Oct 01 | Resistance Lectionary Part 14: Forgiven

Today’s citation: Jonah 4:2-11

I cannot read any part of the narrative of Jonah without laughing. He is one of my favourite characters in the Hebrew Bible specifically because he is the most human. He wants nothing to do with God’s mission for him and flees in the opposite direction from where he is meant to go – as though there is a place to flee from God! This is only capped off by his hilariously childish (and completely familiar!) response to the withering of his bush buddy at God’s hand. I feel like both Jonah and God are worthy of sympathy in this story!

We shouldn’t take Jonah’s reluctance too lightly, however. The people of Nineveh were feared by the Jewish people for their brutal violence. Jonah would have been more than happy to watch them perish in a hail of fire like Sodom, and yet he is forced to deal with God’s unending mercy.

I think the funniest moment in the whole story is when Jonah shouts, “That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.” Imagine being angry at the God who chooses to forgive rather than punish! But indeed, even our laughter here should be a bit nervous.

The hardest part of the Christian faith is the call to forgive. There are those who misuse the concept, using the word as a battering ram against victims of violence and a balm for their abusers. But forgiving someone does not necessitate that you allow them to walk all over you again. Truly transformative, holy forgiveness cannot be coerced. It is much more difficult than that. It is a re-claiming of the power that was stolen, and while it can be achieved without meeting the abuser face-to-face, it is far more effective if the abuser participates by owning their violence. True forgiveness should inspire shame and redemption on the part of the abuser, and a sense of liberation and freedom on the part of the abused. It must be freely chosen, or it is not forgiveness at all.

And from God, it is accessible to everyone, even those who are least deserving.

It is nearly impossible for humanity – and yet nothing is impossible with God.