Jonah, Jesus, and Loving Our Enemies
We often think of the story of Jonah through the lens of a kid's church illustration. The story would usually go something like this. God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh to deliver a message of judgment and destruction. Jonah instead boards a ship to Tarshish, as far in the other direction as possible. God sends a great storm that threatens to rip apart the ship. At Jonah's instruction, the other sailors throw him into the sea. God provides "a large fish to swallow up Jonah," and three days later, Jonah is spit up by the fish onto dry land (Jonah 1:17, 2:20)." God rescues Jonah. The end.
Now there is nothing wrong with this version of the story of Jonah, and it helps to illustrate a core Biblical principle - God is our deliverer in times of trouble. However, I would submit to you that the story of Jonah is also a love story. But not the kind we often think of. It is a love story to a group of people we often overlook and aren't all that cracked up about God showing mercy to. It is a love story to our enemies. So who was Jonah's enemy?
"The Ninevites, residents of the capital of the Assyrian empire, were idolatrous and known for heinous acts of violence and cruelty. They were also the ones God had said would later overtake Israel. Considering Nineveh's reputation and it's relationship with Israel, it's no wonder Jonah struggled with God's command to go and preach judgement."(1) But Jonah does finally obey God’s call to go to Nineveh, all be it, kicking and screaming. Upon hearing God's message of judgment and destruction the people of Nineveh "believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth (Jonah 3:5)." When the message reaches the King of Nineveh, he instructs all of the people to "turn from their evil ways" in the hope that God might change his mind. God sees their changed hearts and how they "turned from their evil ways" and decides not to bring judgment upon them.
Now Jonah is a man of faith, but he is also full of anger towards God. His knowledge of God's word available at that time is second to none. He knew that God "was gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing (Jonah 4:2)." But he lacked one thing - Love. Lacking love, he refuses to submit to God's mercy and forgiveness for the enemy - Nineveh. With this, Jonah fails to understand and obey Jesus's higher standard of love, even love for our enemies and those who persecute us (see Matthew 5:44-48). Jonah would rather die than see God be merciful to his enemy, the Ninevites. How ironic is it that God shows mercy to Jonah, saving him in the belly of a fish, the same mercy that Jonah can't bear to extend to Nineveh?
Let's bring the story of Jonah and Jesus's words about "loving our enemies" a little closer to home. Here's a question - who is your Nineveh? Said another way, who is your enemy that God is calling you to love?
Maybe it is a difficult neighbor, a co-worker who rubs you the wrong way, or a family member who has hurt you? Or perhaps we need to expand our thinking a bit - maybe for you, it is a specific people group, or like Jonah, a whole nation?
Take some time this week to be silent before the Lord. Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to you who your enemy is and what it would look like for you to love your enemy as Jesus would.
Notes:
1) Quote from Life With God Study Bible, Profile, Jonah: Displeased with God’s Mercy, pg. 1,321
Recommended Reading
Sponsored
