He was angry about a plant. God was trying to teach him something about a city.
📖Based on Jonah 4:10
He had preached. They had repented.
One hundred and twenty thousand people.
And Jonah was furious.
He went east of the city and built himself a booth.
He sat in its shade and waited to see what would become of the city.
He was hoping they would fail at the repentance and God would destroy them after all.
God prepared a plant.
It grew overnight to shade his head.
Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.
The next day, a worm attacked the plant at dawn and it withered.
The sun rose and a scorching east wind blew.
The sun beat down on Jonah's head until he was faint.
He asked to die.
He said it was better for him to die than to live.
He said it about a plant.
God asked: Do you do well to be angry for the plant?
Jonah said: Yes. I do well to be angry. Angry enough to die.
And God said: You pity the plant.
For which you did not labor. Which you did not make grow.
Which came in a night and perished in a night.
And should I not pity Nineveh?
That great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons.
The book ends there.
No response from Jonah recorded.
No resolution. No repentance. No acceptance.
Just the question hanging in the scorching wind.
You cared about a plant.
Should I not care about people?
God asks.
The book closes.
And we are left inside the question with Jonah.
Scripture — Jonah 4:10
"Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night."
Reflection
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The book of Jonah ends with a question. We never hear Jonah's answer. We are meant to supply our own.
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God used a plant and a worm to explain compassion. He will use whatever fits in our hand.