Right to be angry?

Scripture: Jonah 3-4, selected verses

 

Preached 01/25/2015

 

Imagine this with me.  Some of you might not have to work so hard at imagining.  You’re driving your car, riding your bike, or walking and there is this car that’s annoying you.  Maybe they’re driving a little too fast or a little too slow.  Maybe they kind of cut you off or got a bit too close, or splashed you with a puddle.  Or, and I’ll admit these are the ones that drive me nuts- they didn’t stop all the way at a stop sign or forgot to use their turn signal.  And then there are the bumper stickers, for the wrong political party, for that candidate you just can’t stand, for the Cubs even. 

There you are, gentle, mild-mannered you who has never yelled at another driver inside the safety of your own vehicle and who always waves at the person who cut you off with all five fingers, and for some reason this particular car is just driving you crazy.  And then it happens.  You hear the siren chirp, see the red and blue lights flash and after the split second of panic in which you think you are going to get pulled over ends, you see the police car pull over the car that so annoyed you, and let’s be honest your heart just about leaps out of your chest with joy, because they are going down and justice will be served.  Take that mediocre driver!  And go Cards!

But wait- what’s that you see happening?  You have to stay with me and just imagine that somehow you get to watch this whole thing unfold, okay?  Just go with it.  You’re stopped at a light or something.  So the police officer gets out of the car, and they’re smiling.  You see them talk to the driver of that car you don’t like, and wait, what, they’re not writing a ticket!  You see them say a few words to the driver, and then they give the driver a friendly wave, and then get back in their car and watch that driver pull away. And you are mad.  How could they not have gotten a ticket?  How could the officer have been okay with them liking the Cubs?  Why was justice not served?

Now you know the roller coaster of emotions that Jonah has been on.  Jonah, the reluctant prophet as he’s often called, has been on quite the adventure.  If you remember from the reading a few minutes ago, we pick up in the middle of Jonah’s story.  We started with Jonah hearing God telling him to go to Nineveh again, for the second time.  The first time God told Jonah this Jonah promptly got up and boarded a boat going in the opposite direction only for that ship to come into a huge storm, then to be thrown overboard at his request to stop the storm, his life saved by that big fish we remember swallowing him, and spit out again.  This is where we pick up, with Jonah fresh from the fish’s mouth- well, probably wet, sticky and smelly from the fish’s mouth actually- but out of the fish’s mouth and finally ready to listen to God. 

Jonah clearly had no desire to go to Nineveh, going through all that to avoid it.  Ninevites were not exactly the violent enemy of Jonah’s people, but they were looked down upon.  Nineveh was a trading port, and had the kind of reputation that goes with sailors on leave- a rough, crude, sinful bunch.  They were definitely disliked, despised even.  It’s not surprising Jonah didn’t want to go there- imagine the worst of Las Vegas and Detroit mixed together, then make them all Cubs fans from the wrong political party and you’ve got the right idea the feeling he’d have about rubbing elbows with the likes of them.

And yet, given a second chance by God to proclaim a message to them, Jonah finally goes to proclaim God’s message for Nineveh.  Remember that feeling you imagined yourself having when the police car started pulling over that car you really didn’t like?  This is how Jonah likely felt when God gave him the message of destruction to proclaim.  Do you remember his big prophetic message?  Most prophets have chapters and chapters to say, but Jonah has just one sentence.  “40 days more and Nineveh will be overthrown.” That’s right- those people he doesn’t like are going to get it.  God’s going to smite them, and there’s going to be fire and brimstone and all kinds of destruction because clearly they deserve it. 

But then of course, in that cop giving the driver a friendly wave and no ticket moment, the destruction doesn’t happen.  God sees the Ninevites change their ways, even though they were given no reason to hope for any good out of doing it.  God sees them mourn in sack cloth and ashes.  And, as we heard, God changes God’s mind about the destruction, and doesn’t do it.  This would be the moment you realized the other driver wasn’t getting a ticket.

Jonah is disappointed.  Jonah is angry.  And Jonah is pouting.  I suppose this would be as if you got a chance to talk to the police officer and talk to her about the annoying car not getting the ticket.  So Jonah is pouting to God about having to come to Nineveh in the first place, saying he’s so upset that God might as well just kill him now.  And, in what would be a pretty quality parenting move, God ignores Jonah’s whining and gets right to the heart of what’s going on with him.  “Is it right for you to be angry?” God asks.

Jonah is angry about God’s mercy here.  That God changed God’s mind to be more merciful, more loving than God had previously planned- just so you know, this is the only way we ever have God changing God’s mind- to be more merciful and more loving.  And Jonah is mad about this mercy because it offends his sense of justice.  They Ninevites had been wicked and they deserve to be punished.

Let’s be honest here- this kind of thing offends our sense of justice too.  The annoying driver deserves to get a ticket.  Not the kindness of a police officer- their punishment.  And there are so many other examples we could point to in real life- people who we think don’t deserve God’s love and mercy.  But here’s the thing about that.  No one actually deserves God’s unending love and mercy.  And yet, as Jonah reminds us, God gives them out freely, recklessly, expansively.  God breaks right past our ideas of right and wrong and us and them and just showers the earth with mercy and love.

Even to those people we don’t like, our own modern day Ninevites.  Yeah, Cubs fans and the other political party are easy ones to point at.  But there are a lot more.  Maybe for you the people you like to label “other” or “them” are the Ferguson protestors.  But God loves them, and God is merciful to them for their failings.  Or maybe it’s the Ferguson police.  But God loves them and is merciful to them in their failings.  Maybe it’s a friend, family member, or neighbor who has wronged you.  God loves them, and is merciful to them in their failings.  Maybe it’s the Westboro Baptist Church, because we know they are wrong about their hate filled theology.  But God is still able to love them and be merciful to them.  Or maybe it’s North Korea or Iran, the Pro-Choicers or the Anti-Abortionists, the liberals or the conservatives, the rich or the poor- God loves them, and is merciful to them in their failings.

Because remember what happened when God came to earth as a human being?  We humans got afraid and tortured and killed God.  And yet, God loved us and was merciful to us.  Instead of destruction, God gave us life.  And this is what God does.  And yes, it may offend our sense of justice but God’s justice is so much bigger and so much better than anything we come up with, and it’s all about God’s love and God’s mercy. 

Now, if this is sitting a little uncomfortably with you, let me make a guess.  You are not a perfect driver.  You are not a perfect person.  You have at times gone over the speed limit, jay walked, let someone down, neglected an obligation, or just been annoying because you were having a rough day and felt like it.  You have messed up.  You have been wrong.  And you know what?  God has been merciful to you.  Just like she was with Jonah, who ran away and did a half-hearted job with his prophetic duties, then pouted about it all.  God has been merciful with you over and over and over, and responded with more mercy than you deserve.

So friends, the question is the same for you as it is for Jonah- is it right for you to be angry?  At that driver, that sports team, that politician, that country, “those” people whoever “they” happen to be, when bad things don’t happen to them, and good things do instead?  Well, Jonah and God never directly answer the question in scripture, and I’m not going to put words in either of their mouths. 

But I do have a suggestion.  If you’re going to attempt to imitate someone from this scripture reading this morning, don’t imitate Jonah with his pouting, his anger, and his insistence on his own definition of justice.  I’d go with imitating God here- when that driver really gets to you, that politician has your blood boiling, or “those” people are driving you absolutely nuts, don’t respond with judgment.  Instead, show mercy.  Show love.  Forgive any faults you think you might see because you know you have received mercy upon mercy, love upon love, and forgiveness upon forgiveness.  So go and do likewise, and see what kind of transformation takes place in your life.  Amen.