Of Jonah and Playing Fair

If you have never done so, go read the book of Jonah.  It's four chapters long (about two pages).  And it's fun.  I'm giving a darker reading.  For a different reading (and a funnier tone that highlights more of the complexity of Jonah's text, see Megan Castellan's wonderful sermon).

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We had begun our Sunday school lesson on Jonah

But we ended up on Susan.*

Susan never played fair.

And as we ended 

I asked usual my question about

for whom and for what we should pray.

The seven year old boy said to me. “I want to pray that Brooke would die,”

 “I don’t think we should pray that,” I replied,

“Maybe we can pray that she learn to play fairly.”

“No,” he said, “If she were to be nicer to me, I would not be able to forgive myself.”

What the boy meant was, if Susan started to be nice to him,

He would feel guilty about wanting her to die.

He knew he should not dislike her,

But as long as she was not nice to him,

He could feel better about not liking her back.

The seven year old boy does not fully realize it,

but he gets the story of Jonah.

At least, he is in Jonah's shoes.

Jonah was called by God to warn Nineveh of their impending doom.

Jonah ran away from this call

Not because of anything so mundane as laziness

Or mere disobedience,

But because he knew there was a chance

The Ninevens could change.

And Jonah knew God was too merciful for his own liking.**

Perhaps that is why God specifically chose Jonah.

God uses Jonah to prove a point to us.

Our standard of forgiveness is finite

And forgiveness can hurt;

To the point where we would ask for death instead.***

And we should forgive anyway.

*Not her real name, and she wasn't in the room.

** Jonah 4:1-3

***Jonah 4:3, 8, 9.