5 Jonah had gone out
and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat
in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then
the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give
shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the
plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed
the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a
scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint.
He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
9 But God said to
Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”
10 But the Lord
said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or
make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And
should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are
more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand
from their left—and also many animals?”
-Jonah 4:5-11
Many of us have heard the story
of Jonah, whether it be through the Old Testament book or the Veggie Tales
movie. If you haven’t the story is simple: Jonah was told to go preach
repentance to the Assyrian city of Nineveh, he disobeys, tries to flee, gets
swallowed by a big fish, prays and gets spit out on the shore, goes and
preaches, and then sits on a hill to watch God not bring calamity upon the
city. But here are three errors Jonah made that we can apply to our society and
how to interact with culture.
1. Jonah separated himself. In Jonah 4:5 we see that Jonah goes and
separates himself from people and culture in order to watch the Lord bring
judgment upon Nineveh, which didn’t happen. To add to things, he built for
himself a shelter there. How does this apply to ourselves? Do you ever notice
that there are people in society who elevate themselves and then justify
themselves with arguments that people could easily poke holes into? This is
similar to Jonah building a shelter. He separated himself from society and then
built a shelter in order to make his separation feel better. But notice in
verse 6 that God provides a plant to ease his discomfort. Though Jonah built a
shelter, he was still uncomfortable. But sometimes, God leads us to a place
where he affirms and comforts us in our separation. This might include people
in our lives who are supporting us. Does that mean that God approves of our
separation? No because we see the plant die. By God’s authority we see that the
plant dies, and once the plant dies, Jonah is once again vulnerable to the
heat. In our separation, in our elevation of ourselves, we will get heat. There
might be times where God supports us in circumstances of our separation, but
remember that God is for His own glory, and in that, He will also expose us to
the heat if that’s what it takes for Him to receive the glory.
2. Jonah expected something that was contradictory to God’s nature. In
Jonah’s separation, he was left alone to form his own thoughts about God. This
is one of the many dangers of not involving yourself in community and the Word.
By separating yourself, you become subject to your own perceptions, when we as
believers should form our convictions against what the Word says, and then
apply what we believe through experience and community. You are not subject to
any of that through separation. Involve yourself in community and God’s word
and find out more of God’s nature.
3. Jonah had no personal investment in the people of Nineveh. When the
vine disappeared, Jonah was angry because he was only concerned about what the
vine provided for him in the moment. Jonah did not grieve because he was not
personally invested in the vine itself. Now this related with his relationship
with Nineveh. He wasn’t personally invested in Nineveh. He only justified
himself and his sins by passing judgment on the people. He wasn’t invested in
Nineveh because he would have rejoiced in the compassion of the Lord. There is
a great danger to this. We cannot believe that the Word of God applies to us in
one way and then to another in another way. We cannot separate ourselves to this degree.
Overall point: Do not separate yourself from culture, but
rather engage it. As believers, we are distinct, but this distinction does
not call us to elevate ourselves and pass judgment on people like some
believers I see in the media. It calls us to go out into the world, preach the
Gospel, and represent the change that the Gospel is suppose to bring about in
our life. By drawing our self out of the world, we bear no fruit, and it is the
branch that has no fruit that is more apt for the fire.
We see with Jonah that it is a
lot more work to elevate yourself because then you have to justify yourself,
come up with things for yourself, and have no outlet for you to pour out.
Remember, Jonah would have had a much better time if he chose to stay within
Nineveh and rejoice in the repentance of the people. But instead he chose to
separate himself. As Christians, we need to be relational people in order to
learn of God’s true nature and apply what He wants of us in this world.
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