Jonah shows God’s compassion and grace: What can you tell me about Jonah?

He was a prophet from Judah and God asked him to go to Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrians, Israel’s enemy, and warn them that they would be destroyed if they did not repent and turn to the Lord God for mercy. Jonah did not want to go to his enemies and warn them because he wanted to see them destroyed, so he got on a ship going to Tarsus, the opposite direction of Nineveh.

What does compassion mean?

It is a kind of love for someone that wants to help them.

What does grace mean?

Grace means showing kindness to someone who does not deserve it.

Flows very deep and wide: What does it mean that God’s love, that wants to help people and wants to show kindness toward those who don’t deserve it, is very deep and wide?

Deep means He loves more than we can imagine, and wide means He wants to help all people He created, not just a few!

To Jonah and Nineveh through a fish, (gulp) worm, and a vine: How does God show Jonah his great love for him and that he wants to help Jonah?

God shows Jonah He loves him by keeping him from drowning by having a fish swallow him and spit him up on the land! God gives Jonah another chance to do what He asked, even though he does not deserve it. Jonah obeys God, but with a bad attitude and still God is trying to help Jonah understand His love. He gives Jonah a picture of His love for the people of Nineveh through a worm and a vine.

How does God use a worm and a vine to teach Jonah of his love for the people of Nineveh?

Jonah is angry and depressed and sitting in the hot sun because the people of Nineveh had listened to his warning and turned to God and now God was not destroying them as Jonah had wanted. Then this is what happens: A vine grows up very quickly to give Jonah shade. Jonah likes the vine! Then a worm comes and kills the vine and now Jonah is very angry and God says to Jonah in Jonah 4:9-11,

 “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.  And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”