Contemplations on the Book of Jonah, by Pope Shenouda III

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III




Jonah

Nineveh's Greatness in Repentance

When God described Nineveh as being the great city, He was not considering its ignorance and sin but He was looking with great joy at its profound repentance.

Nineveh was quick in responding to God's word.

When Lot warned the Sodomites of the Lord's hot displeasure, they scorned him, and "to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking" (Gen. 19:14), whereas the Ninevites listened with utter seriousness to Jonah and responded quickly to his word, despite the respite of forty days which could have been taken for slackness and slothfulness. The word of the Lord was fast, bearing life, efficacious and sharper than a double-edged sword.

In their immediate response, the Ninevites were much greater than the Jews who were contemporary to Christ the Lord, the incomparably greater than Jonah. Those Jews saw the Lord's numerous miracles and beheld His infinite spirituality, yet they did not believe and repent. The Lord reproved them by the Ninevites (Matt. 12:14).

The word of the Lord was prolific. It yielded an abundance of amazing fruits.

The first fruit of the Ninevites was faith: "So the people of Nineveh believed God."

The second fruit was the unfeigned contrition of heart; humiliating themselves before the Lord. Thus they put on sackcloth "From the greatest to the least of them". And sackcloth is a rough material made of goats' hair; a sign of affliction, abstinence and rejection of worldly pleasures. Even the king of Nineveh himself took off his royal robe and covered himself with sackcloth, arose from his throne and sat in ashes.

The Lord looked at that debased city and smelt a pleasing aroma; for "the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart- these, O God, You will not despise" (Ps. 51:17). Truly how wonderful is this unique spectacle! A whole city is seen contrite in dust and ashes, debased in sackcloth, from the king to the infant. Even the livestock were covered with sackcloth!

The word of God also yielded fasting and prayer.

The city proclaimed a general fast for all. People abstained from eating and drinking, and even the beasts, herds and flocks did not eat or drink. People did not want to be occupied with feeding their flocks so that they could spare their time for worship and supplication to God. Thus they mingled their fasting with prayer and cried "mightily to God".

The most important fruit of the Ninevites was repentance.

Repentance led them to faith because sin was an obstacle between them and God,

The fruit of their repentance was their humiliation, fasting, wearing sackcloth and crying out to God. Their repentance was a sincere repentance in every meaning of the word: serious and from the heart, in which everyone turned 'from his evil way and from the violence that was in his hands."

By this repentance they deserved God's mercy. He pardoned and forgave them, received them and joined them to His own. In this respect the Holy Bible says: "Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it" (Jon. 3:10).

The Holy Bible did not say: "When the Lord saw their fasting, prayer and affliction", but said: "Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way". Therefore repentance was the reason for God's mercy on them. Their fasting, prayer and humiliation were but fruits of repentance.

I would like here to pause for a while at a verse said of the repentance of Nineveh, that is: "It repented at the preaching of Jonah".

What Was Jonah's Preaching?

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III

Jonah

Jonah's Preaching

The Holy Bible did not record for us the deep admonishing speech which led one hundred and twenty thousand persons to repentance with that wonderful contrition of heart. O that it supplied us with this excellent part in which concentrates all Jonah's greatness!

All that, the Holy Bible records for us in this respect does not exceed one phrase in which was mentioned that Jonah entered the city and cried out, saying: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" (Jon. 3:4).

Could it be that Jonah said only this single sentence? Was it sufficient to save the city and cause that tremendous effect?

Previously, Lot had said of Sodom: "The Lord will destroy this city!" (Gen. 19:14), yet no one was affected and no one repented. The people heard of the Flood that was going to destroy the whole earth, and saw the Arc being built before their very eyes, yet no one repented and they were all destroyed. Many a time did the warning of death fail! Adam himself heard the warning: "you shall surely die", yet that warning did not prevent him from sinning.

What was the secret behind the repentance of Nineveh and its salvation?

Was it the thirst of Jonah's preaching and its deep effect on the souls of the Ninevites? Or was it due to the strong inner readiness of the heart so that every Divine word brought about an effect because the heart was ready to hear, the will ready to put into action and the soil good for sowing? At heart I lean towards this second opinion.

I would say that the repentance of the people of Nineveh was mainly due to the readiness of their hearts.

It was this readiness that made God send His prophet to them, and as the Apostle says: "For whom He foreknew... He also predestined" (Rom. 8:29). Indeed readiness of heart plays a major role in the act of repentance.

