Jonah is a little book with four short chapters. Thought small, the content is huge. It is a story of a sending God and one man’s response. So, what do we learn?
We have a choice – a response – in the sending. Either we go with or run from God. Jonah runs by purchasing his own ticket and attempts to create his own future. The consequences of his running spilled over into the lives of those in closest proximity. The mariners lost cargo and feared for their lives. There would be a personal cost and consequence for Jonah too. We become God’s object of pursuit when we run.
Yet, even when we mess up in the sending, God is incredibly merciful. He efforts for our attention and places us where we can hear from him removed from other influences. Jonah was tossed from a ship only to be swallowed up by an appointed larger than life fish for three days and nights. He speaks to God; life comes into perspective. God gives him a second opportunity. We are grace recipients even in our unwillingness to extend it. Jonah travels into the city delivering God’s sent message. The people respond and God relents. Most would rejoice.
When God spares the city, Jonah get’s angry. It’s the reason he didn’t want to go in the first place. He knew God to be merciful and gracious. His greatest fear realized; God was merciful to his enemy. Where Jonah had no compassion, God extended compassion. God has compassion upon his entire creation while Jonah practiced selective compassion.
Are we guilty of selective compassion? Is there a person or place you’d refuse to be sent?
Jonah ends abruptly. Its conclusion is open ended. Even though the dialogue between God and Jonah closes, the sending conversation continues for us. The story of God’s mercy and compassion extends to all of His creation and not just a few, the one’s we like, the similar or the convenient.
I learn in Jonah this gracious and merciful sending God loves His creation. He is actively seeking and sending people on a great redemption mission. And just like Jonah, we can’t practice selective compassion. Sometimes we’re sent to some difficult spaces and difficult people. Regardless, I’m called to compassion – to love as God loves.
