“I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.”
― Abraham Lincoln
" For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.
Mercy triumphs over judgment."
James 2:13 (BSB).
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Every story has a hero’s journey, albeit hero is a loose term. Jack, who lacks some basic emotional intelligence, trades the family cow for a bag of magic beans. The beans end up being thrown out the window (Falling tension). The next morning there is a giant beanstalk.
Jack heads up the tree and meets the giant’s wife who is a kind woman that gives him some food. Remember, he had no breakfast, he cashed that in for the beanstalk.
Anyway, while enjoying the kind hospitality, he hears these words that had me shaking in my pyjamas as a kid, The rising tension,
“Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the bones of an Englishman,
Be he alive, or be he dead
I'll grind his bones
to make my bread.”
Jack does a runner.
But, the sense of adventure gets a grip, and he returns. He grabs a bag of gold and a golden harp, chops the tree down and the happily ever after denouement that satisfies the needs of every child kick in. We all need that, the idea that justice has been served. But, and it's a big but: what happened to the giants wife? I guess that's what is called collateral damage.
*****
Jonah, that Bible prophet that gets a free ride to Nineveh in a giant fish needed to learn a lesson about justice, mercy, and compassion.
Dare I say that Jonah was narrow minded? He isn’t happy, he’s in the true religion and sees no point in preaching to a nation of pagans. He does a runner, by taking a vessel that goes in the opposite direction to Benidorm, Ibiza, Balearics or somewhere there abouts. No prosecco and paella for Jonah though. God intervenes and hampers his plans by bringing on a storm. The sailors blame Jonah for bringing on God’s intervention and they throw him overboard.
Three days later, Jonah’s free cruise takes him to Nineveh. He goes into the city and delivers God’s message. Forty days they must repent. Repent from what you may ask? Violence the Bible indicates.
The Ninevites fast and repent in no time. God grants them deliverance.
Jonah goes into a bit of a sulk with God. He did not like the decision. He thought they were undeserving of mercy. Look what God did next,
“Jonah was filled with anger, but the Lord gently asked him, "Do you have any right to be angry?"
“I am so angry, I want to die,” Jonah replied.
Still upset, Jonah left the city and found a spot to the east. There, he made himself a shelter, sitting in its shade, and waited to see what would happen to the city.
In his kindness, God provided a vine, making it grow into a parasol for Jonah and shading him from his discomfort. So there Jonah is, bathing in bliss. But at dawn the next day, God sends a parasite, and the vine withered. At sunrise, God sends a scorching east wind. Jonah feels like fainting.
"It would be better for me to die than to live."
But God asked Jonah again, "Do you have the right to be angry about the vine?"
Jonah replied, "I do. I am so angry I could die."
God said to Jonah, “Do you have the right to be angry about the vine?”
I do,” He replied.
God said “You have been concerned about this plant although you did not cultivate it or make it grow. It sprung up overnight… But here is this great city with more than 120,000 people who cannot tell the right hand from the left and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great City.”
Sometimes the hero’s journey is about learning something about yourself and changing. Jonah had a relationship with God, but he was stubborn, narrow minded; he needed to get deeper insight into Divine grace. He failed to temper justice and mercy. God’s compassion to Nineveh and Jonah is illuminating and it's not clear if the penny dropped for Jonah. But it’s a message to us and every reader. The religious leaders of Jesus day failed to apply the lesson. Many today act likewise. Some of the greatest acts of injustice has been performed by religious organisations.
Jesus quoting Hosea said,
“It is not sacrifice I want. I desire mercy. Go ponder on that.”
Matthew 9:13.