In the case of the rich young man, the Lord Himself talked to him, and with all the power and efficacy of the Lord's words, he went away sorrowful because the heart within was not ready. This is similar to the stony places which do not yield fruit no matter how good the seeds are and no matter how experienced the sewer is,
The heart of the young St. Anthony, however, was ready to hear the word of God. When he heard in the church the same verse said to the rich young man, he was deeply affected and carried it out wholeheartedly. Likewise were the hearts of the Ninevites.

This opinion is confirmed to me by the fact that when Jonah said that the city would be overthrown, he said it whilst being sure in his heart that it was not going to be overthrown and that his word would not be carried out.

He cried out those words reluctantly, merely obeying an order given to him, unconvinced of what he was saying. If he were convinced, his words would have had a stronger effect.

However, Nineveh repented at Jonah's preaching because their hearts were prepared for any word proceeding from the mouth of God. Thus their repentance was so powerful, for it sprang from within and not from without.

Accordingly, the Lord praised the people of Nineveh and their repentance, and said that they shall arise on the Day of Judgment and condemn that generation.

The power and beauty of this repentance is that it was a general repentance. Everyone repented, everyone returned to God, everyone believed in Him.

More than one hundred and twenty thousand persons entered the Lord's fold, one and all. If there is joy in heaven over one person's repentance what shall we say about the joy brought about by more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who previously could not discern between their right hand and their left?

Thus succeeded the second aim in God's design. The Ninevites were saved as the mariners had previously been saved.

Now it is Jonah's turn.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III

Jonah




Saving Jonah From His Obduracy And Pride

There was joy in heaven over Nineveh's salvation.

God rejoiced. The angels rejoiced, congratulating one another, saying: "Nineveh has believed and repented, and one hundred and twenty thousand persons have 'joined the kingdom of God in one day."

However, amidst the rejoicing of heaven and the exultation of the angels there was one man who was miserable on account of this great salvation, and that was Jonah the Prophet.

He was very displeased because God had forgiven those people, had mercy on them and spared them. The Holy Bible expressed Jonah's displeasure in an amazing or rather a shameful sentence, saying: "But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry" (Jon. 4:1). How shocking! Does the salvation of people displease the prophet, and displease him exceedingly, and make him angry? All because those thousands were saved from perdition!

What then is the prophet's work other than the salvation of people? What joy is the prophet's other than joy over people's salvation?

Jonah with this attitude reminds me of the elder son who was displeased and refused to enter the house because his brother had been dead and was alive again; and had been lost and was now found and was received gladly by his father. That elder brother was exceedingly displeased and became angry, exactly like Jonah. He tried with his anger to disturb the rejoicing, exactly like Jonah.

What was the secret hidden behind the Prophet Jonah's anger?

Jonah was still egocentric, thinking only of himself.

He did not think of Nineveh, nor of its repentance, nor of the great salvation that had taken place, nor of the kingdom of God and its edification. He was thinking of one sole thing, that was his ego. He was just like the elder son who thought of himself: how he had served his father for so many years, how he did not have a goat and had not made merry with his friends... (Luke 15). On a lesser level of self-centeredness was Martha who was upset at the beautiful contemplative moments which her sister Mary enjoyed at the feet of Christ. She was thinking of her own comfort and how she was not getting any help from her sister.

Jonah's thinking, however, was of a more serious type. He was still thinking of his dignity and of his word which was not carried out. It was the same thinking of old which had formerly induced him to flee from the presence of the Lord. Due to that thinking he deprived himself of the fellowship of heaven's exultation. He separated himself from joining the hosts of angels in their joy over Nineveh's salvation,. He proved by his anger that his way of thinking was subjective and not spiritual, and proved that his will was incompatible with the will of the heavenly Father "who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4).

By his anger Jonah proved that he could not benefit from his past experience. He forgot the price he had paid in the belly of the great fish and in the ship threatened by drowning.

That lesson which he received from God had no effect on him, if, after that experience, he obeyed God outwardly yet remained unchanged from within. He did not rid himself of his egocentric nature nor of his personal dignity. God's ministry was not in his inner depths, neither was the love for people. These matters were just on the surface of his thoughts. As for his depths they contained the ego and its dignity more than all else!

It is amazing that Jonah prayed to God whilst in that spiritual downfall! How could he pray when he disagreed with God in the means and in the ends? How could he pray with such a heart void of love, and angry from God's dealings? I do not know. The matter is clarified and becomes even more amazing when he prayed to complain and to justify himself, grumbling against God's treatment and requesting death for himself because death to him was far better than losing his dignity.

He sinned and did not confess his sin, but on the contrary he grumbled! Thus he prayed, saying: "Ah, Lord,...". But Ah rather from you, Jonah, who are concerned only with yourself and your dignity! What do you wish to say? Jonah continued his prayer, saying: "Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I previously fled to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, One who relents from doing harm" (Jon. 4:2).

