March 14, 2010
Background Scripture: Jonah 3:10-4:11
Devotional Reading: Matthew 9: 9-13

Although Jonah is presented to us as an Old Testament prophet, his behavior recorded in the Book of Jonah is entirely negative. When the book closes, we are left with no indication of whether he ever repented of his defiant attitude.

His prophesy was successful in that Nineveh repented, but it was a success in spite of, not because of him: “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God repented of the evil which he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it” (3:10). Nineveh was saved because these people “turned from their evil way.”

We might question how the all-knowing God could “repent” or change His mind. Dr. James D. Smart says that the Old Testament “has no embarrassment in saying that God changes his mind.” Although we know that God is divine, not human, we usually speak of His actions in human terms – and humans change their minds.
Smart says, “He does not change his nature, but as the responses of men to him change, it becomes necessary for him to follow a different line of action in order to be true to his nature.”

A mirror for us

So, what we do and how we react to God gives Him the option of changing the outcome of our actions.

Actually, the Book of Jonah is as much about you and me as it is about Jonah. It is included in our Bible as a mirror and a warning for us in our own time.

Angrily and argumentatively Jonah repudiated God’s grace: “I pray thee, Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? … for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love …” (4:1,2).

Jonah is at least honest with God, but it is an honesty of self-righteousness, not humility.

Jonah knew God was gracious, but nevertheless that His grace would not be extended to his enemies, a rejection not only of what God has done, but what he is.

This is just as many who call themselves Christians are adamantly opposed to what God is and does: forgiving sinners, helping the helpless and extending justice to “our enemies.” Jonah clearly identifies himself as one who hopes for the worst in order to prove himself right.

Recently, a well-known radio commentator told his listeners that he hoped that President Obama would fail, despite the probability that his failure would also be harmful to our nation.

True Christians, both Republicans and Democrats, need to pray for, and not against, whoever is our President. A prayer is not a vote.
Who’s on first?

Christians have a mandate to give their highest loyalty to God, not their respective all-too-human political parties. We are first followers of Jesus Christ, not Republicans or Democrats or anything else.

Hateful, negative attitudes – not to mention outright lies – are harmful to our nation, as well as a repudiation of the Christ, who is neither Democrat nor Republican, liberal nor conservative. No election is The Second Coming, and the judgment of God upon our political lives falls equally upon people of all parties.

Jonah 4:6-11 pokes serious fun at Jonah’s unyielding attitude. He demonstrates that he has no sense of proportion: Caring more about the demise of a plant that shielded him from the sun than 120,000 citizens who did what Jonah did not do. They responded obediently to God’s call!

Jonah’s attitude may strike us as utterly ridiculous, but are there not times in our lives when we mourn some personal inconvenience and at the same time are indifferent to someone else’s tragedies? “Let them eat cake!” is not in the Bible.

Jonah was the worst kind of religious chauvinist. Professing faith in Israel’s God, he rejected God’s compassion for people who Jonah regarded as the “enemy.” But the Book of Jonah uses his intransigence to ask us: Who or what is your Nineveh?

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.