Do You Have No Patience For Compassion?
I've been reading the book of Jonah lately. It's a short book in the Old Testament (OT) and probably one that people find too unbelievable. The part we focus on, because it is so fantastical, is how Jonah was swallowed by a fish big enough for him to survive in for three days. That seems unlikely. But let's look at the story.
Here we have a man who has been told by God to go to the wicked city of Nineveh and prophecy to them that their city will be overthrown because of their wickedness. Jonah knows God will relent if they repent, so he straight up says NOPE, and hops on a boat to Tarshish instead. Nineveh is somewhere in modern-day northern Syria, and Tarshish is somewhere in southern Spain. So, for perspective, he's trying to cross the entire length of the Mediterranean sea, which in his day meant heading as far away as possible, as quickly as possible. Of course, that's where a storm came and all the superstitious sailors were terrified, trying to figure out who has made their gods angry. Jonah is asleep, and when he wakes and finds out what's going on, he tells them this is all his fault because he's disobeying his god. "Throw me overboard," he says. They don't really want to, but out of sheer desperation, they throw him overboard asking forgiveness from Jonah's god as they do. We find out the storm almost immediately calms down and everyone in the boat basically become believers in Jonah's god. That's where it get's weird: Jonah is swallowed by a huge fish, decides to honor his promise to God, survives for three days, and is re-routed back to land where he is spit out by the fish, and can now go to Nineveh. That's where most people get stuck.
I'm now imagining a newly bald dude with a few scars from stomach acid burns coming out of the water and walking in the dry Middle Eastern landscape--quite miserable, not to mention the salty sea water dries the skin. But anyway, (now I'm getting stuck) he eventually makes it to Nineveh, walks to the center (It's such a huge city that it takes him three days just to walk to the center from the outside), and he starts declaring the imminent overthrow of the city. I'm sure people did not mind some crazy guy yelling in the streets... The king gets wind of this and--by a miracle--believes what Jonah is saying He. surmises that maybe if they repent, Jonah's god will have mercy on them. So, they do, and the whole city turns to God and they turn from their violence, and they aren't overthrown. Yay!
You'd think that's the end, but it's not. There's just a bit more to the story; Jonah is mad! He basically tells God, "I knew it! I knew you were a compassionate God! Just kill me now." All God says to him is, "Is it right for you to be mad?" Jonah's so upset, he sulks in the desert just outside the border, where God tries to take care of him by growing a shade plant next to him, giving him some relief. When the plant dies, Jonah launches back into a sulk, says he wants to die again like this plant, and God basically replies, "You sure it's right to be mad about this plant? And shouldn't I care about the people and animals of Nineveh more than you care about this plant?" And it just ends there. This little epilogue gave me a chuckle.
Nineveh was an enemy to Israel, and they were a brutal kind of people. They would skin their enemies, and hang the skins as a warning. Being skinned is a particular offense to the Jewish people, who value proper burial in which the body remains intact. But also, in general, it's just gruesome and horrifying and dehumanizing. You can imagine Jonah's prejudice against them. It's fairly clear he felt they didn't deserve even the chance at salvation, since he'd rather throw himself off of a boat than give them that. But God knew the Ninevites would actually listen. God does not play favorites, and he is a very forgiving God. So he wouldn't let Jonah die like that.
I can't help but feel that many people in my own context are just like Jonah. A lot of people these days just don't have the patience for God's compassion (or any compassion) for the people they hate. It's hard to have compassion on someone you see as "the problem with this country." It's even harder to go on social media without being ticked off by someone's passed-around inflammatory post. Many of us have no problem posting our opinions on social media, completely unaware of the damage this is doing to our relationships and reputations... I can't tell you how many posts I've seen from both liberals and conservatives expressing why they feel justified in ending friendships and relationships. Both sides consider themselves to have the absolute moral high-ground, and are blind to how deep their prejudices against each other have become. And neither side has any actual clue what the other side believes. They have caricatures of the worst possible version of the other side to the point they can't possibly understand why anyone in their right mind would think that way... This is tribalism at it's finest.
But, I digress... our squabbles are mere trifles compared to the Ninevites, who were truly wicked and murderous as a culture. I suppose the closest thing we have to them is modern-day terrorists like ISIS (or ISIL), who display their violence for the world to see, and unironically hail from the same geographical region. We don't even have a grid for the barbarism they practice. But think about it: God had compassion on the Ninevites. He knew the time was right. He sent a prophet into that violent city, knowing this is exactly what would get their attention and stop their violence. And whether or not you think Jonah was actually swallowed by a fish, it's still significant because it teaches us about the character of God. He is compassionate towards violent people, and he is patient with stubborn people. No one is beyond the love of God. And this is the God we worship.
This kind of compassion is displayed all throughout the Bible, and is best exemplified in Jesus Christ. He is compassion incarnate. He never allowed himself to be caught in moral arguments, and never condemned people who were being accused of immorality. He never judged people, and always accepted them as they were. He didn't let rumors color his judgment of other people, and didn't let that stop him from interacting with the "bad" ones. Of course, he didn't condone immorality: he preached an impossibly high moral standard. But he certainly wasn't intimidated by the moral leaders who argued with him. In fact, the moralizers were the people he was most angry with: those who judged and condemned others, blind to their own self-righteous pride.
Listen, it's easy to offer compassion to the compassionate. It's hard to extend compassion to the "idiots" who "ruin everything." If you've met Christians who don't emulate this selfless compassion, it can be easy to judge them... It's easy to think they don't really know God. But maybe they're just like you and me: people tempted into selfishness and tribalism at times in their lives. Of course, having understanding towards people doesn't mean you accept their behavior as good. But it helps us have more compassion when we understand people.
Ultimately as Christians, our compassion comes from God. When we feel like we are at the end of our limits, thankfully there is a deep well we can draw from. And, listen, if we're like Jonah, unable to accept God's compassion (or unable to be compassionate) towards others, well, God has patience with us too. He simply asks us, "Is it right for you to be mad?"
Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on Unsplash
