Slices
Prepare
We are able to come boldly before God because Jesus has opened up for us a new and living way (Hebrews 10:20). Draw near today, however you may feel.
Bible passage
Jonah goes to Nineveh
3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’
3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.’ 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:
‘By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.’
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
Explore
It is a chastened Jonah who arrives on the outskirts of the great city of Nineveh. Nervously he passes through the city gates and proclaims: ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown’ (3:4). Not exactly a message guaranteed to increase his popularity, yet he faithfully delivers the word God has given him.
Then, the first surprise. King and people repent of their wickedness with a genuine show of contrition (vs 5–9). Then the second surprise. God sees their genuine sorrow and how they turn from their evil ways, and in his mercy turns from his anger and forgives them.
Jonah is angry because it seems so unfair that after all their wickedness the Ninevites should be forgiven. He is now obedient, but his heart is still lagging behind. He is confounded by the generosity of God, confused by the mercy shown to such undeserving people. This is the scandal of grace. It contradicts human ideas of justice.
Jonah reminds me of the elder brother in the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32). He too was affronted by the father’s generous love. Grace is always so totally undeserved.
Respond
Does it upset you that people who have done truly wicked deeds might be forgiven? How might the story of Jonah help you with this?
Deeper Bible study
... you perceive my thoughts from afar … Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.’1 How do you feel about being known so completely and comprehensively?
God’s Word comes to Jonah again, representing a second chance (v 1). Having rescued Jonah from death,2 God now reinstates him in his prophetic role (v 2) – like Peter’s recommissioning following his denial of Jesus.3 From defiance, Jonah has graduated to compliance (v 3). But what is the state of his heart? Minimum-wage legislation safeguards employees against exploitation, but these laws are not intended to discourage employers from paying just and generous wages. Jonah’s sermon is brief, even brusque (v 4). He says nothing about who God is or how God loves;4 he doesn’t try to persuade the Ninevites to repent; he doesn’t share his own powerful testimony of God’s grace. Jonah’s ‘minimum wage’ brand of sermon fails to reflect the ‘maximum mercy’ quality of God’s grace! Unfolding events will reveal that, although Jonah tweaked his behaviour, he had not experienced the change of heart that characterises genuine repentance.5
Although the messenger remains unmoved, ‘The Ninevites believed God’ (v 5). Much scholarly ink has been spilt in debating the authenticity of their response. Nevertheless, the text confirms that the Ninevites didn’t merely perform rituals of repentance (vs 5,6,8a) but also ‘turned from their evil ways’ (vs 8b,10a) – in stark contrast to Jonah, whose outward obedience (v 3) is not matched by a turning away from sinful prejudices. Clearly, God took the Ninevites’ repentance seriously, since he turned from ‘his fierce anger’ (v 9) and ‘relented’ from his decision to destroy Nineveh (v 10).6 This does not, however, mean that Nineveh experienced lasting revival; this story relates only to the response of this particular generation of Ninevites.7
‘... the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.’8 What will the Lord see in your heart?
1 Ps 139:2,4 2 Jonah 2 3 John 21:15–19 4 Jonah 4:2 5 Jonah 4 6 Cf Matt 12:41 7 See the book of Nahum 8 2 Chr 16:9
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Deuteronomy 6,7; Psalm 33
Pray for Scripture Union
Give thanks for those who volunteer their time to serve on SU Council and help the movement think through issues in ministry and the context in which we work. Pray that as they meet today, they will have God’s wisdom and insight.
