The Idol of Our Justice

As I lay awake last night (for some reason I woke up at around 3 am), my thoughts drifted to Jonah and how he had similarities to the older brother in the Prodigal Son story.  In fact Jonah represented both brothers in the Prodigal Son story in some ways, but his attitude in chapter four is remarkable.  I’m sure this was on my mind from hearing the final message in a sermon series on Jonah from Chip Henderson at Pinelake Church in Starkville (http://pinelake.org/media-resources/sermons/series/jonah/).

Jonah ran from God, got swallowed by a fish, got threw-up onto a beach, then went to Nineveh and preached and the city turned to God.  After all of that, Jonah says to God in 4:2-3, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home?  That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish.  I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.   Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”  Why?  Why would it be better for him to die than to live?  It had taken him awhile, but he did exactly what God told him to do.  Yet, he was not satisfied.

Several reasons for this are offered by others:

1. The people of Nineveh are the enemies of his people and he would be held in contempt by his own people.  He might be viewed as a traitor.  
2. He didn’t like those people in Nineveh and didn’t want to see them succeed at anything.  He especially didn’t want to see them avoid God’s judgment.  He was racist against those that were not Israelite and prejudiced against their actions.  
3. He could have been scared, although the Bible doesn’t mention fear.  The modern city of Mosul, Iraq is believed to be the site of Nineveh.  Perhaps then it was full of radical Muslim jihads then too.  What if you were told by God to go to Mosul, Iraq today and preach to them.  Mosul is in the middle of a violent fight today between ISIS and the Iraqi Army.  Would you go? 

These seem valid, but I wonder if it wasn’t something deeper.  The Assyrians who lived in Nineveh had undoubtedly done violent and wicked things.  They were so bad that God had limited the number of days that He would withhold His judgment.  Jonah’s message was their last time to turn to Him.  The Israelites were God’s chosen people and they were trying to follow God’s law.  Similarly, the younger brother in the Prodigal Son story left home and did wicked things and wasted all of the resources he had taken.  The older son stayed at home and did what his Father asked.

Yet, when Nineveh turns to God and when the younger brother returns home, both Jonah and the older brother have serious internal problems with it.  This deeper issue is an issue of their perceived justice.  Jonah wanted these terrible people to burn and the city to be wiped away.  The older brother wanted the younger brother to starve and feed pigs.  They both earned their position and should have to deal with the consequences.  That’s man’s justice.  If my own soul was left to man’s justice, I’d split hell wide open, all of us would.

God’s justice is bound by His character which is framed with mercy, grace, and love.  He gives us what we do not deserve and He doesn’t give us what we do deserve.  The death of Jesus creating a way to God overcoming our sin is not what we deserve, yet God’s character required it. 

The inability to accept God’s position regarding who repents and turns to God is idolatry.  Jonah and the older brother both worshiped their version of justice more than God’s decision.  We must be careful to always look to the miracle of repentance in the heart of men more than what we think their consequence should be.  God will not waste any single opportunity in time for anyone to see Him and repent acknowledging He is the one true living God.