Is That Where the Story Ends?

Pastor Carol Grace ♦ July 18, 2024 ♦ Leave a comment

(NCV) Jonah 4:9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you think it is right for you to be angry about the plant?”

Jonah answered, “It is right for me to be angry! I am so angry I could die!”

10 And the LORD said, “You are so concerned for that plant even though you did nothing to make it grow. It appeared one day, and the next day it died.

11 Then shouldn’t I show concern for the great city Nineveh, which has more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know right from wrong, and many animals, too?”

(NCV) Luke 15:28 The older son was angry and would not go in to the feast. So his father went out and begged him to come in. 29 But the older son said to his father, ‘I have served you like a slave for many years and have always obeyed your commands. But you never gave me even a young goat to have at a feast with my friends. 30 But your other son, who wasted all your money on prostitutes, comes home, and you kill the fat calf for him!’ 31 The father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.

Have you ever thought about the similarities of these two men and how their stories end? Both tales seemed to end abruptly, with less than an adequate resolution.

The first is the story of Jonah. You remember—Jonah was sent to Ninevah with a word of condemnation. The Ninevites were to be destroyed. But Jonah did not want to deliver the word. He did not care that these people would be destroyed—his issue was that if they received this word, he believed they would repent and be saved.

So Jonah ran—he ran down to Tarshis, down to Joppa, down to the hold of the ship, and finally down to the belly of the fish. Because, you see, that’s what sin does, it separates us from God, driving us ever downward, away from the light and into the darkness.

Jonah ultimately relented, went to Ninevah, preached God’s word, and, just as he feared, the Ninevites were saved. For the story was never about Jonah or even the big fish, but the love, mercy and redeeming power of God.

Jonah was so angry he just sat under a tree. It was a tree God provided for shade, but just as suddenly as it appeared, it died. Jonah mourned the loss of the tree, but refused to change his views of the Ninevites. And that is how the story ends, with Jonah consumed by anger.

The second story is about the prodigal son. Again we all know the story, but have we noticed that there are two prodigal sons, not one? Even as the youngest son was restored to his father, the older son became separated from both his father and brother because of his anger over what he clearly perceived as favoritism.

I will admit right now that I am a happily ever after person. I want the story to end where lessons are learned, relationships restored, and life is good. Yet in both of these Biblical accounts, there is no happy ever after, because both men were consumed by anger.

We cannot rewrite the ending to these Biblical accounts, but allow me to suggest our stories have not yet ended. May we be honest before our God, asking Him to shine the light of truth upon our lives, so that our thoughts will be aligned with His. That, for me, is my happy ever after.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.