Have You any Right to be Angry?
May 6th, 2008
In Jonah 3, the Ninevites get it right; they respond to Jonah’s message the first day he’s there, across the board. Off the top of my head, this is the best example in the Bible I can think of where a people respond immediately and whole-heartedly to God’s warnings.
But of course, come chapter 4, Jonah is not satisfied. He says this is exactly why he went the other direction in the first place; kind of an odd position for a prophet to take, in my opinion. Or maybe not. Maybe it takes a certain antagonism, a certain resistance to feel fulfilled as a prophet; maybe, since they are so usually scorned and ignored, they have no models for handling successful ministry – only tenacious.
Or maybe Jonah is just so invested in the “otherness” of Nineveh that he covers up his chagrin at discovering a more challenging aspect of God that he lays hold of his most accessible emotion – anger – and rants about how he knew this would happen, and so sulks for the next two days (during which he should, according to the plan discussed earlier in chapter 3, have been ministering).
And God asks him, about various matters, does he really have any right to be angry?
Mm. Rights …
Another translation says, “good reason” – he basically answers, “Yes – because I am angry!” Um, thanks for that lucid explanation of your position, there, champ.
God also does not say “Stop being angry.” I wonder why?
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