Revenge

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” -Jonah 4:9

The story of Jonah is practically a sit-com in some ways. A reluctant prophet, Jonah tries to avoid God’s call by sailing away from God on a boat. He is caught in a storm, thrown overboard by the sailors, swallowed by a big fish and finally spit back out where he started again. Jonah finally realizes he can’t get away from what God is calling him to do.

And what God wants him to do is to go into the infamous city of Ninevah and tell them to repent. Jonah is no fan of Ninevah, and not only does Jonah not want anything to do with the Ninevites, he certainly doesn’t want them to repent. Because they’re awful and they don’t deserve to get better. But reluctantly he goes into the city, just barely into it’s borders, and kind of half heartedly calls out to anyone who will listen, “Repent!” Despite this extremely lackluster performance, all of Ninevah suddenly repents - from the king right down to the pack animals. Everyone, even those animals, put on sackcloth and ashes and cry out to God for forgiveness.

And of course, none of this pleases Jonah, because he deeply resented the Ninevites and he didn’t want to see them get back into God’s good graces. He says to God, “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” When God asks, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Jonah turns and pouts his way up a mountainside where plunks down on an overlook to watch Ninevah mourn and repent, probably hoping to see them quickly mess up again. God provides a bush to shade Jonah from the hot sun, but then the bush withers, and Jonah has even more to be resentful about. Again God asks if it’s right for him to be so angry, and Jonah says he’s angry enough to die.

Jonah seems a rather ridiculous character at first glance, but perhaps we can see ourselves all too well in him. For example, sometimes in our fractious political climate I find myself hoping the candidate I don’t prefer will just keep putting his foot in his mouth and offending me. Because if he just keeps offending me, I can keep grumbling, remaining personally justified in my deeply negative judgment of him, and also remain justified in neglecting to pray for him as a child of God.

And, I also have known what it feels like to resent someone deeply in my own life - what it’s like to write hate letters in my head and fume and spout about someone’s bad behavior and how much they’ve hurt me. I know what it’s like to resent someone and dream of revenge instead of praying for their healing. I also unfortunately know how resentment can be like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

God’s response to Jonah, as brief as it is, says it all. God says, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” God is saying - I care about creation. I care about people. I care about animals. And I am going to seek healing and reconciliation through all of it, whether you like it or not. And that’s the abrupt end to this strange little book.

Praying again with Jonah this week has reminded me that I don’t have God’s perspective on the things going on in this world, and all I have the power to do is to say yes to doing the next right thing without trying to run away because it seems too hard, or resent the job I’ve been given because I personally don’t like it. Paul knew all about that. In this week’s passage from the Philippians, Paul writes about how following Christ is hard and often leads to suffering, but that it is nonetheless fruitful labor for the good of creation. Paul writes this from jail, where he’s been stuck for two years, after being arrested in Palestine, surviving an assassination attempt, a shipwreck on the way to Rome and then a venomous snakebite. I mean, Paul certainly knew the suffering about which he wrote! None of these things would be anything you’d choose or like, but he nonetheless calls them fruitful labor in the service of Christ and the cross.

So I guess although we can laugh at Jonah’s childishness, this sit-com of a story reminds us to look at who we resent and what we spend way too much time stewing fruitlessly about, These days, it’s obviously very tempting to sulk and grumble and complain and post damning articles on facebook. But standing up and taking loving and compassionate action on behalf of God’s children is certainly far more fruitful.

Our readings for this week are HERE. Ordinary time offers many readings to contemplate each Sunday. Track 1 will lead you through certain Old Testament books week by week more in depth. Track 2 provides an Old Testament text that is meant to compliment the Gospel of the week.