Humble Conviction

I guess this is perhaps good timing that I write about this.

I read the book Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller. It's an interesting book because it's a discussion about the idols in our lives from sex and relationships, money, success, and even our ideologies and principles. In combination with this book and a recent topic on reading the Bible from a Young Adult Ministry meeting that I recently attended, I read the book of Jonah as a good start-off. I thought this book had a very simple message. However, it has a much more profound message which I believe is relevant to this time, especially after the overturn of Proposition 8.

Everyone has heard of the story of Jonah and the big fish or whale. However, very few have ever read the real ending of the book, much less know what the story was trying to convey. It was definitely a surprise to me as to what the whole message was about. Usually, people stop at the point where the Assyrians in Nineveh repent for their sinful ways and God spares the city from destruction. However, the story goes beyond what the "traditional" end point is.

After God spared Nineveh from destruction, Jonah left the city angry at what God has done. This was the definite shocker. What he prayed to God was even more shocking:

"I beseech you, Lord," he prayed, "is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I fled at first to Tarshish. I knew that you were a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to punish. And now, Lord, please take my life from me; for it is better form to die than to live."

Jonah 4:2, 3 (NAB)

Basically, Jonah was not only surprised that Nineveh repented, he was also angry that God was that merciful to the city. It sickened him that he would rather die. Why is this the case?

The only way to understand Jonah's motive is to understand who Jonah was and the history between Israel and Assyria. Jonah was a prophet for the King of Israel. He had a strong connection with God. However, he also had a strong nationalist sentiment. Assyria, with Nineveh as their capital city, was a rival kingdom at war with Israel. This was the whole reason why Jonah deliberately ignored God's order to go to Nineveh in the first place. Probably he was scared to go alone in the largest city of their enemy. However, it was more definite that he didn't want to deliver God's message to Nineveh with the hope that God would burn it down to ashes.

When Jonah was swallowed by the big fish, it was time for him to think about what he was doing and to be humbled again to follow God's demand:

When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; my prayer reached you in your holy temple. Those who worship vain idols forsake their source of mercy. But I, with resounding praise, will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay; deliverance is from the Lord. Jonah 2:8-10 (NAB)

According to Keller, the original Hebrew text used the word chesedh for mercy. It's an interesting choice of words from Jonah because chesedh was the mercy, the unconditional grace and love, that was given from God to His chosen people, the Israelites. However, in Jonah's prayer, he said that the people of Nineveh, "those who worship vain idols", have forsaken their own chesedh, that same unconditional grace that was offered to Jonah and his people. It was a realization from Jonah while in the big fish that God's mercy is offered to everyone, regardless of culture, ethnicity, or gender.

However, his nationalist sentiment came back when Nineveh was spared by God, and we come back to the start of this discussion. Though he realized that God's mercy and love was unconditional and universal, he still could not stand the fact that Nineveh and the entire Assyrian Empire was still in tact because of God's mercy. This was the reason why he was so angry at God. It was his strong nationalist feelings. It was his entire understanding in life that God was favorable of his chosen people, and any enemy against Israel would be destroyed by God. Without this understanding and purpose, Jonah was so crushed that he would rather die than face the reality that God's mercy and love was open to everyone, not just Israel.

While Jonah was outside of the city in his hut, God instantly grew a giant plant to shade Jonah from the heat. However, the next day, the plant instantly died and Jonah was left exposed under the blazing sun . Jonah was now angry that God has allowed him to burn in the outskirts of Nineveh and again prayed to God to take his life away. God response was pretty clever:

Then the Lord said, "You are concerned over the plant which cost you no labor and which you did not raise; it came up in one night and in one night it perished. And should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left, not to mention the many cattle?" Jonah 4:10, 11 (NAB)

It has forced Jonah to think about why he was so angry. His strong loyalty to Israel and his own selfishness has blinded him over the grand message of God and the thousands of lives (and their livestock) that would be obliterated if God did destroy Nineveh. Grace has no conditions. It is offered to everyone regardless of where we come from. The other main point of the book was that we shouldn't be so intolerant towards others. That doesn't mean we should not have a strong conviction of our faith. Otherwise, everything becomes relative. On the other hand, we shouldn't have our convictions to be the center of our lives, therefore removing God from that center. It has become a very common pitfall for many Catholics and Christians, especially in regards to homosexuality and abortion. Yes, we are strong believers of the celebration of a traditional family and the sanctity and preciousness of life. However, when we start throwing offensive comments against these groups, when we begin to do the provocative and extreme to ridicule and condemn, we have replaced God with these principles and ideologies. It perhaps becomes some sort of a hidden idol.

We shouldn't be so afraid or ashamed to express the true message of God. Even though we have strong disagreements with homosexuality or abortion, it shouldn't be mistaken as intolerance or a suppression of rights. Besides, every individual has some degree of beliefs and principles. Even liberals, who are stereotypically "open" to all opinions, actually have set principles and ideologies. Why can't Christians have set principles as well? Being a community that embraces unconditional grace or love, we shouldn't yield our beliefs for others nor be so damning and ungracious of these groups. Rather we should embrace all people regardless of beliefs and lifestyles with kindness and humility. Despite being in disagreement, we should still serve all communities and treat them with love and respect.

In the end, as Catholics and Christians, we need to realize the vastness of God's unconditional grace and love. That our own grace and love by God did not come with conditions. We did not have to do certain things to receive it. Rather, grace has already come through Jesus Christ and His crucifixion and resurrection. The only thing we need to do is to accept it. Once that is done, we can hold firm with our convictions, and at the same time hold them with a degree of humility, respect, and love.

He said to them [the scribes and Pharisees] in reply, "An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here.

Matthew 12:39-41 (NAB)

That is all.