“God Loves the World!”
Jonah is a very famous character in the Bible. Most people knew the big fish ate Jonah and it spewed him out upon the dry land. Why? The reason is very clear. Jonah had an opposing view from God’s command. So Jonah was eaten by a big fish and stayed in fish’s stomach for three days. After Jonah came out from the fish’s stomach, he went to Nineveh which God commanded him to go to warn Nineveh. Jonah hated to do that, because Nineveh was an enemy, but he followed God’s command. Jonah became angry.
What happened? God planned to destroy Nineveh, so God sent Jonah to warn them. Jonah proclaimed God’s will in a very small voice, because Jonah did not want God to forgive Nineveh. But there was a miracle, Jonah warned in a small voice, but Nineveh’s king and all the people changed their attitude and they repented their sins. God forgave them and did not destroy Nineveh. This was a different result than what Jonah wanted.
Jonah was very angry with God, but he said God was merciful, slow to anger, and steadfast love. Jonah prayed to God with an opposite view than his mind. Jonah complained to God in a sarcastic manner. And Jonah said “And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” (NRSV)
Why did Jonah want to die? Why didn’t Jonah stop his anger, because he thought God was unjust. God loved his enemy. God forgave his enemy. God stopped to destroy his enemy. God was unfair in this case. God’s decision was so different than Jonah’s. God’s decision is different than Humans. God wants us to know God loves everyone even if one is an enemy of yours. Also, God wants us to love each other in God’s grace.
God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
Many times we make our own decision first, and expect God to follow our decision. BUT, it is the wrong desire. We need to follow God’s will first, not our own greed. Please, never change this order. God doesn’t evaluate us by our outside, God sees our inside. No one can lie to God, because God knows everything in us. We need to follow God’s will with all our heart honestly, but our weakness is we still want our enemy to be destroyed. God’s decision was forgiveness to Nineveh, so Nineveh avoided destruction, but Jonah waited to still see Nineveh’s destruction.
God appointed a bush to give shade over Jonah’s head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. Jonah was angry again.(NRSV)
God wants to let us know how God loves all God’s creations; Trees, flowers, rivers, mountains, grass, birds, animals, and humans. God’s goal to warn is not destruction, but God wants to give us peace, love, reconciliation, recovery, and liberation. Even if God punishes people, God still wants to see our returning and recovery.
God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” Then the Lord said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night nad perished in a night (NRSV)
God said that you love only things, which give you benefits. You only are concerned and ask for your taste, but, God wants to let us know that God loves all God’s creatures. If we really want to follow God’s will then we need not to love only our preferred person or loved ones, but also we need to love each other even if their characters or shapes are different than our expectations. This is a very hard thing to do. We cannot do this, because humans are not perfect. We always make mistakes or follow our own greed. Many times we fall down by Satan’s temptation. God can’t leave us alone, so God has come to us as promised. God’s promise was Jesus Christ. Jesus became the friend of the weak. Jesus died for us following God’s promise. And Jesus became a savior of the World, even if humans betrayed him completely. God’s love is unlimited Love. Jesus died for us even if people betrayed him. Jesus never gave up loving us, because he is our God. We cannot give unlimited love to anyone, but we can love others who are against us in the name of Jesus Christ, because JESUS LOVES US!
