God loves everyone
1 ① But Jonah was greatly displeased at this, and he was in dignant. 2He prayed to Yahweh and said, “O Yahweh, is this not what I said when I was yet in my own country? This is why I fled to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and full of love, and you relent from imposing terrible punishment. 3I beseech you now, Yahweh, to take my life, for now it is better for me to die than to live.” 4But Yahweh replied, “What right have you to be angry?”
5Jonah then left the city. He went to a place east of it, built himself a shelter and sat under its shade to wait and see what would happen to Nineveh. 6Then Yahweh God provided a castor-oil plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade over his head and to ease his discomfort. Jonah was very happy about the plant.
7But the next day, at dawn, God sent a worm which attacked the plant and made it wither. 8When the sun rose, God sent a scorching east wind; the sun blazed down upon Jonah’s head, and he grew faint. His death wish returned and he said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
9Then God asked Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the castor-oil plant?” Jonah answered, “I am right to be angry enough to wish to die.”
10Yahweh said, “You are concerned about a plant which cost you no labor to make it grow. Overnight it sprang up, and overnight it perished. 11But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish right from left and they have many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned for such a great city?”
- Jon 4,1 GOD IS THE SAVIOUR OF ALL Jonah refuses to obey the call from Yahweh: perhaps because he does not feel responsible for the salvation of the hated Ninevites. He is asleep while the sailors, good pagans, are trying to save the boat. (Though this is not a religious work, it does interest the pious Jonah too.) Jonah delights in thinking about the punishment that God is going to inflict on the pagans of Nineveh. He complains of God's mercy toward the Ninevites, because his own reputation will suffer from this. God guides the world according to a broad and generous vision. Because he created everyone, he feels responsible for everyone and wants to save humans and cattle (Jn_4,11) regardless of their race or religion. The story of Jonah soon became popular, and Jesus would mention it: - The Ninevites' conversion (Lk_11,30). - The comparison with the three days that Jonah spent in the fish's belly (Mt_12,40).
