We named our fourth son Jonas. We didn’t do this because we wanted him to grow up to be a rebellious prophet. Rather, we liked the name, and it worked in English and in Polish (our family lives in Poland). I still remember when he was a baby and the nurse said, “Jonas, Jonas where is your whale?!” We all know the story of Jonah well. And if I was honest, I would have to admit that I am way more like Jonah than I’d like to think.
Identifying with Jonah
When I moved to Poland over twenty years ago, I still remember how my heart longed for the people to see how their religious ways and good works couldn’t earn them a ticket to heaven. I desperately longed to share the gospel with them and for them to know of salvation and the freedom there is in Christ.
I came willingly to these people, but God asked Jonah to go to a different people group, the Ninevites. The Ninevites were the people who lived in the capital of Assyria at the time. In their time, they were known for their military strength, their brutality and violence, and their idolatry. They repeatedly used methods of torture to terrorize and conquer nations.
I can’t imagine what it would be like right now for God to call me to go to Russia. For the past four years, Russia has been violently attacking neighbouring Ukraine. The stories of the relentless attacks on civilians, including targeting children and women’s hospitals, are abhorrent. I’m pretty sure if God asked me to go to Moscow right now and tell Putin to repent, I, too, would be buying a ticket to Tarshish.
But if I’m honest in my heart, it’s more than this. It’s the people who have wronged me, who have betrayed me, who have called my husband names. I don’t want God to offer them His grace and mercy either. I’m continually impressed with how well Jonah knew the character of God (Jonah 4:2). Jonah deeply understood the nature of God. He knew who God was. He had experienced God’s loving kindness and grace in his own life. Only, he wanted to harbour that mercy and grace for himself and people like him but NOT his enemies.
Trusting His All-Sufficient Grace
I think there is a little bit of Jonah in all of us. One that wants God to forgive us but smite our enemies. We want the blood of Jesus to cover all our sin but for “them” to have to pay.
Jonah got angry with God. And I think the choice standing before us remains. Will we, in our anger, rebel against God’s nature and character and tell Him that we would rather die than have him forgive our enemies? Or, will we humbly submit to His will and His ways that are often beyond our understanding?
I have to remember that if His grace is sufficient for me and the thief on the cross, then His grace is sufficient for all of my enemies, too.
Jesus, help us by your Spirit to embrace your grace that saves our souls from sin. Give us the humility and strength to accept that your gift of salvation is available to all who will believe, even those whom we would choose to deem unworthy. Thank you, that in your mercy, you have made a way for all of us back to the Father. Amen.
