Tuesday
Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go all through it. Jonah started into the city, going a day’s journey, and he proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be destroyed.” The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. . . .
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. . . .
Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”
“I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.”
But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”
(Jonah 3:3-5, 3:10, 4:5-11, NIV)
The story of Jonah’s argument with the Lord concerning God’s forgiveness of the sins of the people of Nineveh is one of the most famous in Scripture. The entire book, which is less than 50 verses long, records the story of Jonah’s anger over the Lord’s loving concern for Nineveh, an enemy of Israel. Jonah did not want God’s special relationship with Israel to be extended to Israel’s neighbor and he fled to Tarshish which was at the opposite end of the Mediterranean Sea from Nineveh.
Today’s verses record Jonah’s anger at God after the Lord does what Jonah knew he would do: “He had compassion and did not bring upon them [the Ninevites] the destruction he had threatened” (3:10). Jonah’s angry exchange with God, an exchange in which Jonah asks the Lord to take his life, contains a fascinating detail. In the last verse of Jonah, God’s deep love and compassion is recorded, the compassion of a father for his lost children. But then it notes that God also cares about “many cattle as well.” The Lord of history, the Creator God, has compassion on the great city of Nineveh because of its people and its animals. This special care for animals reminds us of the story of Noah and the ark. Shalom with nature, a nature rich in fish, birds and animals, reflects the heart of God and the breadth of his promised restoration of all of creation.
Prayer
Creator God, we rejoice in the story of your special care for animals as well as for people. In the Book of Jonah we see your heart of compassion and love for all of creation. Through your Holy Spirit, give us the same love for your creation in all its fullness. Amen.