Jonah and the Gourd

"Then said the Lord, 'Doest thou well to be angry?' (Jonah 4:4)

Anger and Judgement

The story goes that God told Jonah to preach to the people of Nineveh because of their 'wickedness'. But Jonah had other ideas and ran away to sea. The ship was struck by a great tempest and when it was discovered it was Jonah's doing, they threw him overboard. Jonah got swallowed by a whale where he had to stay for three days and nights. This 'punishment' for disobedience resulted in Jonah going to Nineveh after all.

God gave the people of Nineveh 40 days in which to change their ways. And they did, but Jonah was surely convinced that they were about to get their come-uppance. He went out of the city, built himself a booth and sat in it, like a ringside seat, waiting for the show to begin. When it became obvious it wasn't going to happen, Jonah became very angry. After all he had gone through, he was not going to be denied the satisfaction of witnessing the destruction of this great city.

The Need for Mercy

God needed to show Jonah what mercy was all about and prepared a gourd and "...made it come over Jonah that it might be a shadow over his head" (Jonah 4:6). Jonah was very glad of the gourd but God destroyed it with a worm in the night and its protection was gone.

The upshot of this was that Jonah felt sorry for the gourd but still angry about the fate of Nineveh. God used the gourd to teach Jonah that the destruction of Nineveh was not carved in stone and that mercy could replace judgement - that change could take place. "Thou hast had pity on the gourd for which thou hast not laboured, neither made it grow; which came up in a night and perished in a night." (Jonah 4:10) The parallel here is that God took pity on the city of Nineveh. How much greater were they than the lowly gourd?

Real-life Parallels

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt wronged by someone because of something they said or did? You felt bitter about it and secretly wished that poetic justice would take place to even things out. But instead, the other person prospered in some way. In reality this person was probably unaware of your feelings and would most likely have apologised later for the misdeed. If the two of you had got round the table and talked about it, the matter might have been resolved to everyone's satisfaction. Imagine the change that would take place in your mind, body and spirit following the resolution of such a situation. You can almost hear your Higher Self's sigh of relief during the eye-to-eye contact and the wave of serenity that has just replaced the tension of anger and judgement.

But this face-to-face scenario isn't always possible, like the driver who cuts you up forcing you to brake sharply. It's not easy to find mercy in your soul when this happens but by doing so you release yourself from the negative vibration which harms only you. It's worth the effort to practise this. After all, at some point, the other guy will repent. It may not be today or tomorrow or next year, but it will happen.