Modern Parable of Jonah

Faith Comes By Hearing
by Beckie Stewart

What choice did he have?

His runaway attempt had landed him in the ocean's vilest place: three days in the digestive system of a great fish. Only then did Jonah reluctantly agree to obey the Lord.

Ninevah was now about a hundred more yards ahead. Jonah remained grumpy about his God-given assignment, yet quickened his pace as he approached the city. The sooner I get this over with, the sooner I can get out of this forsaken city, he thought.

After entering the city, he proclaimed continuously in the streets for the next twenty-four hours, "In forty days your city will be overtaken!"

As a new day approached, Jonah noticed hords of people flocking into the streets. They were dressed in sackcloth, weeping and shouting, "Dress in sackcloth. Seek forgiveness from the Lord."

"What are you doing?" he asked a young man passing by.

"The king has given his orders. He is hoping your God will not bring the punishment we deserve if we seek forgiveness," the young man answered.

"Well that just figures," Jonah said, tightening his lips and squinting his eyes. He stomped through the crowds to find a place away from their repenting.

Yes, indeed the Lord was once again faithful. He removed His coming judgment from the city of Ninevah because of their change of heart.

"I knew that you were going to do this, Lord," Jonah mumbled as he went east of the city and and sat under the hot sun. "Oh just let me die, Lord, for certainly death is better for me then living."

As he sat pouting, a plant miraculously grew around him. It provided protection from the sun and heat. Jonah leaned his head back. A smile slowly formed upon his face. He spent the night sleeping with a sense of peace that he had not had in quite some time.

As morning light beamed through cracks of the plant, Jonah awoke to the sound of chewing. The plant was infested with worms and collapsed around him. He darted from beneath the falling plant. His mouth to quickly dry up from the blazing heat and wind-blown sand that assaulted his face. He cried out to the Lord, "I told you I would be better dead then alive."

"Jonah, are you listening to yourself? You are more upset about this plant then the 120,000 lives that would have been lost in Ninevah yesterday."

Jonah placed his hand on his hip and rolled his eyes. "These people are so wicked. I told you when I was running to Tarshish that you would not destroy them if I came here. I knew if I told them about your coming judgment for their sin they would repent."

"Jonah, Jonah, Jonah. That is the point. It would have been nice if you had told these people with the right attitude, but despite your attitude, truth is still truth. You, my child, still need to understand the heart of true compassion. You took more pleasure in this plant, then the lives saved yesterday."

Jonah hung his head. He did not want to talk to the Lord anymore today. He moped away grumbling, "Why would the Lord use me to tell the good news to these people when he knew my heart was still not in the right place?"

But Jonah knew Ninevah had been saved because of the power of the message, not because of who the messenger had been.

Story: Jonah 1-4; Romans 10:17