Ring a ding ding ding
This past Saturday evening, I had the honor of volunteering to ring a Salvation Army bell at the local Walmart. Well, let’s be honest…by honor I mean I left my warm home during overtime of the Sporting KC Championship game to a balmy 19 degrees (12 degrees with windchill) to fulfill my commitment. I was bummed.
As I stood in the cold, and I was passed by multitudes of shoppers, I had an epiphany. Actually, I was struck by a thought I had earlier in the day while reading the book of Jonah in my Bible. My experience outside Walmart solidified my thoughts.
If you don’t know…
Jonah in a nutshell
Jonah was a prophet of God who was called to the city of Ninevah in Assyria to foretell of it’s doom. Jonah didn’t want this task, so he ran the other way via boat. The boat encountered a massive storm of which Jonah was the cause. The boat’s crew throw him overboard, the storm ceases, and Jonah is swallowed by a whale.
In the fish, Jonah has a change of heart, realizing God is pretty awesome. The fish deposits Jonah on shore, and Jonah enters Ninevah. The people listen to his message and repent (all the way up to the king!).
Jonah exits the city, waits for it to be destroyed and is sorely disappointed when nothing happens. God scolds Jonah, and the story ends.
What’s the problem?
After reading this, and sharing my bell-ringing woes, I discussed Jonah with my friend Ethan. Ethan loves reading, and in particular, Ethan loves to read commentaries (yes, ladies, Ethan is single). He got really excited when I shared I had just read Jonah.
The night before, Ethan read a commentary on Jonah, and told me how the book is actually seen as literary genius. My reading of Jonah somehow missed the literary genius part. I was interested enough to look up some commentaries though.
I googled “Jonah commentaries” and the suggestion “Jonah commentaries Jewish” popped up. Intrigued…I bit.
The first commentary I clicked asked this question, “Why was Jonah running? Why didn’t he want to go to Ninevah?” It’s not clearly answered in the text, but the author suggests it is because:
- Jonah doesn’t want to see Ninevah spared.
- Jonah is angry with his own people (the Jews) because they won’t respond to God’s call (which Jonah correctly assumes the Ninevites will).
- Jonah realizes if Ninevah (Assyria) is spared, the Assyrians will destroy Israel (as already prophesied).
Now stop, because I always believed Jonah simply didn’t want to see the Ninevites spared. But it was much deeper than that! Jonah didn’t want to see the Ninevites spared because they were pagan, and God was ready to destroy the chosen Israelites with this pagan nation He was about to spare.
Sorry if that made your head spin, but look at it this way. Jonah was having a hard time with God’s concept of justice versus mercy.
That’s conflict!
Justice vs Mercy
This brings us back to me, in the cold, at Walmart, missing a championship match.
As I stood there, ringing the bell, being passed by shopper after shopper, I thought about this wrestling Jonah experienced with God. I didn’t have visions of God’s wrath poured out on the Shawnee Walmart, but I didn’t want to be there dispensing God’s mercy.
But as Jonah found out, God ultimately wins. Check out what God says at the end of the book of Jonah:
[quote]…should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people…? -Jonah 4:11[/quote]
In Shawnee alone there are over 30,000 people who have absolutely no affiliation with any religious organization. They are lost, and many of them don’t even know where to begin searching.
God cares because his nature is mercy.
He cares deeply enough to send me out on a cold night in the middle of a championship game to ring a bell. Ringing the bell may have made no difference, but something else did…prayer.
I prayed – not long…not hard, but I prayed. I was interrupted by the occasional giver or kind soul, but I prayed for Shawnee and the shoppers and Cross Points Church.
Justice says, “Let ’em go.”
Mercy says, “God, bring them home.”
PS – I bet you thought this post was going to be about some cheesy 90’s sitcom. Ha! Fooled you!
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