Jonah 4:6-11
6 The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” 10 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 and perished in a night. 11 And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”

Reflection:
My little sister was a professional temper-tantrum thrower. She would scream for all the neighbors to hear, would throw herself on the ground, not caring who was watching or where she landed. This girl was going to have her way at any cost, even if she had to break an arm in the process (thankfully no one was ever injured). I, on the other hand, had absolutely no backbone and was usually too scared to test my parents. Until, one day, after a couple of years of observing my sister’s persuasive tactics, I thought I would give it a go when my mother told me something I didn’t like hearing. Ever the cautious child, I slowly lowered myself to the floor, frowned, and made a singular kick with one of my legs. Mom laughed and said, “You’re gonna have to try harder than that.” I never tried it again. 

In this passage, we catch Jonah at the tail-end of a major temper-tantrum that began after an overwhelmingly successful prophetic mission to the Ninevites. Somehow, Jonah’s timeout in the belly of the whale didn’t quite stick. So what was the fuss all about? Here’s what Jonah says after Nineveh repents:

“That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Jonah is absolutely furious at God for showing grace to the Ninevites. In fact, he’s so furious that he begs for death. That doesn’t make sense. Why would Jonah be so angry over God’s forgiveness of a penitent nation? Nineveh was an Assyrian nation, the same nation that plundered and pillaged the northern kingdom of Israel and forced them into exile. God called Jonah not only to prophesy to a lawless nation; God called him to prophesy to a sworn enemy. And it worked.

So as Jonah pouts in the blazing heat of the sun, God appoints a bush for shade, and Jonah is happy for the first and only time in this book’s entirety. However, just as the Lord gives, the Lord takes. God kills the bush, intensifies the heat, and Jonah quickly angers and begs for his death. But God has the last word: God creates. God sustains. And God redeems. God has the full picture—not us.

There is a reason that temper tantrums didn’t get us anywhere when we were kids. Our clouded judgment made it nearly impossible to differentiate between what we wanted and what was good. Through the rise and fall of a simple, insignificant bush, we are taught how limited our perspectives really are, especially when it comes to understanding the complexity of other human beings. We occasionally see their actions and decide who is good, who is bad, and who is worthy of redemption. Sometimes, like Jonah, we even get angry when we see someone who has caused us harm repents, bringing the genuine heart-change that leads to true justice. Anger, resentment, and grief—justified though they may be—cloud our vision and block from our view of the image of God that exists within these complicated, complex human beings. But thanks be to God that the one with the full picture has the final say. God’s grace does not play by our rules, and what a gift that is!

Closing Prayer:
Gracious and loving God, You see the full picture. You created the full picture. You love the full picture. We confess that we are often too hurt to see and love others the way you see and love them. Heal us, God. Where there is resentment, give us tenderness. Remind us that soft hearts are not weak hearts. We offer this prayer in your Son’s name. Amen.