The Pouting Preacher: A Guide to Jonah

"Sometimes the most stubborn practitioners of grace are those called to proclaim it."

A missionary enjoying the economic prosperity of his homeland...

A call from God to evangelize an ungodly nation in the Middle East...

An inner struggle over whether terrorists deserve grace and at what cost...

A daunting journey to the other side of the world...

And a whale.

The story of Jonah has been hijacked by a certain large fish that may or may not have been real. But what if Jonah has more to do with grace and the Gospel than with a whale? What if we have been too hard on Jonah? If God asked me to evangelize ISIS, I'd want to go to the other side of the world too.

Jonah's story - arguably the most well-known of the minor prophets but also little understood - reminds us that God loves everyone crafted in his image, even terrorists and ancient empires guilty of war crimes and battlefield atrocities. Maybe the greatest miracle of Jonah isn't the large fish but the fact that wicked and mighty Nineveh threw herself at God's mercy, and the Lord forgave her.

Maybe we respond to evil with anger and bitterness and hate because we haven't seen the power of grace in our own lives. Sometimes the most stubborn practitioners of grace are those called to proclaim it.