Which Will It Be?
Today is our final reading in our Jonah series, and it’s the perfect ending. Or, I should say, it’s perfectly open-ended.
Starting this Sunday at Asbury, we are kicking off our Love Goes First sermon series, with each week building on the other. The series will run for two months. My book comes out on October 7—please pre-order your copy today!
In terms of of Bible reading, some of you will remember that I read one psalm a day every day.
Well, it just so happens that TODAY I begin another cycle with Psalm 1. (Tomorrow would be Psalm 2, Sunday Psalm 3, etc.)
Here’s my Psalms schedule. Download it, print it out, and mark your progress.
Jonah 4:10-11
10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
The ending of Jonah is open-ended. The Lord asks Jonah, “Isn’t okay for me to pity these lost people?” and we are not given Jonah’s response.
Jonah has said that he would rather die than see the Lord show mercy to his enemies.
What does Jonah choose? Will he be on the Lord’s side, or stand off by himself?
What about us?
It’s either/or.
Either we accept that the Lord is free to show mercy on whomever he wants to show mercy, or we end up being cut off, outside, filled with seething hatred.
It’s either grace, or nothing.
Which will you choose?
