Sunday Morning Meditation: Too Much Mercy? Jonah 4:1-4
Jonah 4:1-4 – “Too Much Mercy?”
But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”
Sometimes, it seems, God is too merciful. Its one thing to relieve the suffering of those who are sick, or injured, or suffering unjustly, but what about those who are lazy or wicked? Aren’t we sending the wrong message when we extend a helping hand to those who seem to refuse to work, acknowledge God, or do what is right?
This is Jonah’s problem exactly. God sent him to the Assyrians – a wicked and morally depraved people – with a message of repentance, and Job, knowing full well the abundance of God’s mercy, does everything he can to avoid bringing that message of hope. Why? Because he knows God will forgive them completely, and Jonah has decided they don’t deserve God’s mercy.
We have a problem with genuine mercy. We’d much prefer people earn our alms, if not through their efforts then at least through their overwhelming gratitude. But sometimes, our hardness runs even deeper. Sometimes we have simply judged certain people to be beyond the privilege of mercy. We all do. What is it for you? Perhaps its people who seem lazy or ungrateful, or wear certain clothes or have certain jobs, or have no jobs at all; perhaps its people who have committed a certain kind of crime; or perhaps its people of a certain religion.
Our problem is that we often come to believe that mercy is the privilege of certain kinds of people, but, in fact, mercy is God’s privilege alone and He extends mercy to whomever He pleases. Just as He said to Moses “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” (Ex 33:19)
By displaying his anger in the sight of the repentant Assyrians, Jonah reveals not only his judgment of the Assyrians, but ultimately his judgment of God. Jonah simply believes he knows best who should and who should not be granted mercy. Like Jonah our problem is that we often judge God.
Its no surprise then that God responds by challenging Jonah’s anger. Our response to the mercy of God should always be rejoicing, for mercy is never the vindication of peoples sins, rather it is the demonstration of God’s power and glory at work in the world in spite of sin.
