Do you ever read through a passage of Scripture and immediately identify with one of the characters in that passage? I think this happens to pretty much all of us a lot. This last week I was preparing yesterday's sermon, reading through Jonah. And I just stopped reading all of a sudden and thought, "Dude, that's ME." I wasn't reading in Chapter 1 where he takes off and tries to run from God. I wasn't reading Chapter 2 where Jonah is completely humbled and repentant while sitting in fish guts. I wasn't reading in Chapter 3 where he gives Nineveh the forty day plan and says, "Hey, straighten up or God's gonna wipe you out!" Even though I've been to those places before (well maybe not quite as harsh as the Chapter 3 thing), that's not where I stopped reading. I stopped reading right after Jonah 4:3, where Jonah is in the middle of basically yelling at God for showing mercy.

Jonah 4:1-3 says this,

But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the Lord, "O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? This is why I was so quick to flee 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. Now, O Lord, take my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."

Isn't this incredible? Even though Jonah had just been given a second chance and had experienced God's grace for himself (Jonah 2), he gets offended when God chooses to do the same thing for the Ninevites! Can't you just picture Jonah, in frustration, trying to keep his cool when talking to God about this? If it was me, the conversation may have gone something like this...

"God... what just happened? They weren't supposed to repent, right? They're wicked and evil people, God. They can't live. They're our ENEMIES, God. Sorry for raising my voice. This is just... I can't believe... Dang it, I knew this would happen! This is why I didn't want to come! I knew it! They're probably not even sorry, God. They're just playing you so that you won't kill them. You watch. You'll be sorry. This is outrageous! God, this isn't FAIR! ... Oh yeah, and now nothing I just prophesied will even happen. Great... you just ruined my reputation and made me the laughingstock of Nineveh! Just kill me, God. Get the pain over with..."

Isn't it easy for us to get offended by grace? Just like the workers in the vineyard in Jesus' parable in Matthew 20 or the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, too often I find myself telling God that "it's not fair". It's not fair when that criminal on death row accepts Christ. It's not fair when sinners on their deathbed find Christ at the eleventh hour. Or how about the thief on the cross? Sometimes I cross my arms and try to keep God's grace in the realm of average sinners like me, not deviant sickos like them. It's not fair.

Aren't you glad God's grace isn't fair?

If God's grace were fair, we wouldn't have it because we definitely don't deserve it. Jonah missed that somewhere in between being bleached from stomach acid and whining that his shade plant died. If God's grace were fair, Jonah wouldn't have had a second chance. He wouldn't have gotten vomited out of that fish. He wouldn't be sitting there complaining and whining and pouting to God like he was.

How about instead of being offended when God shows grace to His children, we share that same amazing grace that we've experienced with those who have yet to experience it. We've never locked eyes with someone that Jesus didn't die for. God loves His children. He cares for them. He loves them. We should too.