How does it ail you, Jonah, that God is merciful? Be sure that unless it was for His mercy, you also would have perished. His mercy has embraced everyone. As it embraced the people of Nineveh who repented and humiliated themselves before Him, it also embraced you who have not yet repented nor humiliated yourself and even your prayer involves self-justification, complaining and grumbling.

Jonah cried out in his grumbling, saying: "Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!"

Has your anger reached that extent, Jonah, because your word was not carried out, that you saw death better for you than life? First of all. you ought to know that it was God's word and not your own. You were but a deliverer of the message. The owner of the message was God Himself. If God in all His sublimity, greatness and dominion has accepted that to happen, why do you not accept it and you are but dust and ashes!

Who said that God's word which you proclaimed had been disproved or altered? God pronounced the judgment of overthrowing and destruction on the sinful Nineveh and not on the penitent Nineveh.

The sinful Nineveh was worthy of death according to God's justice, because "the wages of sin is death". But the sinful Nineveh is now no more, that the Lord should punish it by destruction. It was actually overthrown when 'It was reformed to its new condition. The new Nineveh bears no relation whatsoever to the sinful Nineveh which has indeed died and its image vanished from before people's eyes. The new Nineveh is a new creation, born of the Holy Spirit, a pure and unblemished creation, having a new nature and a new spirit, and having new attributes ' . It is unjust to pass sentence of death on this new creation. Therefore sparing Nineveh was one of God's righteous acts, and not only one of His merciful acts.

If Nineveh had continued in its wickedness and evil ways and God allowed it to subsist in this condition without executing His judgment on it, then it may be said that the word of warning had been disproved and was not carried out.

Jonah, however, did not apprehend this logic and considered the literal meaning of the judgment and not its spirit! That was why he became angry and it was not right for him to become angry.

One of the amazing matters was that, after his prayer in which he blamed God, grumbling at what had happened, Jonah was still hoping that God might return and destroy the city, to honor His prophet and gratify his angry heart! Thus the Holy Bible says that Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, "till he might see what would become of the city" (Jon. 4:5).

God saw that Jonah was miserable and angry, Hence He wanted to do him an act of love. Whilst Jonah was thinking of himself, God was thinking of people's salvation. God did not think of His own honor as Jonah did. He did not think of how Jonah had disobeyed Him and grumbled at His judgment, but He thought of how to comfort Jonah and save him from his misery. How wondrous God's love is!

Indeed God had a great work which He needed to do for Jonah. He was seeking Jonah's salvation also, lest when he had preached to others, he himself should become disqualified before God (1Cor.9:27). This person who preached repentance to people, needed himself to repent also. He needed to rid himself of his obduracy, pride and self-esteem. As is always God's way, He began the reconciliation. When He saw Jonah miserable He prepared a plant and made it come up over him, that it might be shade for his head "to deliver him from his misery" (Jon. 4:6).

Many a time do You labor for us, O Lord! You labor for our comfort, for correcting us and for reconciling us. We thought that You rested since the seventh day, but You are still working for our sake. You rested from creating the world but concerning its care, You are still working.

You wanted to deliver Jonah from his misery, but it was he who incurred misery upon himself by his wrong attitude.

Yes. This is true, but I want to deliver him from the two things together, from his misery and from his wrong attitude. He is My son no matter what.

I shall uproot obduracy from his heart by the merciful deeds which I shall work with him, so that he may perceive and learn. Just as I had compassion on Nineveh I shall have compassion on him, because compassion is My nature. I had compassion on him when he was cast into the sea; I had compassion on him when he was in the belly of the great fish. I had compassion on him in all his lapses and sensitivities, and I shall have compassion on him now in his misery. I have prepared for him a plant that it might be shade for his head because I know that he will greatly rejoice over it. I seek his joy no matter how much he grumbles at My judgment and no matter how much he becomes angry with My deeds.

It happened as God willed, and "Jonah was very grateful for the plant" (Jon. 4:6). Believe me, when I read of the great joy which Jonah had over the plant, I was stunned. It is indeed an embarrassing phrase!

Do you rejoice greatly, Jonah, over the plant which gave shade to your head and did not even hardly rejoice, but rather became angry, at God's mercy which overshadowed one hundred and twenty thousand persons? Would it not have been more appropriate that you should rejoice thus over the salvation of Nineveh?

You rejoiced over the plant because you thought of your own personal comfort, of your self, and not of the kingdom of God on earth. And it pleased God to gladden you after your own heart to show you that He cares for you and deals with you not according to your deeds but according to the abundance of His loving kindness. God descends to your materialistic level to raise you up to the spiritual level befitting a prophet. He deals with you with such compassion whilst you are sinful to sow in your heart compassion for sinners. Thus He cures your obduracy and unmercifulness towards the Ninevites.

