Are You Displeased?

At first glance, we might be impressed with Jonah’s obedience; after all, Nineveh was a city full of evil and enemies of God’s people. God knew, however, that the Ninevites were ripe for repentance. Indeed, after hearing Jonah’s message, they experienced a revival, led by their king who was grieved over the sin of the people. God accomplished this despite the less than enthusiastic call from Jonah for repentance! After seeing that the Lord would relent of the disaster he had planned for this city, it “displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry” (4.1).

Jesus faced a similar attitude from the religious leaders of his day. The Pharisees could not believe that Jesus would eat with dirty, defiled sinners. And they reacted just as Jonah did when God showed compassion on Nineveh. Jesus responded to the Pharisees as God had to Jonah centuries before: "Should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left?" (4.11)

Are we guilty of Jonah’s attitude as well? We might not say it, but do we think, "Should the church be spending so much time and effort on the poor, the addicted, the criminals, and the 'tax collectors' of our society? Yes, Jesus saves, but those people?"

Are we displeased when God sends us to the lost? Should we not rather adopt the attitude of the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 1.15, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost”?