Imagine you had a twin brother, and that he was such as would be at odds with everyone in the family. You would likely carry greater favor with your relatives because of his behavior. Not necessarily because you were exceedingly better, but because he was far worse.
Now, imagine that there came a time when he finally sought forgiveness and truly turned a new leaf. As a result, he begins to be treated with similar favor as yourself. How would you react? Would you be angry with your family or rejoice with them for your brother’s salvation? Would you question why your family would forgive him even though you had barely done anything but the bare minimum to warrant their care?
In the book of Jonah, we are met with a man who assumed no one else should be granted mercy. And the reason for such a misguided claim to exclusivity, as Jonah 4:6-11 demonstrates, is that the prophet believed he was owed God’s mercy. He justifies his disobedience in the supposition that none besides him and his kinsmen had any claim to God’s mercy.
In the end, God would help Jonah appreciate that if he were indeed owed mercy, there would be no mercy after all. It is needful, therefore, to highlight the importance of why, unlike Jonah, we ought to rejoice over the fact that we are owed nothing. For if we do, we will rejoice when others put their trust in God, not sulk.
When God’s Mercy Benefits Us
To track along well with Jonah, it is necessary that we go back to the beginning of the narrative. The book opens with God instructing Jonah to go to Nineveh with a message. He was to tell the Ninevites that God was angered with them. However, Jonah disobeys God and heads instead for Tarshish (1:1-3). As he later confesses, he knew “…God is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness” (Jonah 4:2), which meant he would likely forgive the Ninevites, an outcome Jonah couldn’t stomach.
If I may ask (and briefly so), are you one who runs away instead of heeding God’s instructions? Do you seek to do everything for his glory as he commands us to (1 Corinthians 10:31), or do you seek your own? And as for your perceived enemies, do you love them enough to proclaim the gospel to them, or do you scoff at the opportunity? But I digress.
Following Jonah’s disobedience, the Lord God stirred up a storm, and after lots were cast to determine who had caused such great misfortune, Jonah was thrown into the sea (1:4-16). He was then swallowed by a great fish, in whose belly Jonah stayed for three days (1:17). In short, we see a man who was by no means owed mercy by God. Yet, even when the fish eats Jonah, we see God’s mercy. Think about it for a second: when the sailors threw Jonah overboard, would there have been another expectation than that he had come to his end? Jonah himself knew as much (2:5). God had judged him by throwing him into the waters (2:3). However, he cried out to God, and, in mercy, God had a fish swallow Jonah (2:1,6).
Partiality Discredits God’s Mercy
Jonah admits in his prayer that what happened to him was an act of mercy. He even concludes by saying that salvation belongs to God (Jonah 2:9). However, when it no longer benefits him, we see a man who thinks he is owed mercy. While we do not readily see ourselves in Jonah, the Bible often warns against partiality (Deuteronomy 25:13-16, James 2:1-13) for no other reason than that it is a cherished sin by many. And, I dare say, we often are nowhere more blind to this sin than when it regards the salvation of sinners, particularly sinners we do not see eye to eye with.
When God saved Jonah from death, he was full of praise. But when his enemies were saved, Jonah was incensed. He wondered why ‘God could be slow to anger and abounding with lovingkindness’ to them, never mind that he had just come from experiencing the same kindness. And Jonah’s kinsmen were not any different. They were not much troubled that Paul had been converted, but it was a line too far crossed when he mentioned that God intended for the Gentiles to be recipients of the same mercy; they wanted him dead (Acts 22:21-22).
Plagued by Entitlement
The sad thing is, more times than not, we are like Jonah and his kinsmen. Because we hate someone, even though we aren’t supposed to (Matthew 5:43-48), we assume God should hate them just as much, if not more. When they get saved, we grumble and jeer instead of being the first ones to welcome them. We go out of our way to discredit them entirely to others. If such describes you, you, unfortunately, suffer from entitlement. You would do well to heed Paul’s reminder to the Corinthian brethren that they didn’t own anything, not even their bodies, which were God’s (1 Corinthians 4:7).
And this same reminder could not be more relevant than in our being saved. Jonah learned quite the hard way. As he sat outside Nineveh, crossing his fingers for the city’s destruction (Jonah 4:6), God created a plant that shielded him from the scorching heat. Jonah was exceedingly glad (4:6). However, God soon appointed a worm to kill the plant at dawn (4:7) and worsened matters by blowing a scorching hot wind towards Jonah (4:8). Jonah could not hide his frustration, wishing he had rather died (4:9). To which God responded by asking Jonah if he had done anything to make the plant grow. Of course, nothing. If Jonah could pity a plant he did not make sprout or blossom, why wouldn’t God pity a people he made (4:11)?
We are no different. Did you, for example, create the spiritual disciplines and means of grace you employ to hold fast? Seeing you didn’t, do you do well to be angry at your enemies for receiving God’s mercy (4:4)? Too often, we view ourselves as deserving of God’s gift of salvation. But neither we nor those we hate are owed anything by God. God doesn’t need us; we need him (Acts 17:24-28). We did nothing to earn our salvation; God sent his Son to save us (Ephesians 1:3-2:10)—and our enemies no less.
Do Good to All
Therefore, we should not be disappointed when God does good to anyone we are at odds with, especially the good of salvation. Instead, we should be found exhorting and spurring them to love and good works (Hebrews 3:12-13; 10:24-25). We should rejoice with them when they rejoice and weep with them when they weep (1 Corinthians 12:26). It befits not the child of God to be angry over what we do not own; rather, we ought to strive to be at peace with all men so long as it is on us.