The plant which God prepared for Jonah had two aims:

The first was to show compassion on Jonah and give him shade for his head. The second was to teach him a beneficial spiritual lesson for his life. By the growth of the plant God did a merciful deed for Jonah and by its withering God gave him guidance and teaching so that he might benefit bodily, mentally and spiritually.

In Nineveh, Jonah by his preaching was working with God in spreading His kingdom. And outside Nineveh, God was working for Jonah to save his soul and deliver him from his misery.

God continued to work, quietly and in silence, without Jonah noticing. When Jonah rejoiced over the plant it was for its shade and not for the lesson it gave, because he had not yet received it. He rejoiced over the plant and not because of God who was working for his sake from behind the plant.

When God's design started to bear fruit, He prepared a worm and it damaged the plant. The role of the plant ended and remained for God to use it as an element for teaching!

The plant was gone and the shade was gone, and the sun beat on Jonah's head so that he grew faint and wished death for himself. All these happened according to God's plan in order to give Jonah a useful lesson for his salvation.

Indeed God disposes everything for good, the shade for good and the sun's beating for good as well. The body may grow faint yet this may be for good, that the spirit may become refreshed. Jonah might grow miserable and his soul troubled and he wished death for himself, and this affliction and trouble could be part of God's design, good for saving his spirit and cleansing his heart.

God desires our salvation and is ready to use any, useful means even if it sometimes involves trouble for the body or the soul.

Throughout all these spiritual designs Jonah was immersed in his materialistic thoughts; he rejoiced over the plant and became angry when he lost it, without thinking of his own salvation and without caring for reconciliation to God.

When Jonah grew faint from the sun's beat, he wished death for himself, and said "It is better for me to die than to live... (Jon. 4:8). That was the second time he wished death for himself. The first was when he was vexed because of his dignity and the disproof of his word, and the second was when he became angry because of the sun's beat and the dying of the plant. The first was due to a personal reason and the second was due to a physical reason, there was no part for the spirit in the matter.

Many persons desired death for sacred spiritual reasons, but Jonah desired death for paltry (worldly) reasons springing from grumbling and lack of long-suffering.

Saint Paul did not err when he said: "..having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better" (Phil. 1:23). Simeon the elder did not err when he said: "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word, for my eyes have seen Your salvation" (Luke 2:29 & 30).

As for Jonah, he did err when he said to God: "Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live!" (Jon. 4:3). He said that whilst grumbling and at a time when he was not ready to die. If God had answered his prayer at that time and taken his life from him, Jonah would have perished. Is it not of God's mercy that He sometimes does not answer our prayers if we ignorantly pray for our hurt? The Apostle rightly says: " You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss" (James 4:3).

When Jonah reached the stage of praying for his death, God started to talk the matter over with him. He said to him: "Is it right for you to be angry?"(Jon. 4:4) Are you angry because of God's wisdom and mercy?

Jonah replied: "It is right for me to be angry, even to death” (Jon. 4:9)! I lost my word and my dignity, and now You have deprived me of the shade of the plant, and You do not expect me to be angry that?

Although that manner of speech on Jonah's part was not nice from the spiritual point of view, yet it indicates his honesty with God and his revealing of his true inner depths.

God began to reason with Jonah and convince him. He said to him: "You have had pity, on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand person?" (Jon. 4:10 & 11).

As for your word, or rather My word, which you thought had fallen to the ground, know for certain that it has not fallen nor have I changed. For with God "there is no variation or shadow of turning" (James 1:17).

I did not set out to destroy the people of Nineveh, but to destroy the wickedness in them. I sentenced them to be destroyed when they were mingled with wickedness and had become one entity with the wickedness. But having been separated from wickedness there is no reason in destroying them because there is no wickedness in them deserving ruin. They have joined My side and become with Me against evil.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


Jonah

God In The Book Of Jonah



In the Book of Jonah, which is full of life and teaching, we have contemplated the life of Jonah the Prophet himself, his concern for his dignity, his esteem to his word, and the astounding lapses he fell into owing to that feigned dignity. We talked also of how the gentile mariners were better than him and how better still were the irrational creatures which obeyed God. We also talked about the Ninevites, and their contrition and true repentance.
However, the deepest reflection in this Book is the reflection on God Himself. It is indeed a beautiful contemplation: God in the Book of Jonah. The primary thing which attracts our attention in this beautiful story is God's searching for man..

