God saw their efforts to renounce their evil ways. And God relented about the disaster, which he had threatened to bring on them, and did not bring it. This made Jonah very indignant; he fell into a rage. He prayed to Yahweh and said, "Please, Yahweh, isn't this what I said would happen when I was still in my own country? That was why I first tried to flee to Tarshish, since I knew you were a tender, compassionate God, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, who relents about inflicting disaster. So now, Yahweh, please take my life, for I might as well be dead as go on living." Yahweh replied, "Are you right to be angry?" ... Jonah 3:10-4:4

Is it always right to demand justice? Must the guilty always be punished? Or is there sometimes room for forgiveness and reconciliation? Who decides? Leading up to this citation from the book of the prophet Jonah, Jonah had finally gone to Nineveh to warn the city of impending destruction due to its' wickedness. This was after Jonah refused to obey God's initial command to go, followed by Jonah spending three days inside a great fish. Jonah warned the city, whereupon they repented, proclaimed a fast and prayed to God for forgiveness.

Then, picking up where our quote starts, God saw their repentance as sincere and changed his mind. Jonah was outraged. He thought God was being unjust by not giving Nineveh what it deserved. In fact, Jonah faults God for his mercy and is so angry at the turn of events that he tells God to kill him.

What is Jonah's problem? He apparently thought Nineveh was irredeemable, that whatever evil they had in fact perpetrated demanded recompense, and that no compassion or redemption should have been possible. Sometimes you just have to have your pound of flesh, your eye for an eye, your life for a life, right? Obviously God doesn't always think so.

Who decides? Never try to get revenge; leave that, my dear friends, to the Retribution. As scripture says: "Vengeance is mine -- I will pay them back, the Lord promises." (Romans 12:19)

"Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours, but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either." (Matthew 6:14-15) It is God who ultimately decides who will be punished.

Does this mean we do away with any system of criminal justice? No. But it does mean that system needs to be fair and proportional, holding out the chance of redemption for those who are not a true danger to others. It also means that we as individuals should have the proper attitude towards justice, embodying forgiveness and compassion to even our enemies, leaving vengeance and punitive damages to our God. Is it ever right for us to switch places with God and demand the life of another? Do we consider our enemies, both personally or nationally, to be so far beyond the pale that they do not deserve to be treated fairly or humanely?

Jonah was willing to die in his anger, rather than allow the possibility of reconciliation and a new way forward for the Ninevites. When faced with a choice like his, which of the two ways would we go?

"If God in Christ loves his enemies -- whom we were -- if THAT is the good news, then there is no bad news. Then our loving our enemies, because we are children of God, is the gospel itself. We need only believe."
     J.H. Yoder, 1972

Contributed by David M.
Published Sunday June 19, 2005
Week 30 of Liturgical Year A