“A Heart For The City” (Part Three)

Why God Pursued the Heart of Jonah

In Jonah 4, Jonah’s earlier prayer of praise (2:1-9) has turned to anger and bitterness. It’s shocking to the reader to learn that after proclaiming God’s word, Jonah sat down on a hill under a shelter to “see what would become of the city” (v.5). What more could happen? One of the Old Testament’s great cities best known for its horrendous violence had repented. A fast had been proclaimed and the people from the “greatest to the least” dressed in sackcloth, a sign of mourning and distress. The king went one step further by sitting in ashes. In fact, even the animals were dressed in sackcloth! But Jonah angrily sat hoping that God would change His mind. He prayed for the destruction of this pagan city. He hated these people. He had spoken the message with his mouth but with hatred in his heart. It angered him that God was so forgiving!

Do we have our personal Nineveh? An ethnic, racial, or religious group we avoid with the good news? Someone in our family network extremely hard to love, who, if they invited us for dinner, we would fail to show up?

In this final chapter of Jonah, God works with a plant, a worm, and a wind to make life extremely uncomfortable for Jonah, hoping for a change of heart. But Jonah becomes even angrier. Not only about Nineveh’s revival but also about his personal discomfort. So the story ends with a piercing question from God: “Should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?” (4:11).

How did Jonah answer? We don’t know. A better question is: How do we answer? Are we concerned about our cities despite their Nineveh-like violence? Does what we say with our mouth, match what we feel with our heart? Are we angry about the prospect of sharing heaven with our repentant enemies?