Sermon - Lent Midweek 4 2019 - Jonah 3:1-10

The story of Jonah is a fascinating one which reveals to us that God is gracious and merciful. It begins with the Lord calling out to Jonah, ““Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” Nineveh was a terrifying place. It was a city within the Gentile kingdom of Assyria, to the northeast of Israel. From what we know of the history of that nation, these people were immensely evil who did things nightmares are made out of.

So I don’t think you’d blame Jonah for running away from these people because he’s afraid of them. I think I too would have my reservations about knocking on these folks’ doors and calling them to repentance. It’s scary enough telling nice midwestern folk to repent of their sins, let alone these frightening barbarians.

So Jonah hopped aboard a ship and fled from the presence of God. “But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.” And what did Jonah do? He “had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.” The Lord was calling Jonah to repentance and all he did was sleep.

Then when the crew awoke him and figured out what had happened and asked him what they should do to stop this storm, he didn’t tell them to turn around and head toward Nineveh, but to throw him overboard! Jonah would rather commit suicide than turn around and repent of his disobedience! Although, it’s notable that the pagan sailors onboard the ship from that point “feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.” Jonah may not have repented and come to faith, but these men did.

Yet the Lord was still gracious and merciful towards Jonah, so He “appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” During those three days Jonah was led to repentance over his sins and he confessed: “Salvation belongs to the Lord!” At which the fish spit Jonah back upon dry ground. 

Again the Lord called Jonah to go to Nineveh and this time he obeyed the word of the Lord. Jonah walked through the horrifying city of Nineveh and called the people to repentance. Lo and behold, “the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them… When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.” What a turnaround! What a miracle! These evil people turned from their sins and believed in God! Again, we see that the Lord is gracious and merciful even to sinners as vile as these Assyrians! 

But here we come upon a major plot twist. Here we were, thinking Jonah was just afraid of the Ninevites, and so this would have been great news when the people of Nineveh repented of their sin and didn’t kill Jonah! Jonah should’ve rejoiced!

But Jonah didn’t run the opposite direction of Nineveh because he was afraid of them. He turned and ran the other way because the Lord is gracious and merciful. In his own words, “This is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” Jonah didn’t flee from the Ninevites because they were scary, but because he didn’t want them to repent and be spared from the Lord’s wrath. So again, Jonah would rather die than see these people be spared God’s wrath and come to faith.

But one last time here the Lord illustrates why He is so gracious and merciful. He causes a plant to grow up and shade Jonah, but then kills it the next day, at which Jonah becomes angry that the plant has died. The Lord explains, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

See, the Lord did labor over each of the Ninevites, He did make them to grow and flourish, so He does pity them for being so ignorant of His grace and mercy. The Lord even pities Jonah who is also apparently still quite ignorant of God’s grace and mercy. Perhaps this is why the Lord chose Jonah, so that Jonah might repent of his own wickedness and realize God’s grace and mercy which are for him as well.

So this message is for us also today. God is indeed gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. He calls us to repentance and threatens us with His wrath should we not repent, but if we do repent He is quick to turn from His fierce anger and forgive us. Jesus isn’t like Jonah. Jonah spent three days in depths out of his rebellion; Jesus spent three days in the tomb out of His obedience. Jonah would rather die than see his enemies forgiven. Jesus on the other hand dies so that we, His enemies, would be forgiven. “God has consigned all to disobedience so that he could have mercy on all.” 

Therefore, we would do well to realize that God’s forgiveness is for we who are no less wicked than the Assyrians. Moreover, God is quick to forgive our enemies and we should be too. Those personal grudges you’re holding onto, “do you do well to be angry?” No, let the Lord be angry for you and pray that your anger would dissipate. Just as God forgives your enemies, so you can forgive your enemies, because God also forgives you who are no less in need of forgiveness than they are. Our Lord is gracious and merciful. Now let us repent, rejoice, and live out our lives in God’s forgiveness.