I read Jonah last night for the first time in a while, and I forgot how amazing it was. The whole book is about grace and how God willfully gives it to all. Yes Jonah got eaten by a fish and yes this might be an allegory for Jesus (Matt. 12:39-40), but the heart of it is that Salvation is God’s and he offers it to all because of his great love. I love how it ends too. Jonah is mad at God because he spared Israel’s enemy the Ninevites (Assyrians), and so he goes outside the city and proclaims he wishes to die. God causes a plant to grow and some shade to cover Jonah’s head and the following day, he causes the plant to be withered, leaving Jonah open to the elements. Jonah is furious that the plant has died and has a conversation with God that ends the book like this:
But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And 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, and also much cattle?”
Simply put, this shows God’s love for all people, and I think that’s something we all need to hear.
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