And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?" Jonah 4:11 (RSV)
The fish is a lovely story for small children as they get acquainted with Scripture. This story is what most people recall about the book of Jonah. It is a good story set within the larger story of Jonah. We must ask, "Just why is Jonah in the belly of a fish?"
God does not usually appoint large fish to swallow humans whole and alive. A sensible person with a basic understanding of biology would know that digestion does not wait three days. Creatures swallowed whole and alive are not so for very long. We need to get beyond the fish as to why Jonah is there.
God had commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh to proclaim God's Word against its people's wickedness. Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire. In the eyes of most Jews, it was a city that deserved the wrath of God; the sooner, the better.
Jonah was of that frame of mind. Nineveh needed to be punished, for it was a wicked place. Jonah also knew that God is merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Jonah wasn't going to take the chance that once Nineveh heard God's Word, they would repent. Jonah would have none of it, so he ran.
Luther taught that the good and gracious will of God is done, even without our prayer. But we ask in this prayer that it might be done in us. God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh, and to Nineveh, he will go. After three days in a fish's digestive system, perhaps Nineveh looked like an alternative.
Jonah's opinion had not changed, and he said the absolute bare minimum he could once at Nineveh, "Forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown!" Jonah must have been confident that the Assyrians would never forsake their gods for the God of a conquered people, so he found a spot on a nearby hill to watch the show. He wanted the fire of God to consume them all.
But they repented, from the king down to the lowest beggar in the gutter. Jonah fumed and sputtered against God for sparing them. In Jonah's mind, they did not deserve mercy. Jonah wanted God's wrath, for he determined that is all the people of Nineveh deserved.
"And should not I pity Nineveh..?" God tells Jonah. Here is the Gospel Jonah could not see, much less proclaim to Nineveh. Still, God will have pity, mercy, grace on all who turn from their sin, and seek Him out. It is a word we still need to hear and learn to practice.
"And should not I pity the Republicans, the Democrats, the wealthy, the welfare families, the doubters, the wretched mass of the human race?" If we are ready to call down God's wrath on anyone, it would be well if we were to change what God said to Jonah, "And should not I pity you?" For without the mercy, the pity, the grace of God, we would know our left from our right. We would not know God the Father who longs to save us.