The president of a local neighborhood HOA told me that no one ever knocks on his door to say, “Hey, you are doing a good job.” Instead, he gets complaints about yards, or requests for interventions for children throwing rocks at dogs, or being told about neighborly disputes. The job is one negative message after another. Some good news would be a welcomed change.
There is one prophet in the Bible who wanted the opposite. He felt comfortable with the bad news but refused to share the good news with others. The prophet’s name was Jonah. God told him to go to Ninevah to declare judgment. After disobedience and a slight delay in the belly of a fish, Jonah arrived at his destination. He had one message:
Jonah 3:4
Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
It is surprising that in this wicked city Jonah was not killed. Even more astonishing is that the people of the city responded to the message.
Jonah 3:5
The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
Jonah’s words permeated the city and eventually reached the king.
Jonah 3:6-9
When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
An amazing time of repentance spreads throughout the region. God saw their humility and desire to change.
Jonah 3:10
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
The Lord chose not to bring judgment onto the city. The Ninevites had been saved! Unfortunately, they did not know this. Why? Because Jonah did not tell them the good news.
Jonah 4:1-2
But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.
Jonah was mad. He talked to God, but he never told the people that the Lord had decided to not bring destruction on them. The Ninevites had no idea if their repentance had made a difference, if God had given them mercy, if they would live beyond the forty days. Why? Because Jonah would not share the good news.
I wonder if on day forty-one, they started to feel safer? Or maybe they were concerned their calculations were incorrect and gave the deadline a few extra days. We do not know. They lived unnecessarily in fear of the end when they could have known that mercy and life had been granted to them.
People around us fear death, or question if they could be accepted into heaven or not. Maybe they realize they have done wrong, but wonder if forgiveness is available to them. They do not understand the good news. The message of God’s mercy shown to us through the cross of Jesus has not been shared with them. They do not know because they have not heard, and like Jonah, we have not told them.
Romans 10:14
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
Jonah was willing to give the bad news; he was willing to give his opinion on what he thought should happen. But Jonah kept the good news to himself, causing Ninevah to suffer needlessly in their wondering if God would have mercy on them or not. May we not be like Jonah, who refused to share the good news with others.