Maddening Kindness – Jonah 3:10-4:5

Jonah unequivocally confessed upon his own deliverance from well deserved calamity: “Salvation belongs to the Lord!” (2:9). This phrase serves will as a theme for his entire book. In an ironic display of Jonah's fickle heart (and perhaps a mirror for our own), we see him just a few verses later resenting the very truths he had so recently realized as great occasion to worship the Lord! Jonah finds the kindness of God toward his enemies (the Ninevites) maddening. “Praise God He owns salvation when He grants it to me”, his attitude proclaims, “but what a travesty that He would grant grace and mercy to murderous pagans!” Jonah betrays the tendency of every human heart toward self-righteousness. If we find his reaction absurd, thinking we could never relate to this childish level of irrationality, this may be our first clue that all sinners, including ourselves, are susceptible to the sins of self-righteousness. Far from cause for resentment, the repentance of Nineveh is an exceptional marvel. Israel at this time was graced with multiple prophets and the stewardship of the revelation of God in their history and His scriptures – yet – they remained obstinate to the call for repentance from their own sin. They would soon embrace disastrous occupation and exile for their rebellion. Meanwhile a whole city of gentile pagan idolaters cry out in sackcloth and fasting upon an 8 word sermon by a lone surly prophet! Matthew Henry reminds us: “There was a wonder of divine grace in the repentance and reformation of Nineveh. It condemns the men of the gospel generation (Mt 12:41). A very small degree of light may convince men that humbling themselves before God, confessing their sins with prayer, and turning from sin are means of escaping wrath and obtaining mercy.” (We take our outline today from Jonah 4:2.)