Jonah wanted to watch what happened to Nineveh. He went out to a vantage point and made himself a shelter to protect himself from the sun while he boiled with rage at God’s mercy. A large, leafy plant grew quickly and sheltered him adding to the comfort of his viewing platform. Then a worm chewed through the stem and the plant withered and Jonah’s already short fuse blew. Again, he wished himself dead, or so he said.
Twice God asked Jonah the question, ‘is it right for you to be angry?’. First, he was angry at God for his compassionate treatment of the people of Nineveh and then with the plant for letting him down.
Anger is a pernicious emotion, it saps energy, it may lead to irrationality and it throws up a forcefield that others can find it hard to penetrate.
I am not sure which feels the more ridiculous…being cross because God was glad to acknowledge the success of the message he gave Jonah to deliver…or being cross that an unexpected relief was removed again.
We all come across angry people and sometimes we are angry people. Books have been written and help is available to help people with anger management. There is no easy way to get a grip of an emotion that wells up and overflows normal mechanisms of self-control, however good they may be.
Poor Jonah; his preaching saved 120,000 souls plus their livestock – and he was so irritated with a plant that he was prepared to let his own life go, slaughtered on the altar of hot-headed rage.
Whether you see any of this in yourself or not take a moment to reflect on human emotion. From the extremes of passionate love through the spectrum to uncontrollable rage lie all the feelings that colour character and give vitality to life.
A prayer
God of love, slow to anger and of great mercy, we are people of feelings and strong motivating powers. We pray for your peace when we lose our self-control and for your energy when we lose our lustre. Give us the grace to preach your word of healing love in our words and our deeds, and never to be anything but thankful when we see forgiveness manifest around us. We ask this for Jesus’ sake.
Amen.