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


Jonah
God Searches For Man

In this Book we see that God is the one who searches for man and not vice versa. The life of repentance teaches us that man should return to God, as did the Prodigal Son when he returned to his father. He addressed himself, saying:"I will arise and go to my father" (Luke 15:18).

But in the Book of Jonah we find that God is the One who searches for man in order to bring him to repentance. We see Him searching for all. He goes about seeking the souls that are His.

He searches for the souls of those in the ship in order to save them. He searches for the lost souls of the people of Nineveh in order to make them repent to save them. He also uses every possible means in order to save Jonah the Prophet. If man does not go to Him, He goes to man in order to reform him and reconcile him. As Saint James of Serog said on the occasion of Christ's Birth, "There was a dissension between God and man, and when man did not go to God to be reconciled, God came down to reconcile man to Him".

God does not see this action of searching for man and seeking his love as contrary to His honor. The Creator of heaven and earth finds His pleasure in seeking the dust and ashes! This gives us an idea of the loving kindness of paternity and of the forgiveness of the tolerant heart.

In searching for man, God used many different means among which some were frightening, reproaching, convincing, showing kindness and punishment. The most important thing to Him is to reach man's heart and find Himself a place there. God's pleasure is man's love. He wants to rest in man's heart.

We also notice that God does not leave man to his absolute freedom, not to the extent of disregarding him, caring not for his destiny, . He does not say to man: "If you come, all right, and if you do not come, as you like!" No, rather, He says: "if you do not come to Me, I will seek you, run after you, search for you and hold you, and I will keep on doing so until I restore you." God's head wishes to rest in the fatigued heart of man in order to give him rest and turn his fatigue into comfort.

We notice in the Book of Jonah that God's searching for man was serious and not ostensible nor a formality. The search persisted until love was restored even if it meant striking man so that he may recover and return to his love.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


Jonah


God Can Use Punishment


The compassionate God may use punishment and frightening if these are useful for man's salvation. In the Book of Jonah we find three examples:
(a) An example of giving a warning and a long respite. This is what happened with the Ninevites, " Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" (Jon. 3:4), a warning given with a long respite. And the city was not overthrown because it feared the coming wrath and the expected punishment, and they repented.
(b) A more severe example is what happened with the mariners of the ship and the ship's passengers including Jonah. Here the matter was not just giving a warning, but it was carrying it out for a limited time. God gave orders to the winds to strike the ship so that it was about to be broken. But we notice that God put limits to the wind's blows: "Strike the ship from without, but your water shall not enter it. Strike the ship, shake it, but do not harm any of its passengers." We notice here that the blows caused some losses because the mariners were obliged to throw some of their wares into the sea in order to lighten the weight of the ship.

