Loving the ones you hate

Thanks for joining us this Sunday as we worship, and hear the Word brought by Pastor Mark Lutcher as He continues the Jonah Series.

“It’s better to admit you walked through the wrong door than to spend your life in the wrong room.”

Jonah heard God’s command to go to Nineveh and preach against its sin, but his heart was hard toward the people who lived there. Instead of obeying, Jonah traveled in the opposite direction and ended up in danger. It took a violent storm, a group of pagan sailors, a descent into the sea, and a great fish swallowing him before Jonah finally began to pray his way out of the mess he had created.

Jonah 2:10 says, “Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.” Jonah had finally arrived where God wanted him to be in the first place. His fearful assignment had not changed, but Jonah was beginning to learn that running from God was far more frightening than obeying Him.

As the story continues, the focus begins to shift. Until this point, we have watched Jonah’s heart toward God. Now, God begins exposing Jonah’s heart toward Nineveh. This city was Jonah’s specifically chosen classroom. Its people were the students, God had provided the message, and Jonah was about to learn a very personal lesson. God’s classroom would shine light into the darkest corners of Jonah’s heart so that both Nineveh and the reluctant messenger could be saved.

The darkness in Jonah’s heart was revealed through his attitude toward people he considered unlovely. That description came from Jonah, not from God. It raises a difficult question for us: Do we have people we have labeled unlovely, undeserving, or beyond hope? If so, what is the posture of our hearts toward them?

In Jonah 3, God spoke to Jonah a second time and told him to get up, go to Nineveh, and deliver the message he had been given. This time, Jonah obeyed. He entered the city and warned the people that Nineveh would be destroyed in forty days. Their response was immediate and astonishing. The people believed God, declared a fast, and put on burlap as an expression of sorrow and repentance.

When the king heard Jonah’s warning, he stepped down from his throne, removed his royal robes, dressed in burlap, and sat in ashes. The leader of a mighty empire chose to go low before God. Leaders can sometimes lead their people into sin by allowing it, ignoring it, or participating in it. This king, however, humbled himself when that sin was exposed. Every one of us is in our rightful place when we are on our knees, seeking God’s forgiveness.

The king called everyone in Nineveh to pray earnestly, turn from evil, and stop their violence. Jonah 3:10 tells us that when God saw what they had done and how they had turned from their evil ways, He did not carry out the destruction He had threatened. Nineveh responded correctly to its sin, and God responded with mercy.

But how would Jonah respond when the evil people he despised received forgiveness?

Jonah did not celebrate their repentance. He became angry. He complained to God because God had acted exactly as Jonah knew He would. Jonah said, “I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people.” Jonah understood God’s character, but he resented seeing that character extended to Nineveh.

That is the danger of a religious spirit. It can speak hateful words while quoting Scripture. It becomes consumed with behavior, rules, traditions, and outward appearances while ignoring the condition of the heart. Most of all, it ignores love.

Jonah became so angry that he said he would rather die than watch Nineveh receive mercy. He left the city, built a shelter, and waited to see what would happen. At this point, we may feel ready to give up on Jonah. But if we decide we are finished with him, we begin displaying the same heart Jonah had toward Nineveh. As followers of Jesus, we can never simply be “done” with people.

Even in Jonah’s anger, God continued giving him grace. God caused a leafy plant to grow over Jonah and provide shade from the scorching sun. Jonah was grateful for the relief, but the following morning God sent a worm to destroy the plant. Then He sent a scorching east wind. Jonah once again became angry enough to wish for death.

God was performing surgery on Jonah’s heart. Jonah loved the mercy God showed him, but hated the mercy God showed others. He cared deeply about the loss of a plant that had made him comfortable, yet he felt no compassion for more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness.

God allowed Jonah to walk away, sit in his anger, and be led by his feelings, but He would not allow Jonah to remain comfortable in his sin. Some of Jonah’s discomfort came from his own choices, and some of it came from God’s correction. The Lord loved Jonah too much to leave the darkness in his heart unchallenged.

We must be careful not to become people who gladly receive grace while refusing to extend it. God pours mercy into our lives day after day, and He calls us to offer that same mercy to others day after day. His classrooms contain abundant grace, but they also contain lessons. Sometimes those lessons uncover attitudes, prejudices, and resentments we would rather leave hidden.

Religious groups often hold to high standards such as love, kindness, justice, and acceptance. Yet the same standards that unite people inside a group can be used to shut out those on the outside. Jonah’s hatred of the Ninevites reminds us that ethnic hostility, prejudice, and self-righteousness are not new problems. God’s mercy confronts every boundary we build around the people we believe deserve His love.

The book of Jonah ends with God asking a question: If Jonah could care so much about a plant, shouldn’t God care about an entire city filled with spiritually lost people? We are never told how Jonah answered. After Jonah 4:11, we never hear from him again.

Perhaps the story ends with a question because that question is now ours to answer. Will we love only those we consider lovable, or will our hearts reflect the mercy of God? Will we sit comfortably in judgment, or will we rejoice when lost people repent and are saved? God’s mercy is not reserved for people who look like us, think like us, or have lived like us. It reaches into every dark place, including the dark corners of our own hearts.