Thursday after Quasimodogeniti

Scripture: Jonah 4:1-11 (NKJV)

4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. 2 So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”

4 Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

5 So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. 6 And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. 7 But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. 8 And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!”

10 But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?

Devotion

“Then the Lord said, ‘Is it right for you to be angry’?”

Jonah had a problem. He had prophesied destruction on Nineveh, but the people repented, and the destruction did not happen. Hear his own words: “I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness…. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me!” Jonah had never really wanted to go to Nineveh. He didn’t want to preach the Gospel to them; and he didn’t want them to be saved. Now they were, and he was so angry about it that he wishes death on himself. God’s final words to him are, “Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons…?”

Did Jonah ever get over himself and learn to care about all those people? We do not really know. Why not? Because that is not the question. The question is, “Will you?” We are all tempted to be very egocentric. Repent of that. The Lord has saved us by the blood of Jesus and laid a world full of people before us who need that salvation every bit as much as we do. God grant us not only to live in the joy of Easter, but to speak those joys to others who do not yet know them.

We pray: Lord Jesus Christ, we give You thanks that You pitied us and gave Yourself over to death and resurrection for our salvation. Fill our hearts with such gratitude that we in turn pity others, and so speak of Your saving mercies to them. Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.