Jonah's Judgement

Last night our mid-week Bible class studied the book of Jonah. It's one of the more popular stories with both parents and children. If it weren't in the Bible, it would be decried as too violent a story for children, what with a man being thrown into churning waters and being swallowed whole by a gigantic sea creature. Yeah, that's a great idea for a children's book. I remember hearing this story as a young boy feeling as if I had snuck into a PG-13 movie. But make no mistake, parents love telling the story too. The moral seems to be, if you disobey God, your friends will throw you off the boat and you'll get swallowed by a whale. Sounds like an episode of Survivor.

But the book of Jonah is so much more than a fish story. Only a couple of verses even mention the fish. In essence, the story of Jonah is about God's justice. God lays down the word to Jonah in the first couple of verses. "Go to Nineveh, the great city and preach against it because it's wickedness has come up before me." Now to read that command and to read of Jonah's hatred of the Assyrians, you would think that he's be more than happy to stick that message in their face.

But Jonah understood that God's idea of justice and his idea of justice were two different things entirely. Jonah wanted God's vengeance to consume the Ninevites. After all, these people had committed profound atrocities that are still being talked about today. But Jonah also knew that God's justice was different. It opened the possibilty for repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation, and Jonah wanted no part of that.

I always thought growing up that Jonah was ignorant and naive. I thought he was ignorant because he thought he could run away and hide from God. I thought he was naive in that he thought he could simply get away with not obeying God without consequences. But his actions and his words seem to indicate that he knew exactly who God was and what he was capable of. Jonah wasn't hiding from God, he was rebelling against God. And when the sailors ask him the rhetorical question, "Why did you do this?" everyone on the boat knew that Jonah was underestimating God. There was no getting away from God's justice. Just as God was pursuing the Ninevites, he was also pursuing Jonah.

Many times, i think that I am far more like Jonah than I'd care to admit. My idea of justice is too often more like Jonah's than God's. The real test for me is, how do I feel when those who have wronged me, receive grace and forgiveness. Am I more interested in them being made whole or in me getting my revenge? I wonder how often we get revenge and justice mixed up.