So let's recap real quick: Jonah took the message from God to the Ninevites, but delivered it halfheartedly. To his surprise, the entire city repented and changed their ways. This made Jonah angry; he believed that Ninevah did not deserve to be redeemed.

That leads us to the end of the story, or rather, the open-ended question: what did Jonah do next? The Ninevites didn't matter to Jonah. He would have preferred that they be wiped off the face of the earth. And we understand that vengeful spirit...there are people in the world whom we would rather never associate with, ever.

But what if Jonah also just pictured a God of anger and vengeance, and couldn't imagine a God of compassion and mercy? What if everyone matters to God, even the ones we would rather be excluded? What if the marginalized and the oppressed and the left behind ones are the same ones who matter in God's eyes? Well, we're shown a living example of this, in a Galilean man who walked around showing this radical love that disturbed the status quo. And Jesus showed that radical love by sacrificing everything to embrace the whole world.

Now go and do likewise.

ReNew Community Worship Service

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Jonah 4:1-11

http://bible.com/events/48852258