(c) The punishment within serious danger. The order was given to the great fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah looked and found himself inside the belly of the whale.
These are the three ways of punishing, and God wants you to reach Him by any means that suit you or are convenient for you.
If the need be God may raise tempests against the ship of your life, forcing you to throw some of the worldly matters outside the ship. The ship of your life may be overloaded with self-righteousness, or overloaded with stubbornness or the love of the world and when the waves blow against it, it shakes. Lighten your ships, brethren. Most probably God sanctioned that the ship be stricken so that we may throw out of it the bags of self-righteousness, the case of pleasures and the basket of obstinacy. Throw out all that hinders you, and keep nothing in your hearts but the love of God.
If this way does not work with you God may send you a whale to swallow you, and you cry out to God, saying: "O Lord, I cannot endure the whale nor the tempests. The least of things can lead me to You. May your hand be upon me, Your hand and not Your rod".
People differ in the extent of their sensitivity and in the extent of their response to the voice of God. Some yearn and respond by a mere faraway signal from God. Some remember their sins and repent when they encounter the least affliction or tribulation and return to God before the matter worsens. Another kind of person does not return except by severity and hard blows.
Do not force God to use the severe ways to bring you back. If God uses the severe way with you know for certain that it is to meet the severity within you, the severity of your hardheartedness and your non response to God's compassion.
With the Ninevites who feared God did not use severity. With the mariners whose hearts changed merely by the winds, God did not permit that their ship be destroyed. But with Jonah who was extremely severe, those small touches were not suitable for him, . The waves were striking the ship and the ship was about to sink, and the wares were being cast out into the sea, and amidst all this Jonah "had lain down and was fast asleep". This kind of person does not benefit from the light type of punishment. When someone is in a light sleep you can just pat them on the shoulder or touch the face and they wake up. But the one who is fast asleep needs a strong shaking to wake them. I fear that your hearts may be of this heavy kind. God wants to make you reach Him. May you respond to His easy, soft and kind ways and do not compel Him to use severity.
Some of you may wonder how can the severe ways be compatible with God's gentleness and meekness? The answer is simple. God is concerned about your eternal life, much more than your life on earth. For your salvation, He is prepared to do any Divine act no matter how severe in order to restore you to Him.
We notice that God's severity is mixed with mercy and compassion because it is but a mere means. When He sent the winds and the waves to the ship He did not sanction the hurt of any of the passengers. When He sent a whale to swallow Jonah He did not permit the whale to harm him. He sometimes strikes but within the person's endurance and until the aim of the blow is attained.
There now remains one question: What is the way that suits you which God may use for your salvation?
Be honest with yourself and with God. If you do not respond except after a severe blow, then say to Him: "Strike, O Lord, as may please You and show no pity. The most important thing is that I reach You" If trials and tribulations are what bring you near to God, say thus to Him: "I confess to You, O Lord, that if I live at ease, I will forget You and leave You. And if I am beset by afflictions, I restore my relation with You. It is enough that You sanction for me a troublesome superior or a problem at home or an illness so that You may find me at Your feet and find my heart with You."
Be honest, my brother, with God and accept all his dispositions with joy and with thanksgiving. But be careful that God's ways should not lead you to aversion.
For example a person may be sent a useful tribulation from God for their salvation but they use it for their perdition. God sends them a whale to swallow them. Instead of praying in the belly of the whale as Jonah did, they grumble and become restless and blaspheme. We see many who are always complaining of God: Why did God do this to me? Why does He persecute me and why does He neglect me?
Wretched are such persons. God's rod with which He wants to guide them, they use instead as a means of grumbling. They meet God's care for them by complaint. Weak is their faith in God's work with them.
Whatever the situation, God is not annoyed at our reasoning with Him.
Now we remember Nineveh's fasting and consider it the fasting of repentance. May we repent by any means; whether by the Ninevites' means or the passengers of the ship, or Jonah's. May we supplicate God and say to Him: "Your hard work for us, O Lord, all these years will be wasted if it is lost without being beneficial. Continue Your work with us. You suffered trouble in our creation, in caring for us and in redeeming us. So may our salvation not be lost for the sake of this repentance.. We want there to be Joy in heaven over our repentance. We do not thwart the heaven's rejoicing.
We have now taken two lessons about God's dealings. The first was that He Himself searches for man. And the second was that He is prepared to use severity and punishment for man's salvation. What is the third lesson? We also learn from this Book that God is prepared to relent from His warnings.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


Jonah

God Is Prepared to Relent



God is prepared to relent if man returns from his wrong ways.
God does not insist on every letter uttered from His mouth as if to say: "I have said a word and it must be carried out no matter what!" No. God is not like this. How easily does the Holy Bible say that the Lord returned from His hot displeasure: "the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people" (Ex. 32:14). And in the story of the people of Nineveh the Holy Bible repeats the same verse: "God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it" (Jon. 3:10).
The very thing which Jonah considered as below his level, and found it to be against His reverence and dignity, God humbled Himself and performed it. Jonah was vexed and became angry even to death because he had said a word and it was not carried out. And God, the owner of that word, was not displeased like Jonah, but He rejoiced for Nineveh's repentance and salvation.
God is the easiest Person to negotiate with. One tear is enough to dissolve all His threats and punishments, if these tears are true and from the depth of the heart. To feel remorseful and repent, to confess and ask for the absolution is enough for God to forgive all sins.
To deal with God is easy. Many people ask the question: "Can this sin be forgiven by God? Can He forget that I did so and so?" The answer is yes.
Repentance with confession and partaking of the Eucharist forgives all sins and erases all iniquities and a person "become whiter than snow" (Ps.51:7) & (Is. 1:18),

. The yoke of God the compassionate is easy as He Himself says: "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matt. 11:30).
He is prepared to relent from His warnings and abandon His threats, contrary to man who is adamant, hard and highly esteems his word.
King Herod, because he had said a word, could not as a king revert it, although he had said it at a time of intoxication and inattentiveness even if his word forced him to behead the Great John! But God, the King of kings, although He had said a righteous word yet He did not disdain to avert it so long as it brought about its effect, as the people's repentance was rightly worthy of that.
It was a lesson God wanted to teach Jonah but Jonah was refusing to benefit from it. Jonah wanted one word; if he said the city will perish it should unquestionably perish.
The fourth lesson which we learn from the Book of Jonah is God's long-suffering and endurance.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


Jonah

God's Long Suffering


No doubt God is long-suffering in winning sinners. He does not despair from anyone no matter how deep his wickedness is.
He did not despond of Nineveh the corrupted wicked atheist city which could not discern between its right and its left. He did not despond of Jonah, the severe, the hardhearted person who resisted God's will, adamant to his word, so unconcerned about the salvation of more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons but his word should not fall to the ground. God did not despond of the mariners who used to worship many gods.
God is enduring in winning sinners, and sees that he who does not repent today may repent tomorrow, and he who does not repent now may repent later.

