh. Rather, Jonah didn’t want to go because Jonah knew that God is good and gracious, and God might change his mind about destroying Nineveh (Jonah 4.2). It wasn’t fear as much as it was hate that kept Jonah from going to Nineveh. Isn’t it frustrating when God loves people that we want to hate?

Jonah The Prophet Icon

In his attempt to evade this mission, Jonah ran away, even preferring death over witnessing Nineveh's potential salvation he asks to be thrown into the sea. However, God intervenes by sending a fish to save Jonah from certain destruction. Jonah was grateful that God resuces him from death. After the Fish spits Jonah up on the shore, Jonah finally goes to Nineveh and delivered the world’s shortest sermon. To his dismay, the entire city, even the animals, repented, and God spared them from destruction. Jonah was far from grateful that Nineveh had been rescued.

So Jonah hikes up a nearby hillside to throw a pity party. He sits brooding on the hillside, waiting, watching, wanting the city to be destroyed. That is when God, in his goodness, sends a plant to provide shade and ease some of Jonah’s discomfort. Jonah was thankful for the little bit of comfort he received from the plant, yet still angry over the compassion shown the city.

The next day God sends a worm and a scorching east wind that destroyed the plant. It's in this moment that Jonah's true character is laid bare: Jonah the prophet loved the plant, was furious when it was destroyed, yet despised the people and was angry when they were not destroyed saved. All of the drama and comedy of the book of Jonah culminates to the final 2 verses in the book, when God presents a final question.

“You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 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?” Jonah 4:10-11

With that statement from God, the epic tale of Jonah ends. We never hear how or if Jonah answered God. We do not know what came of our prophet Jonah and that is part of the point. The ending of Jonah is left open because it turns the question to us. Is there a group of people, or an individual, that if you were completely honest, you would rather they perish than be accepted into the fold? You may be thinking, “well if they repent then of course they would be part of the group!” Which is fine as long as we also acknowledge that maybe sometimes when we say others need to repent what we are really saying is, others need to become more like me. Perhaps even sometimes we are also hoping they don’t repent so we choose methods that push them away rather than lead them to the love of Christ.

The open ending of Jonah also asks us, What do we care most about, the plant or the people? Our own comfort or compassion towards others?

There are many plans and programs in churches in which we find comfort. These things are easy to identify because when we speak of them we say things like:

· We have always done it this way!

· This is the only way I know how!

· This is a vision from God I won’t give up the plan for the sake of the people. (who can argue with me if it is from God?)

· This what the cool new churches are doing

· This is what churches have always done

We can also find comfort in protecting how we are perceived.

· We must be seen as holy

· We must be seen as fun

· We must be seen as -----

When the hymnals were replaced with a screen, were you more angry about that or about the fact that your church is surrounded by, “more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left.”

The opposite could be said, what if we ditched the screens and the smoke in favor of the hymnals?

Do we ask others to lay preferences aside more than we are willing to lay our own aside? We ask others to push forward in discomfort for the sake of others, and often the very thing that makes them uncomfortable is what is bringing us comfort. So is it for the sake of others or for our benefit?

Plants or People?

[1] Clendenen, E. Ray. “The Minor Prophets.” Holman Concise Bible Commentary. Ed. David S. Dockery. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998. 361. Print.