November 24, 1999
LIFE & WORK SERIES:
Our own comfort cannot
be the primary priority
___Jonah 4:1-11
___By Brett Younger
___Lake Shore Baptist Church, Waco
___Prophets are supposed to be heroes, but Jonah never qualifies. When Jonah offers the invitation and everyone in Nineveh comes forward, he should be happy about it, but Jonah thinks God is soft: "I knew you would be forgiving. That's why I tried to run away in the first place. How stupid do I look? I've been telling these people, 'God is going to get you' and you end up making a fool out of me."
___Jonah is so disgusted he wants to die: "Do us both a favor and strike me dead."
___For Jonah, the world is separated into Jews and Gentiles. The Gentiles are bad guys; the Jews are good guys. Jonah does not want God to love people Jonah would not invite to dinner.
___God won't let Jonah die without seeing the absurdity of his reaction: "Can't you see yourself?"
___Jonah sits and sulks. He watches the city like a vulture and hopes God will surprise him and destroy Nineveh.
___God sends a castor oil plant to grow up over Jonah and give him shade. Jonah, who needs the diversion at least as much as he needs the shade, loves the plant, but his joy doesn't last long. Just when Jonah thinks he has it made in the shade, God sends a worm to kill the plant.
___As if that isn't enough, the wind and the sun beat against Jonah.
___Once again, he wishes he were dead. Once again, God asks if he has any good reason to be so angry. God sounds like the father inviting the elder brother to join the party for the prodigal.
___God wants the angry prophet to understand the foolishness of his attitude: "Will you look at yourself? If you care this much for this plant, shouldn't I care for my children? What kind of God do you think I am?"
___That's it. The book ends.
___Will God's grace win against Jonah's narrowness? Jonah doesn't answer the question, and maybe that's the point. Maybe we are Jonah. Will our concern for God's children be as strong as our concern for our own comfort?
___On the way to work, you halfway hear the news that the Senate has defeated a bill that would extend a breakfast program for millions of school children who live in poverty. You stop at Shipley's Donuts to get a dozen sausage and cheese kolaches. You've been telling people at work how much better they are than donuts. Today you will put your money where your mouth is. You love sausage and cheese kolaches--not ham, not just sausage--sausage and cheese. You're looking forward to your friends tasting them, but the salesperson responds in a way that you had not considered possible: "We're all out. I just sold the last one. How about ham?"
___Which upsets you more--the cancellation of a breakfast program for poor children or the cancellation of your sausage and cheese kolaches? Jonah isn't hard to understand.
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