Jonah refuses to go to Nineveh and takes a ship and flees. But God is patient with Jonah: "I will be patient with you, Jonah, until you go in the end. If you do not go to Nineveh this time you will surely go to it a next time even if you flee from Me. I will continue to pursue you until you return. If you enter into a ship I will enter with you and encompass you all around. If you go down into the sea, I will go with you. If enter into the belly of a whale, I will enter with you. My eyes will be on you everywhere until you return. Do not think that the world can succeed in making you flee from Me, nor that your obstinacy can keep Me away from you nor can keep you away from Me.
Indeed, how beautiful is the saying of David the Prophet:
"Where can I go from Your Spirit? And where can I flee from Your presence?" (Ps. 139:7).
Man is very harsh in his dealings. We sometimes become easily angry with our friends and from the least behavior cut our relation with them, forgetting the former love between us. We become intolerant quickly and cannot endure. One action from people makes us unjustly judge their whole life and not change our minds.
But God is not so. He does not forsake His beloved quickly no matter how much they err.
If one of us were asked by God to give an opinion on Jonah, he would probably have said: "Why do you keep Jonah, Lord, when he is like that? You have tried him and found him disobedient, esteeming his word. Use another person. Do You not have someone else? Undoubtedly You have many. You are able to raise up children to Abraham from stones (Matt. 3:9). Leave this Jonah who disobeyed You and who could not even obey You like the worm which obeyed when You ordered it to smite the plant,

. The worm was better than him! But he stood against Your order. Did he want to impose his own will on You? What is the meaning of his persistence that You should kill more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who repented and returned to You? Do not look at such a person. There are many who are more obedient than him, and more submissive and faithful to You than him."
But God endures Jonah the disobedient and the obstinate. He endures him until He reforms him, convinces him and makes him understand the right way, raises him a great prophet and makes him a symbol of His death and resurrection, and names a holy Book after his name, and designates for him an everlasting commemoration in His Church, and antiphons and hymns to venerate him. This is God's work with His children. Blessed be His name.
God's long-suffering is also manifested in the respite of forty days which He gave to Nineveh. He did not take them by their wickedness abruptly but He gave them a chance to repent.
Another lesson we take from the Book of Jonah is that God is for all.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


Jonah

God For All People


One of God's beautiful attributes is that He takes all sorts of people and appoints for them portions in His kingdom.
In the Holy Bible we find different kinds of mentality and spirituality. The kingdom of God is likened to a net let down in the sea gathering all sorts. God called Jonah the obstinate who held to his word. He also called a doubtful man like Thomas and a rash person like Peter. He called a gentle and patient person like Moses, and a fiery person like Elijah. He called Abraham who used to fear and say that Sarah was his sister, and made him the father of all believers. These are different kinds of people whom God takes and works in them with His Grace and His Holy Spirit.

It is as if these types of people are a log of wood taken by the "Son of the carpenter" who works with them. He takes part of this beam of wood by the plane, part o f it by the saw, and part by hammer. 'thus He keeps sawing, cleaning, and cutting it, making a pattern from it and nailing it until it becomes a nice chair for Him to rest in. Or as though we are a piece of clay handled by the Great Potter, who moulds it until it becomes a vessel for honor. He is God whose Spirit was hovering over the face of the waters and continued to work until He changed the earth which was desolate, void and covered in darkness into this beautiful nature of whose beauty poets and writers sing.
This is what God did with Jonah, with the people of Nineveh and with the mariners. He worked in them all until He altered them into holy temples for His Spirit and granted them purity and sanctity that the excellence of power may be of God and not of us (2 Cor. 4:7) and even if anybody glories let him glory in the Lord (2 Cor. 10:17) and so that no one desponds of his salvation or of others' salvation. He is God who brings sweet out of the strong (Judg. 14:14).
Therefore let no one say: "My nature is bad, and even worse than the earth which was desolate, void and covered in darkness. I have tried myself and found that I cannot change, and the father confessors, spiritual guides and teachers have become weary of trying to reform me,



. It appears that I will remain in the darkness that was before creation, because the voice of God has been echoing in my ears for the last twenty years saying, 'Let there be light', and I am still in darkness".
No, my brother. Do not despond. He who worked in Jonah is able to work in you also. He who worked in the Ninevites and the mariners is capable of working in you also. He who changes the mud into a vessel for honor is also able to change you in some way.
Be patient and wait on the Lord. But this does not mean that you lax and slacken and remain in the mud until the Potter comes.
Repentance needs two things: Work from God and response from man, as the mariners responded to God's call and believed and made vows, and as the Ninevites responded and repented returning from their evil ways, and as Jonah responded at the end.
Another lesson we take from the Book of Jonah is that God, despite His infinite greatness, likes to reason with man.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III

God Likes Reasoning with Humans


Nearly the whole of chapter four of the Book of Jonah is centered on this sole fact: that God likes to reason with His children; discuss with them, explain to them and reach with them a conclusion, convincing them and satisfying their hearts in the discussion.
It is true that in the Book of Jonah God gave us examples of punishments and warnings, yet there are also examples of reasoning.
God's love for reasoning is clear throughout the Holy Bible: ... “Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord" (Is. 1:18). The story of the burning of Sodom gives us a clear picture of how God reasoned with Abraham (Gen. 19). Also the Lord reasoned with Moses the Prophet and carried out for him his own opinion (Ex. 32).

The Holy Bible gives us a marvelous picture of how God reasons with man. God does not intend every time He reasons with us to convince us with something He imposes on us, but He may condescend to our opinion and agree with us as He did when He reasoned with Moses and relented from the evil which He said He would do, and did not do it.
God reasoned with Jonah, and it was He who began. He said to Jonah, "Come Jonah! Let us reason together and do not be angry", "Is it right for you to be angry."", and Jonah replied: "It is right for me to be angry even to death!" God was not displeased from Jonah's reply, but He began to convince him practically and verbally that Nineveh should have been spared.
God does not use His mightiness in fulfilling His will. He does not use the term 'I said so, so it should be'. This manner is found with man. And man sometimes is unsure of his honor and wishes to confirm it by forcing his opinion. It is an inferiority complex in man and is not found in God who is absolute perfection, who sees that He does not decrease when He reasons with man and when it appears to us that He changed His opinion.
Amazingly enough, God in His reasoning with Jonah, did not look at the great difference between them. He did not say: "Who is this Jonah that I should reason with him? I am the Creator of all and the Lord of all. It does not befit Me to reason with a handful of dust and ashes!" No, He did not say so.
We notice these days that nations reason with each other according to the standard: heads of state with heads of state, kings with kings, prime ministers with prime ministers, ambassadors with ambassadors, consuls with consuls,
. It can never happen that a head of state would talk with a chairman or a secretary of a governorate. He would say that such a person is not up to the level to negotiate with me. He can negotiate with a person of his standard.
But God did not do that with Jonah. He did not say: "I will not reason with him directly. I can send him an angel or a prophet like him! Or send him another whale to reason with him! But God condescended to reason with Jonah, and reason with him directly with no mediator, and convince him.
Some may ask: What need is there for You to reason with Jonah, O Lord, and convince him? You are the all wise God. Jonah is supposed to believe in Your wisdom and believe that Your disposal is unquestionably right. There is no need to convince him. Your word is enough. If he did not believe in the wisdom of Your judgment he would have greatly erred and is worthy of punishment. Jonah must obey and submit and has no right to dispute or reason with God.
But God is not like this. He is compassionate and kind. He says: "I will go down to Jonah to lift him up to My level. I will reason with him in order to win him. I do not want to lose this dust.
I want to win all by satisfaction and not by compulsion. Jonah must enjoy my tolerance and realize that I do not become intolerant with him no matter how much he goes astray.
The story of God in the Old Testament is a story of reasoning. When He sent prophets and messengers it was but a means of reasoning on His part.
God does not impose His will nor is He a dictator in His dealings. He is an exemplar of reasoning. Even in His dealings with us now He wants to reason with us.
He gave us prayer in order to reason with Him.
If God does not like reasoning, what is then the use of praying to Him, talking and conversing with Him? Is it not true that He not only allowed us to reason with Him but also allowed that we wrestle with Him and persist with Him? Did not Jacob wrestle with Him until morning saying: "I will not leave You... ", as though he had power or authority not to let go of Him!
The meekness of God reached the extent of even reasoning with Satan himself!
We notice that this is clear in the story of Job the righteous. God said to the Devil, "Have you considered My servant Job?" And Satan answered: "Does Job fear God for nothing?" And Satan takes from God permission to test Job in order to prove his words.
It is the principal of equal opportunity enjoyed by Satan also.
God also reasoned with Satan in the Temptation in the Wilderness. The Lord went on answering him verse for verse and did not rebuke him except when he became intolerable.
Until now, God wants to reason with us yet we refuse.
Another lesson we learn from the story of Jonah is that all God's dispositions end in success.